Devil's Bargain

October 1, 2002
After the brilliant, subtle Pride of Kings (2001), in which England's Prince John refreshingly proved to be a hero rather than a villain, Judith Tarr stumbles in her latest alternative historical fantasy, Devil's Bargain, which concerns King Richard and the Third Crusade. Sorcery and witchcraft in the struggle for the Holy Land make for an interesting mix, but shallow, trite characterizations will put off readers expecting better.

October 15, 2002
As Richard the Lionheart leads his armies on a seemingly doomed quest to capture Jerusalem, his mother, Eleanor, bargains with the Old Man of the Mountains, the master of assassins, to secure victory for her son. The price: Richard's soul. Only his bastard half-sister Sioned, attached as a healer to the armies of the First Crusade, dares to risk her own life and soul to rescue Richard from damnation. Tarr (Pride of Kings; Kingdom of the Grail) crafts an alternate history of the First Crusade that blends magic and myth with meticulously researched historical fact to create a tale of romance and intrigue that belongs in most libraries.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2002
Tarr's usual meticulous historical research distinguishes this historical fantasy concerning late-twelfth-century sorcery and holy warfare. The place is the Holy Land, and the occasion is the Third Crusade, led by Richard the Lionheart, king of England and count of Anjou. As the bastard child of the late King Henry II and the enchantress Gwenllian, the healer Lady Sioned is Richard's half-sister as well as an heiress to magic arts. Her gift of Sight allows her to walk right into the mind and memories of Richard's mother, Eleanor, once the black-eyed beauty of Aquitaine and a great and terrible sorceress whose soul was sold in a devil's bargain to ensure her son's success as charismatic leader of forces that include French and Germans as well as English. Sioned has to try to save Richard's soul as well as his quest for Jerusalem in a contest against the sultan Saladin that goes beyond mere bloodlust as earthly forces, mirrored by the supernatural, battle for dominance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)