Friday 17 August 2018

A Discovering Diamonds review of Knight Assassin by James Boschert


Book Two of The Talon Series

Fictional Saga
1200s
France

Talon de Gilles may be young in age, but inside he is a man. Stolen when a lad, he grew up among the Assassini in Persia and was trained to be a killer. Now, he sails home to reunite with his parents, but his heart remains in Palestine. Captured by the Templars, he was forced to abandon the princess he loves and his best friend, both of whom may now be dead. There is little he can do for them, but his knowledge and skill are in great need aboard the ship, which is pursued by pirates. Aided by his uncle (a Templar knight) and Welsh mercenaries heading home, Talon implements a daring strategy to save all their lives.

The reunion with his parents is filled with joy, but too much has changed and not necessarily for the better. The land his mother inherited from her father and which her husband oversees is desired by her cousin, who is determined to take the property through fair means or foul. Nor can his parents secure their claim of ownership because they are unable to locate legal proof of the inheritance.

At present, her cousin employs mercenaries, who raid and burn outlier holdings. They also leave behind no witnesses. Her cousin has also been courting the church, but it takes Talon’s special talents to unveil the true treachery against his family. While friends from the journey home search for the needed documents, he accompanies his uncle to meet their overlord, the Count of Carcassone, where Talon makes new friends and forges powerful alliances. Talon also becomes a knight and is sent on a secret mission through territories where it’s difficult to tell friend from enemy.

Knight Assassin is the second book of Talon, and while not as exotic as the first, the politics and locales are just as skillfully depicted and unusual. The only drawback to the book pertains to layout formatting and grammatical errors, all of which could have been easily corrected with a thorough proofing before printing. Setting the story in France allows Boschert to spin an intricate web that not only brings the past to life, but also allows readers to meet a plethora of unique and intriguing characters, some of which would not be possible in any other setting. As events unfold, a complicated house of cards is assembled, but a single misstep is all that requires it to topple and it does so during a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat race that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Talon’s adventures.

© Cindy Vallar
 


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