Pagan's Crusade
edit: here's the comm I'm helping set up about it:
pagansfandom
Okay so I'm technically triple posting but no one else was posting or responding, so... my turn again I guess. :) *nudges you if you have stuff to say*
Today's book is the Pagan's Crusade series by Catherine Jinks, an Australian writer. Some people here may have seen me go on about it a little in fanficrants.
It's a series I loved since the first time I read the first page of the first book. The last book depresses me, and the third book makes me cry in points, but it's still ultra ultra good. (sure, it has a few things that could be improved but most series do.) The first two books however, are fantastic. And for the last two? I guess that's what AU fics are for. :D
Anywhoo! It's a series about a boy (he's 16 in the first book) in the 1180s/90s, during the crusades. His name is Pagan, and he is the product of, he assumes, a rape of a white woman by a turk. She left him in an abusive monastery (but that gave him an education) and he escaped it when he was 10, to basically wander the streets, do odd jobs, and get into trouble with the law and debt. Out of desperation, he joins the Knights Templar (if you're not familiar with Crusade history, they were monks that were also knights fighting for Christendom) as a squire. And is paired up with Lord Roland... who Pagan describes as a 'living stained glass window'. He's in his 20s, tall, strong, blonde, and stiff and silent. Intelligent but uneducated. Pagan is snarky, rule breaking, and though he puts on a tough exterior, is quite emotional. The books are about their adventures and relationship. The first one is in the Crusades, the second, Roland goes back to France and takes Pagan with him, the third they're in a monastery because Pagan followed Roland there, the fourth (which also seems totally out of character to me) Pagan is for some reason many many years older, and in some form of religious power, and the story is told by his scribe rather than Pagan. I tend to ignore the fourth book to be honest, because in my opinion, I can't see how she got there at all.
Yep, it has some religious themes, but it's more because 'almost everyone in the middle ages were religious' rather than being preachy. It has strong themes about being yourself, friendship, loyalty, race, etc.
it's aimed at young adults but it's a lot of fun for adults to read too. It's both funny and sad and interesting.
There's a lot of potential for all sorts of fanfiction. Het, gen, slash, coming of age, comedy, angst, romance, fluff, friendship, I could see sorts of horror working...
Also it's just a good read.
Here's the first page or so... I typed it out. :)
Also: This entry and its comments contain many spoilers about endings of the series and contents of series.
1187
A big man in brown, sitting behind a table. Big hands. Big chest. Short and broad. head like a rock, face scarred like a battleaxe. He looks up and sees- what's this? A street urchin? Whatever it is, it's trouble. Trouble advanced cautiously.
"They said I should report to the Standard- Bearer."
The big man nods.
"You can call me sir," he says. (Voice like gravel rattling in a cast iron pot.) He pulls out a quill pen. "Name?" he says.
"Pagan."
"Pagan what?"
"Pagan Kidrouk."
"Pagan Kidrouk *sir*".
(Christ in a cream cheese sauce.)
"Pagan Kidrouck, sir."
scratch, scratch. he writes very slowly.
"Age?"
"Sixteen. Sir."
"Born in?"
"Bethlehem."
Rockhead looks up. The brain peeps out from behind the brawn.
"Don't worry, sir. It didn't happen in a stable."
Clunk. Another jest falls flat on the ground.
"Rule number one, Kidrouk. In the Order of the Temple you speak only when you're spoken to."
"Yes, sir."
"Understand?"
"yes, sir."
Rockhead smells rich and rare, like a well matured piece of cheese. No baths for the Templars. Hot water is for girls and porridge and other soft, wet things. If a Templar wants a bath he can go and stand in the rain. That's what God put it there for.
"And where did you come from, Kidrouk?" (The unspoken question: out of a slop bucket?) Rockhead is highly suspicious. You can see what he's thinking. Just look at this runt! Smells like the Infidel and looks like a bedouin boy. Skin the colour of braised almonds. Built like a horsewhip. Black hair. Black eyes. What in the name of God is this Order coming to? We'll be recruiting stray dogs next.
"I'm a local, sir. I served in the Jerusalem garrison."
"On?"
"The Night Watch. I patrolled the northern beat.Between the Postern of Lazarus and the Postern of Saint Magdalene."
"You mean the Jewry quarter?"
"That's the one. Sir."
"And why did you leave?"
"Well sir...it was the jokes."
Pause. Rockhead's brows roll together like gathering thunder clouds. But the storm doesn't break.
"It was the what?"
"It wasthe jokes, sir. In the guardoom. not that I object to jokes *as such*. Some of my best friends are complete jokes. But I don't like leper jokes. Or dysentry jokes. Especially when I'm eating."
Rockhead puts this pen down. Game's over.
pagansfandom
Okay so I'm technically triple posting but no one else was posting or responding, so... my turn again I guess. :) *nudges you if you have stuff to say*
Today's book is the Pagan's Crusade series by Catherine Jinks, an Australian writer. Some people here may have seen me go on about it a little in fanficrants.
It's a series I loved since the first time I read the first page of the first book. The last book depresses me, and the third book makes me cry in points, but it's still ultra ultra good. (sure, it has a few things that could be improved but most series do.) The first two books however, are fantastic. And for the last two? I guess that's what AU fics are for. :D
Anywhoo! It's a series about a boy (he's 16 in the first book) in the 1180s/90s, during the crusades. His name is Pagan, and he is the product of, he assumes, a rape of a white woman by a turk. She left him in an abusive monastery (but that gave him an education) and he escaped it when he was 10, to basically wander the streets, do odd jobs, and get into trouble with the law and debt. Out of desperation, he joins the Knights Templar (if you're not familiar with Crusade history, they were monks that were also knights fighting for Christendom) as a squire. And is paired up with Lord Roland... who Pagan describes as a 'living stained glass window'. He's in his 20s, tall, strong, blonde, and stiff and silent. Intelligent but uneducated. Pagan is snarky, rule breaking, and though he puts on a tough exterior, is quite emotional. The books are about their adventures and relationship. The first one is in the Crusades, the second, Roland goes back to France and takes Pagan with him, the third they're in a monastery because Pagan followed Roland there, the fourth (which also seems totally out of character to me) Pagan is for some reason many many years older, and in some form of religious power, and the story is told by his scribe rather than Pagan. I tend to ignore the fourth book to be honest, because in my opinion, I can't see how she got there at all.
Yep, it has some religious themes, but it's more because 'almost everyone in the middle ages were religious' rather than being preachy. It has strong themes about being yourself, friendship, loyalty, race, etc.
it's aimed at young adults but it's a lot of fun for adults to read too. It's both funny and sad and interesting.
There's a lot of potential for all sorts of fanfiction. Het, gen, slash, coming of age, comedy, angst, romance, fluff, friendship, I could see sorts of horror working...
Also it's just a good read.
Here's the first page or so... I typed it out. :)
Also: This entry and its comments contain many spoilers about endings of the series and contents of series.
1187
A big man in brown, sitting behind a table. Big hands. Big chest. Short and broad. head like a rock, face scarred like a battleaxe. He looks up and sees- what's this? A street urchin? Whatever it is, it's trouble. Trouble advanced cautiously.
"They said I should report to the Standard- Bearer."
The big man nods.
"You can call me sir," he says. (Voice like gravel rattling in a cast iron pot.) He pulls out a quill pen. "Name?" he says.
"Pagan."
"Pagan what?"
"Pagan Kidrouk."
"Pagan Kidrouk *sir*".
(Christ in a cream cheese sauce.)
"Pagan Kidrouck, sir."
scratch, scratch. he writes very slowly.
"Age?"
"Sixteen. Sir."
"Born in?"
"Bethlehem."
Rockhead looks up. The brain peeps out from behind the brawn.
"Don't worry, sir. It didn't happen in a stable."
Clunk. Another jest falls flat on the ground.
"Rule number one, Kidrouk. In the Order of the Temple you speak only when you're spoken to."
"Yes, sir."
"Understand?"
"yes, sir."
Rockhead smells rich and rare, like a well matured piece of cheese. No baths for the Templars. Hot water is for girls and porridge and other soft, wet things. If a Templar wants a bath he can go and stand in the rain. That's what God put it there for.
"And where did you come from, Kidrouk?" (The unspoken question: out of a slop bucket?) Rockhead is highly suspicious. You can see what he's thinking. Just look at this runt! Smells like the Infidel and looks like a bedouin boy. Skin the colour of braised almonds. Built like a horsewhip. Black hair. Black eyes. What in the name of God is this Order coming to? We'll be recruiting stray dogs next.
"I'm a local, sir. I served in the Jerusalem garrison."
"On?"
"The Night Watch. I patrolled the northern beat.Between the Postern of Lazarus and the Postern of Saint Magdalene."
"You mean the Jewry quarter?"
"That's the one. Sir."
"And why did you leave?"
"Well sir...it was the jokes."
Pause. Rockhead's brows roll together like gathering thunder clouds. But the storm doesn't break.
"It was the what?"
"It wasthe jokes, sir. In the guardoom. not that I object to jokes *as such*. Some of my best friends are complete jokes. But I don't like leper jokes. Or dysentry jokes. Especially when I'm eating."
Rockhead puts this pen down. Game's over.