The Leopard Sword (Crusader Trilogy Series #2)

by Michael Cadnum

Overview

Ragged and exhausted from fighting in the Crusades, Hubert, a knight's squire, and his fellow crusaders board a ship bound for England. But the return home is neither quick nor easy. Hubert must use his sword against ships full of attacking infidels, and he is nearly slain at the hand of a vengeful knight. A shipwreck strands them in Rome, where the beautiful and brave Lady Galena nearly tempts him to stay. Instead, loyalty to his master prevails and they finally reach their beloved land-only to find that one of their group faces execution when he steps ashore. If Hubert is to save his friend's life, he must first save his own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440684852
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/16/2002
Series:	Crusader Trilogy Series , #2
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	233 KB
Age Range:	12 - 15 Years

About the Author

Michael Cadnum is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books for adults and young adults, including the contemporary novels Rundown, Heat, and Edge (all Viking) and the historical novel In a Dark Wood (Orchard/Puffin). Michael Cadnum lives in Albany, California.

Editorial Reviews

Michael Cadnum follows up The Book of the Lion, which PW called a "majestic novel" in a starred review, with The Leopard Sword. Hubert and Edmund, fresh from the Crusades, take on a covert challenge while sailing home to England.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 6-9-Set after the fall of Acre during the Crusades, this second book continues the adventure that began in The Book of the Lion (Viking, 2000). Now Hubert and Edmund are on their way back to England, facing many hardships and challenges along the way. Cadnum vividly describes the tedium and terror of the sea voyage as the Crusaders outrun enemy ships, survive a shipwreck, and arrive in Rome only to deal with the bands of criminals there. Hubert tells the story with candor. Though he hopes to become a proper knight, he does not glorify fighting and repeatedly describes the futility of battle, referring to war as a "butcher's craft." When they reach England, the men discover that Edmund's life is in danger. He had joined the Crusades after the master to whom he was apprenticed was arrested and killed for selling impure silver. Fighting successfully in the Crusades was supposed to erase his "crime." However, Prince John is trying to gain power in the absence of his brother, King Richard, who went off to the Crusades, and he puts a high price on Edmund's freedom. The book's exciting climax centers around a challenge accepted by Hubert to save his friend's life. Historical information is skillfully interwoven into this adventurous tale, making it a fine selection to use for interdisciplinary study.-Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Two squires and their knights struggle to make their way back to England from the Holy Land after the bloody Siege of Acre. In this sequel to Cadnum’s The Book of the Lion (2000), Hubert, squire to Sir Nigel and best friend to fellow squire Edmund, takes up the narrative. His description of their fitful travels demonstrates that 12th-century Europe was a lawless place in the extreme, and the characters find that they are little safer in their journey than they were on the battlefield as they move from pursuit by a Saracen ship to a brief respite in Greece to a Rome beset by gangs. This makes for an episodic story with little cohesion beyond the characters’ desire to return home and their feud with a rival knight and his page, the resolution of which contains the heart of the text’s argument: how much is one willing to fight, and for what cause is a fight justified? Hubert himself makes for an appealing character; he enjoys both a sense of humor and a clear-eyed understanding of himself, flaws and all. As he describes the action, he observes it, weighing his faith in God and his desire to be a knight against the squalor of actual combat. There is the tendency to wonder how much Hubert’s attitude is informed by 21st-century values; certainly his mentor, who has seen much more combat than he has, appears to have no such qualms. Cadnum writes in an author’s note that he wanted to explore the "terrible paradox—that caring responsible individuals can engage in acts of brutality." The narrative itself is caught on this paradox, moving from exciting skirmishes and jousts to Hubert’s moments of doubt, with imperfect success at finding an answer. The details of medieval Europe are vividly realized,the characters and their relationships are sympathetic, the action can be thrilling—but somehow it all adds up to less than the sum of its parts. (Fiction. 12+)

Kirkus Reviews