Pagan in Exile: Book Two of the Pagan Chronicles (Pagan)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 336 pages
• Published by: Candlewick February 3, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0763626910
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0763626914
• Book Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 12.8 ounces

From Booklist
Gr. 9-12. In this follow-up to Pagan's Crusade (2003), it is 1188, Jerusalem has fallen, and Pagan Kidrouck, the Arab-Christian squire, and his lord, Knight Templar Sir Roland, have returned to France, where Roland plans to ask his father and brothers to take up arms against the infidels--a very terrible idea, as it turns out. Pagan relates the story in a wry, often caustic voice that adds a bit of sanity to the events that swirl around the returnees--events that are pitted by danger, cruelty, and quite literally blood and guts. Jinks dramatically evokes a historical time that was particularly dark and dirty. Roland is a knight of honor, but his relatives are louts who like nothing better than fighting, using creatively coarse language, and killing animals--and people--for sport. A subplot about Christian heresy and a homosexual proposition for Pagan extend the story even further. Along with the drama and darkness, readers will find intensity and, yes, humor. Series fans may find other books set in the Middle Ages pallid after this one. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
"The setting is medieval, but the issues addressed have twenty-first century parallels. . . . Jinks's writing is the tour de force of young adult prose." —VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES

The year is 1188, and Jerusalem is in the hands of the Infidel. Upstanding Crusaders and their squires — like Lord Roland Roucy de Bram and Pagan Kidrouk — are returning to Europe, hoping to rally more knights to their cause. The sardonic young Pagan expects Lord Roland's family to be the picture of fortitude and good manners, but he's in for a rude awakening. Brutish and unfeeling, the de Bram clan cares nothing for the Crusades, or indeed for anything outside their neighborhood in France. Meanwhile, local unrest is brewing. Church authorities are duking it out with the de Brams over a group of "heretics" living nearby. And now Pagan and Roland, sworn to defend Christianity, are left to decide for themselves who to stand by — and whom to trust.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Pagan in Exile: Book Two of the Pagan Chronicles (Pagan) (Hardcover) What's everybody staring at?       All right, so you've never seen an Arab before. Is that any reason to stare? My hair's not green. My skin's not blue. It might be darker than yours, but dark skin is quite normal in my country. So I'm short. So what? I'm not that short. I'm tall enough to see over my own knees. Anyone would think I had a giant candle-snuffer growing out of my forehead.       Look at that fellow there, gawking away. Face like a gob of spittle, and he's staring at ME. Why don't you get yourself a mirror, Spitface, if you really want something to stare at.       A one-armed child makes a rude gesture. Runs away as I poke out a viciously threatening tongue. No backbone, the little coward.       "Pagan." Roland's voice is cold and stern. (Doesn't want his squire eroding the dignity of his arrival.) "Please behave yourself." The year is 1188 and the infidels have conquered Jeruaslem. Pagan, forced into exile, is accompanying his master, Lord Roland, to the castle of Bram, Roland's home. But the castle, cold, dark and filthy, is not Pagan's idea of how lords live and neither is Roland's family anything like the type of family Pagan imagines someone as noble and dignified as Roland should have. Pagan is soon caught up in violent clashes between both family members and the family and their neighbours. At the heart of the bloody feud stands Esclaramonde, a highly principled woman whose enigmatic character and heretical religious beliefs both disturb and attract Roland, while Pagan himself finds that he too has unpalatable truths to confront. I am absolutely bowled over by Catherine Jinks's writing style. She must have done a huge amount of research before writing the Pagan books to be able to create such a wonderful portrait of mediaeval life in so few words. The excerpt quoted above (which is the beginning of the book) is a good example of prose that literally cries to be read aloud. If you are a secondary-school teacher I urge you to try these books on your class.