Review: Sword Brethren by Jon Byrne

Today, I'm delighted to welcome historical fiction author, Jon Byrne, to Ruins & Reading. I'm reviewing his thrilling medieval adventure, Sword Brethren, the first in an unmissable new series. It's well worth checking out!

Sword Brethren is currently on blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club. Find enticing excerpts, fascinating history posts, and more HERE!

 

Sword Brethren

The Northern Crusader Chronicles, Book #1

Jon Byrne

As soon as I first heard about Sword Brethren, I was keen to read it. I love gripping historical adventures, and this one did not disappoint. The unusual setting of the Baltic Crusades – generally overlooked against the better-known crusades in the Holy Land – is a bonus.

The novel is mainly told in retrospect. When ageing warrior, Richard Fitz Simon, is gravely injured during battle, he wakes in an Orthodox monastery where he is being cared for by two monks. His recovery is slow, as the wound became infected. His waking days are filled with boredom, as no one appears to understand his German or Latin, never mind Norman French or English.

 

So when Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod – the man whose army defeated Richard's order – visits him, he's uncertain of what that signifies. Apparently, fellow captives were released for handsome payoffs, but Richard is not German, even though he fought with a Germanic order. He's English.

 

Intrigued, Alexander allows Richard to write down his life story, to be sent to Richard’s son, but to have it translated to Russian too, so he could understand it as well. Alexander's scribe, an Irishman named Fergus, bears a grudge against the Normans whom he accused of cruelties against the Irish. Reluctantly, he writes down Richard's story, frequently interspersed by their spats.

 

Richard's story begins when he is 13, living at Cranham castle with his lord father and younger sister, Alice. But when his father's sister-in-law and nephew, Richard's cousin Walter, arrive, trouble starts to brew. And when his uncle Gilbert – who'd lost all his lands in Normandy thanks to King John's catastrophic failures – arrives unexpectedly, his father sends Richard and his German steward Wilhelm, a former merchant, with the title deeds of his lands to be kept safe at a monastery. 

 

They are attacked on their return, but Richard doesn't think much of it. Outlaws roam the forests, after all. But when he gets back to the manor, events unravel quickly, and Richard is forced to flee. William helps him to safety, but Gilbert's men are always on their tail.

 

Will Richard reach safety? And will he be able to exact revenge on his traitorous uncle? Read the novel to find out!

 

 

Sword Brethren is the kind of novel you simply can't put down. It's fast pace keeps you hooked, as you wonder what could possibly go wrong next. And plenty of things do go wrong for poor Richard!

 

Young Richard is full of bluster of youth. Having received not only a thorough education, he is also weapon-trained, which helps him when he gets into tricky situations, most of the time. A typical lord's son, with a touch of arrogance and sense of superiority, he soon discovers the other side of the coin. But he's not reluctant to take on menial tasks, however ghastly, to survive, and for a roof over his head. His thirst for revenge keeps him going, but as the months pass, he understands there is very little he could do without funds. It's a sobering realisation.

The older Richard still has his temper, as his spats with Fergus show. He hasn't lost any of his fire, but he is older and, perhaps, wiser... 

My only issue would be the punctuation (or lack of) occasionally, which is a shame in an otherwise well-written and well-edited novel.

 

Sword Brethren is a thrilling ride across medieval England, to the Holy Roman Empire, and beyond. You get a true sense of the cultural and administrative differences, which I found enlightening. The characters – good and bad – are realistic, and not clichéd. And both types exist wherever Richard goes, regardless of culture, language, or creed.

The fast pace has you turning the pages, as events follow events, and the clever plot keeps you engaged throughout. There's not one boring minute, which is rare for a book of this length. Poor Richard is put through the paces, and as he follows his path, reluctantly, he begins to accept the inevitable. For the time being!

 

I'm looking forward to the next book in this brilliant new series. I can highly recommend Sword Brethren to readers who love medieval adventures, historical coming-of-age stories, and those who enjoy novels set in unusual locations.

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Blurb:

​1242. After being wounded in the Battle on the Ice, Richard Fitz Simon becomes a prisoner of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. Alexander, intrigued by his captive’s story, instructs his scholar to assist Richard in writing about his life.

Richard’s chronicle begins in 1203, when his training to be a knight is disrupted by treachery. He is forced to flee England for Lübeck, where he begins work for a greedy salt merchant. After an illicit love affair, his new life is thrown into turmoil, and he joins the Livonian Brothers of the Sword as they embark on imposing the will of God on the pagans of the eastern Baltic. Here, he must reconcile with his new life of prayer, danger and duty – despite his own religious doubts, with as many enemies within the fortified commandery as the wilderness outside.

However, when their small outpost in Riga is threatened by a large pagan army, Richard is compelled to make a crucial decision and fight like never before.

Buy Link: Universal Buy Link

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About the Author:

Jon Byrne

Jon Byrne, originally from London, now lives with his German family by a lake in Bavaria with stunning views of the Alps. As well as writing, he works as a translator for a local IT company and occasionally as a lumberjack.

He has always been fascinated by history and has studied the Medieval world for over twenty years, building up a comprehensive library of books. In his research, he has travelled to all of the locations mentioned in the book (East Anglia, Bremen, Lübeck, Latvia, etc).

Sword Brethren (formerly Brothers of the Sword) made it to the shortlist of the Yeovil Literary Prize 2022 and the longlist of the prestigious Grindstone International Novel Prize 2022. It is the first book in The Northern Crusader Chronicles.

Connect with Jon:

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Amazon Author Page • Goodreads