| The Third Crusade: Bloody, Juicy, and Riveting |
June 25, 2010
If you can ignore the overuse of adjectives and the purple prose of the love scenes, Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha is a no-holds barred winner on the fields of historical fiction. Shadow of the Swords had me riveted to my chair, consumed in the history of the Third Crusade, when the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam met in treacherous and bloody battle. Pasha leaps with energy and ease through the brutal battles, the back-scene spying and intrigue, the inner-circle in-fighting on both sides, and the ever-shifting motivations, alliances, and goals, to present the Third Crusade in all its fascinating facets. Pasha plays with history but sticks to the main facts and figures of the times: the result is a page-turner filled with guilty pleasures, interesting insights, and rocking history.
Personalities that have survived the centuries as either heroes or villains come to vivid life in Shadow of the Swords: Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, and Maimonides are true figures from history and Pasha creates them in all their blood, guts, and soul. Fictional characters are placed into the mix, including a beautiful and brave Jewess named Miriam who, after being an early victim of the barbarous Frankish crusaders, seeks both vengeance for herself and peace for her people. Miriam uses her wits and her looks to bring men to their knees, dodging assassins and jealous haremites along the way.
Pasha also does wonderful work recreating the kingdoms of the twelfth century, both in geographical locations (the desert of the Sinai, Tours, Jerusalem, Acre, Ascalon) and in national identity (the Franks, the Muslim sultanates, and the Jewish enclaves). He offers many comparisons between religions -- both actions and beliefs (often at odds with each other), and he makes obvious his view that Saladin, a Sunni Muslim, was a leader much needed in today's morass of the Middle East: "In a time when religion was the foundation of hate and division, here was a Muslim who embraced a Jew as a brother. In his heart, Maimonides thanked God for giving Saladin authority over the Holy Land. With Saladin, a man of such dignity and quiet strength to lead them, the children of Abraham, Jews, Christians, and Muslims, could finally work together to create a world built on justice and peace, starting in the scared city of Jerusalem. Perhaps, even as the Prophets had foreseen, the victory of good over evil was finally at hand."
Good and evil still battle today but perhaps by looking backwards more often, even through the lens of fictional writers, we can finally reach "a world built on justice and peace." And on a less lofty level, while we work for peace, we can have a really good time reading about times gone by.
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