Ok, so the main character goes by the following name: Sir Kenneth of the Couchant Leopard. If this doesn’t make you want to read this I don’t know what will.

The story of The Talisman promises a lot of dry dialogue during the first four chapters, between a Saracen and a Nazarene about their respective religions. For a 20th century girl there was an alarming quantity of bigotry throughout the entire novel… Oh well, I guess that’s what they did in the middle ages (well… you know, and after. And before now. And now)

The Talisman is actually the second book in Scott’s Tales of the Crusades, the first one being The Betrothed, but you can read them separately (apparently) All the characters are introduced under several names (yay). Long hours have been spend on honor and shame so it comes as a relief when the heart-gripping knightly romancing and lovemaking comes along (oh, the heartaches…) Unless this is where you start skipping pages. Oh well, we’re all different. But no worries Scott knows how to keep a balance between shiny knights and swooning ladies, so there’s a little bit for everybody.
Unlike many other crusade-stories, here you are actually given the point of view of the other camp as well. The insults on each other’s God are on both sides gracefully and violently bounced back. Scott does give you the impression that all the warriors involved in the crusades were extremely civil creatures… with a very short fuse.

Even though I believed it was going to be a boring read judging from the first few chapters I was definitely proved wrong. Scott knows how to keep you reading and he very gratifyingly throws in some astounding plot twists which makes all the sand worth it in end.