An Uncivil War by David Field (The Medieval Saga Book Three)

 

Publication Date:

June 17, 2022

Genre: 

Historical Fiction, Medieval Fiction

Length:  

271 pages

Series:

The Medieval Saga Series

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

England is at war – with itself!

England, 1120

When Henry I dies with no legitimate male heir, the nation is thrown into chaos.
The two rivals for the crown are Henry’s daughter Matilda and his nephew Stephen of Blois, both of whom are determined to emerge victorious.
A bitter struggle ensues which threatens to reduce England to a barren wasteland and many ordinary people find themselves torn apart from each other in the confusion of deciding which side to fight for.

One of those caught up in the fray is young soldier Richard Walsingham who is fighting alongside Stephen. But his sister Elinor is employed as a companion to Matilda.  As the family members come to terms with being on opposite sides of a treacherous dynastic conflict a new contender for the throne enters the picture. Which of the rivals will emerge triumphant? Can the nation be pieced back together again?

Or will more than lives be lost in this uncivil war…?

My Thoughts

Another great read from David Field....it covers The Anarchy period in England between Empress Matilda and the future King Stephen and although it didn't give me a whole lot of new information I hadn't read on this subject before, it did a great job of using fictional characters on each side of the conflict to both inform and entertain. I just love this series and now have only two left to finish. The next book covers King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and the book after that covers the reign of King Richard I, their son. I skipped these middle books awhile back because I already had so much knowledge of the time from reading the Sharon Penman books. But I think this year I'm going to finish them and then move on to his Tudor or Australia focused books. 

This story continues with the saga of the family from book one who are fictional characters, always placed into the drama and court royalty involved in the real history. I usually don't like this and prefer to stick to historical fiction with real people but I don't seem to mind in the Field books. He uses their story in a way that is readable and always sticks with what really happened. 

Thomas and his son Richard are pitted against each other to highlight the strife between Stephen and Matilda, Richard with Stephen and Thomas with Matilda's camp. We get to see how easily lines were blurred in the conflict and how families and the country were torn apart due to which loyalties lay on which side. There is also the ongoing side story of Richard's sister who is Matilda's lady in waiting and has secret offspring who will likely carry on in later books.

All the major battles are represented along with my favorite event....Matilda's snowy, white night escape from Stephen's clutches at Oxford Castle. The book is not terribly detailed on things and can come across as more of a YA feel but that is fine with me. I read a lot of longer books on the same subjects or straight history and these simpler books make things clearer sometimes and allow you to grasp some really detailed concepts. 

I highly recommend reading these in order but stand alone is fine if you only want to know about a certain period. Field explains enough with the characters to know how they fit in the timeline. This series is a win for medieval historical fiction!