The Silver Knight

Daniel Cure

Average Rating 9/10 (1 Review)

It is 1451 and Jack Templeman arrives from France, his destiny forged by the failure of a King and his will determined by the desire for the glory of knighthood. As the strength of the crown fails, the Plantagenet's are torn between the roses of Lancaster and York. As the country spirals towards bloodshed, will Jack's dream of knighthood come to pass? Will he overcome the shadows and avenge his father's death? From the slums of old London town, to the rolling hills of Kent; from the halls of Westminster Palace to the battleground of St Albans, this is the first Templeman novel, The Silver Knight, from the Wars of the Roses.

Review by Ian Collins (181009) Rating (9/10)

Review by Ian Collins
Rating 9/10
Jack Templeman's first outing…

"The boy fixed his bright blue eyes ahead of him, continuing to stare in wonder at the majestic view across the sea. For the last hour he had hardly noticed the occasional flicker of salted water across his face, nor had he paid any attention to the brightening skies that now cast down strips of piercing sunlight that helped to intensify the magnificent sight of the chalk white cliffs of Kent."

And so begins The Silver Knight, first we are told in the seven part medieval heptalogy spanning the course of the Wars of the Roses in the second half of the fifteenth century. The novel (and indeed the series) concerns the trials and tribulations of a certain Jack Templeman (originally Jacque Templeman, due to his French birth). Though slow to start and occasionally bordering on the long-winded, this is an enjoyable and at times a magnificent piece of work that demands the full attention of the reader. Beginning with Jack's arrival in Kent, we are thrust through a rollercoaster of events that intertwine his personal triumphs and tragedies of love, death and knighthood, with the political machinations revolving around the apparent madness of King Henry VI that lead to the outbreak of violence, ultimately culminating in the opening of the war. Indeed, the novel closes with Jack's participation it he first battle of St Albans (there were two!) in the spring of 1455, where all that he has learnt throughout the previous four years is put to the test as the Dukes of Somerset and York do battle for control of the King.

The attention to historical detail is meticulous and, though the novel does occasionally border on the arid, one genuinely feels educated by the retelling of this often overlooked period by someone whose passion for the time shines through. Influences seem to have been drawn from a wide pool of sources and there is nothing to suggest that this is merely another Cornwell on the conveyor belt of historical novelists.

The Silver Knight is a vastly different offering than Cure's last outing (the supernatural Raphael), both in theme, style and content; yet, as ever with these things, it does not detract from the quality on offer. If anything, his style seems all the more suited to the period, with a rich cascade of linguistic colours enriching many pages - the medieval semantics interweaving with modern adjectives to create an often melodious flow.

Though spanning four years, the book manages to maintain the focus upon its plot threads and as a consequence, the raw emotion on offer during Jack's bitter combat duel towards the end is absolutely spellbinding.

I am looking forward greatly to the sequel.
Ian Collins (18th October 2009)