A Knight Like No Other

Title: A Knight Like No Other
Author: Jocelyn Kelley
Genre: Historical romance
Rating: 2 stars out of 5

The basis of the story: During the reign of Henry II, his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, founded the Abbey of St. Jude, where young women can, in addition to living a life of prayer and contemplation, learn the knightly skills of weaponry.

From this Abbey, expert swordswoman Avisa de Vere has been sent by the Queen to protect her godson, Christian Lovell, from the intrigue between the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett.

I thought the concept of women trained in the martial arts during the Middle Ages was interesting. Sadly, it was poorly executed in this book. The book plodded at times, and there was a fifty-page tangent which served little narratorial purpose other than to show that Avisa is a skilled fighter and a good leader.

I'm intrigued by the concept of the book, and am sticking with the series - for a while - in the hopes that the writing will improve. However, for this volume itself: don't bother. It's too poorly written to stand on its own.