Renegade – Robyn Young

Read as part Y of the “Along the Library Shelf” reading journey.

Chosen because

None of the few books in the Y section leapt out at me, but they did include a few from Robyn Young’s two historical trilogies, “Brethren” and “Insurrection”. Although not my usual fare, the spirit of the A to Z journey demands trying new authors and unfamiliar genres, so I selected the second book of the second trilogy (which also happened to be the least voluminous at a mere 400+ pages).

The Review

The Insurrection trilogy centres on Robert the Bruce, contender for the Scottish throne, which (depending on your view of 1300 AD politics) is vacant and/or subservient to that of England. King Edward (not called the Hammer of the Scots for nothing) has a mission in life, just about accomplished, to unite the four ‘home’ countries under his single rule.

In Renegade, Robert Bruce is playing a dangerous game. He yearns for a free Scotland, preferably under him as king, but to get there he has to play the long game, biding his time and bowing the knee to Edward while the various factions north of the border resolve themselves.

The nominal king, John Balliol is in France seeking backing for his reassertion of independence; the Earl of Buchan a.k.a. ‘The Black Comyn’ harbours hopes of his own, and is a sworn blood enemy of the Bruces; and William Wallace, Braveheart himself, is still on the loose creating mayhem with his battle-axe.

Dissimulation, treachery, armed combat, life in court, and personal anguish, mix to form a frantic picture of Robert’s world, against which he pursues his ambition.

It is an enjoyable enough read that is more of an adventure story than a history lesson. But as ever with historical fiction I find it hard to disassociate the fiction from the history, continually wondering which incidents (and characters) are fact and which made up (or interpolated); particularly, as in this case, when my knowledge of the period is sketchy or flawed. Helpfully, in an afterword, the author makes it all clear.

Read another?

Inevitably as part of a trilogy the reader is left hanging, so the temptation is there to find out what happens in the third volume "Kingdom".