I really loved this trilogy. Each of the three books could easily stand on their own, but I think reading them in order added depth to the story as a whole. I thought it was interesting to read the same story (generally) from two perspectives. As much as Guillaume and Ellen loved each other - they honestly had relatively minimal shared history. So even though their story is a "love story" in and of itself, I am really happy that they each loved and married someone else that loved them back. I really admired Guillaume for staying faithful to Isabelle, because I am guessing that knighthood and faithfulness to a spouse didn't really go hand-in-hand back then, especially since it took him a really long time to understand how much he loved Isabelle!
It was interesting to have insight into Guillaume's thoughts and feelings - especially when it clarified how different his actual thoughts/feelings were vs. what Ellen was thinking they were! Ellen completely misread his feelings about their son, which I was relieved about. Every book had a character I hated, although they were different characters in each book. So, even though the same characters were in each book, I found myself only hating the character that was despicable to the main character of the particular book. Do you get that? I guess we all go through life being affected differently by the people around us - even all the people we have in common.
I would not have wanted to live in this time! I also wouldn't have wanted to be a part of the royal family or serve the royal family. They are quick to judge and quick to kill off the people in their way! Guillaume definitely walked a fine line with almost every king he served during his lifetime. Too stressful. They all seemed so arrogant, paranoid and self-indulgent. It's great that Guillaume could remain a man of honor despite serving so many kings.
So, we learned about being a sword smith, a falconer and a knight. Very useful in current day. Ha, Ha!! Seriously, I thought these books were well researched and well written. I enjoyed each and every story very much!
Wendy's Rating: *****
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