The Black Rose

Castles! Medieval college boys! Roger Bacon! Crusaders! Slave girls! Overland to China with the Mongols! True love lost and found! What more could you possibly want? Seriously, I really loved this epic novel. It covers at least 3 completely different cultures, with lots of great detail and a romancer's touch.

I was really enjoying this one from the very beginning, and it was filled with great literary promise: in the dark Middle Ages, two young men from England on a journey to China by way of the Mid-East. By the middle of the novel I started losing interest--the writing at that point was flat, and the plot itself had reached a snail's pace; I just didn't have the patience to ride it out. On a positive note, I think I'm developing a kindred spirit with my students: a short attention span.

Castles! Medieval college boys! Roger Bacon! Crusaders! Slave girls! Overland to China with the Mongols! True love lost and found! What more could you possibly want? Seriously, I really loved this epic novel. It covers at least 3 completely different cultures, with lots of great detail and a romancer's touch.

Pleasant enough historical epic of the 1200s, although, having enjoyed the Tyrone Power / Orson Welles movie version, I found the novel flat and tedious in places, by comparison. I expected more character depth and excitement in the book, but found rather less.

Still, if the last twenty pages don't move you, you have not an iota of romance in your soul.

The Black Rose is a long historical novel set during the reign of Edward the First of England. Walter of Gurnie, also sometimes called the Bastard, is a scholar at Oxford as the book opens. Walter and a new friend, Tristram, run afoul of the authorities and need to leave England for a while. Walter had recently heard Roger Bacon speak and, inspired by his remarks on the Far East, Walter pawns his inheritance from his father and the two set off to Cathay and the court of Kublai Khan to make their fortune. This is the story of their journey there and back again with plenty of adventure and even some romance. I had read this many years ago and I found that I still enjoyed the story very much.

Despite all favorable reviews, I didn't really enjoy so much this romantic novel written by Thomas Costain.

The characters didn't are so interesting and the plot didn't keep my full attention while reading this book.

Sorry guys but I think TBC wrote better books than this one.

Read many years ago, still remember it as excellent. Thomas B. Costain was a fantastic author.

FROM AMAZON: Walter of Gurnie, bastard son of an English peer, is forced to flee from Oxford for his part in the university riots of 1273. Inspired by Friar Bacon, he determines to travel to China. With his friend Tristam, he fights his way to the heart of the fabulous Mongol Empire and returns famous, to find that he must choose between the first love he thought lost and the exotic flower that he found in the East.

"Solid in its facts, colorful and romantic...a rich and remarkable historical tapestry." (Christian Science Monitor)