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Christian Cameron

The Ill-Made Knight Audio CD – Unabridged, February 1, 2016

by Christian Cameron (Author), Saul Reichlin (Reader)

565 ratings

Book 1 of 5: Chivalry

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September, 1356. Poitiers. The greatest knights of the age were ready to give battle. On the English side, Edward, the Black Prince, who'd earned his spurs at Crecy. On the French side, the King and his son, the Dauphin. With 12,000 knights. And then there is William Gold. A cook's boy, who had once been branded as a thief. William dreams of being a knight, but in this savage new world of intrigue, betrayal and greed, first he must learn to survive. As rapacious English mercenaries plunder a country already ravaged by plague, and the peasantry take violent revenge against the French knights who have failed to protect them, is chivalry any more than a boyish fantasy?

Language

English
Publisher

Soundings Audio Books
Publication date

February 1, 2016
ISBN-10

1407961101
ISBN-13

978-1407961101
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Soundings Audio Books; Unabridged edition (February 1, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1407961101
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1407961101
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.3 ounces

Customer Reviews:
565 ratings

About the author

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Christian Cameron

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Christian Cameron (also Miles Cameron) is a military veteran and a life-long reenactor and history addict. He lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and daughter and one cat. He writes three to five books a year, mostly about history. Christian can be found on his website at www.hippeis.com or as Miles Cameron at www.traitorson.com

Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		26%
3 star		3%
2 star		2%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Robertson

Excellent... After a Fashion...

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019

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The books in this series are as well researched as any historical fiction I have ever read, and I've read quite a lot; and in that sense, they are truly excellent. You can learn much about the era by reading them, and they are quite entertaining. Sadly, the dialogue and the characters seem to step out of the 21st Century into their parts. Cameron does portray the importance, and ambiguity, of faith in the lives of his characters; and faith was an enormous part of the mind set of the day. That said, He never really gets his characters into the worldview of the times, and the dialogue would be more at home some 5 centuries after the events related. I understand why he does it. I know it makes for a more readable product. Nonetheless, it detracts from the book's worth for me. Hence, I deducted a star. Others may not feel as I do.

12 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A Rousing Start

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2021

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I suspect in the West every boy dreams, in those fair days of childhood, of being a knight. I know I did, despite knowing desperately little of the age, chivalry, or the reality of war. Such a connection is what makes William Gold's tale, despite a gulf of centuries and oceans, so compelling. A boy from a hard life seeks to be a better man, despite the travails of war and the baser instincts that seek to draw him to perdition.

Cameron is a master of the period, weaving his fiction into the very fabric of history. The cast is almost entirely drawn from actual knights and lords and soldiers, the battles and events - fantastic and brutal as they are - real, and all the more weighty for that. You feel weight of steel, hear the creak of lather, taste the dirt and ash as you read...but more potently, you feel the warm glow of camaraderie, the bitter sting of betrayal, the hope of new life, and exultation of victory as William across half a continent.

3 people found this helpful

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Justin G.

The Brothel Knight

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2022

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Not poorly written, but tends to drag and can be difficult to follow. The main character is about as chivalrous as a drug dealer. About the only sin he won't commit is rape.

If you want an escape into a world of honor where good men fight against evil, I'd avoid this like the plague. If, however, you want to read a story that is bleaker than anything imagined by George Martin (though less interesting), this is for you.

2 people found this helpful

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Gregory Mele

What Bernard Cornwell's "Archer's Tale" should have been!

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2013

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Christian Cameron has called this his best book. I'm not qualified to judge, as I have only read three other titles by this prolific author, but I know this: this is one good book!

I am a 14th century geek, so this is "my period", as it were, so of course, it is impossible for me to read this book without being drawn into the author's details: did he get the armour right, the clothing, the xyz minutia? Of course, Cameron is known for preparing for his work by immersing himself as a reenactor in the material culture of the periods he rights. This comes across vividly in The Ill-Made Knight, including the author's rather clever inclusion of the 14th c master at arms, Fiore dei Liberi, as a character so that he can authentically discuss what know of medieval personal combat.

All of this makes the trappings of the story more real. But without a good narrative - and a good narrator -you have a museum piece. And this was where the work shines, William Gold, our hero, is a 1st person narrator, telling the tale of his youth to the famed historian Froissart, and the author does a brilliant job of making him feel more like a 14th century man than a modern one with archaic speech. Gold's adventures as a camp servant, routier, squire and mercenary bring him in contact not only with famous figures of the Hundred Years War, but also the highs and lows of medieval society in the 1350s: violence, ransom, rape, prostitution and the ever-feared Plague. How he handles violence and voice, matters of faith and the struggle to balance the ideal of chivalry against the reality of war is what gives us a compelling character.

I said in my tag this was what Cornwell's work on the same period should have been. Here's why. I loved the Sharpe and Arthur novels, but when he came to the 14th c, it became clear that formula was replace rifles with longbows; stubborn, pig-ignorant and self-important officers with stubborn, pig-ignorant and self-important knights and you were good to go. Cameron doesn't do that. He isn't interested in promoting old tropes about the longbow, nor are his heroes and villains so neatly divided by class and station. This is most scene in William Gold's struggles to understand the idea of chivalry in a world of constant raid and chevauchee - a particularly destructive form of warfare the English put to good use in the 1350s and 60s. Gold becomes an apologist for chivalry - not in pretending that every knight is a good, chivalric man - quite the contrary - but in arguing that a warrior class without ideals, no matter how often they fail to achieve them, is one in which there is no "bottom line" to what becomes permissible. As a former military officer himself, one cannot help but wonder that Cameron isn't making a commentary on our own, modern sense of "total war".

The end result is a fantastic launch to a new series, full of action, adventure, humor and sorrow (the death of one character, late in the novel sat with me for days afterwards), but also a thoughtful look into the 14th century, knighthood and chivalry - a book that makes you think as it entertains. I truly can't wait to follow Gold on his next adventure.

36 people found this helpful

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alizar185

First time

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2018

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This was my first time reading Christian Cameron and what a year it was. I didn't realize it was "Historical" until i finished it and read about the author and that just increased my pleasure with this book and probably contributed to the fifth star.
This first book of 3 in the series is a first person read, or, a story teller if you will, which its perfectly alright with me but i thought i should include in the review.
If this is going to be your first time reading this period and you're at all squeamish about graphic depiction of hand to hand combat you may want to start with something a little more mild.
You certainly can tell Christian is passionate about this period in his writing. Great characters, good villains great pace to the story. All in all a great book and a fun read.
I'm now going to purchase the rest of the series from the kindle store. I highly recommend this book if you think you can handle it. Remember it was a brutal period in our human history. A real "eye opener" as to how these "Kings" and "Prince's" " acquired " their army's or soldiers. These men were "Professional soldiers" mostly for hire to the highest bidder, fascinating.
Enjoy

3 people found this helpful

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Darius

A drag !

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2019

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The headline for the book was supposed to start with the Battle of Poitiers. Unfortunately, the battle was narrated in a meagre way without any description of strategy, battle formations or indeed any drama and emotion. Instead it just concentrates on the individual skirmish of our lead character. In the aftermath the rest of the book follows William Gold on a journey throughout France. His character seems less realistic with every page turned. And there are many pages to be turned, all 450 of them, very few of them offering the reader any true excitement or emotion. Apart from a few episodes that jerk the reader and stop him from falling asleep, the storyline is incredibly boring. Other characters drift in and out of the storyline and our friend William Gold's ambition has no ends as he takes on knights in combat, meets the Pope, The Black Prince, Chandos, the Green Count - highly unlikely for a young squire. I'm afraid none of William Gold's exploits nor indeed Mr Cameron's other books will be filling my book shelves at my home I'm afraid.

3 people found this helpful

Dave

Slow start, but BRILLIANT

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2022

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I am a fan, apologise but I am.

I read the Red Knight series and was hooked and now tell everyone who has a passing interest in fantasy to read it.

This is historical fiction, which isn't usually a genre that I read usually, so I went into this with middling expectations.

How wrong could I be!!!

After what I felt was a slow start (if you download a sample, stick with it until just before the sample ends), it picked up and became a delight to read.

Historical accuracy is interwoven with story telling that takes you on the journey and the journey, while not being as entertaining as the Red Knight, is well worth your time.

One person found this helpful

JPA

Why is there not a 6* option?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2017

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That's right, I liked - loved - this book *that* much!

I'm not a re-reader of book's, but I am sure I will read this again one day.

I have a lifelong interest in this period and have re-enacted close to this period before. Because of that - but not solely because of it - this book, this tale, ticks a whole lot of boxes for me, including historical accuracy and a huge chance to learn a lot more, as well as gritty realism in not only its combat and exploration of their living at the time, but in the telling too. It truly feels like William Gold is telling us the story down the pub/tavern/inn. It does not feel like Christian Cameron is writing a story about someone telling a story. I was there, listening and hanging on every word. Truly.

The story spans years, following a London lad who wants to be a knight. He's led astray and does terrible things, caught up in an ongoing war in foreign lands. But what impresses me about our protag is his continuous want to be a better knight (man). He makes mistakes. He commits crimes and, truth be told, horrors, but he wants to be more - unlike many of his peers and above. And by Christ do I love him for it.

There is a lot about the day to day living here, but it is not dull at any point. It ties in. It works. And it works extremely well. I could gush about it forevermore.

I'm a fan of fantasy (he writes fantasy under Miles Cameron) and hisfic, including names in the latter genre such as Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden (two of my all time faves). In my opinion, this book did more for me than books I have read by those two gentlemen. And *that*, messires, is saying something indeed! I stick by it.

Hisfic fan or not, medieval fan or not, read this book and know a medieval soldier (William Gold existed!).

I'll stop myself now. But please, pick this up and read it and enjoy it!

4 people found this helpful

Clemens A. Schoonderwoert

A Masterly Knightly Achievement!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 25, 2016

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This fantastic book by Christian Cameron is the 1st Chivalrous exploits of the real Sir William Gold.
To start with, the book contains a very well documented glossary at the beginning, also there are three fine drawn maps of Poitiers itself, as well one drawing of Italy and France respectively, while at the end of the book you'll find a superb explained Historical Note.
Story-telling is of an absolute top-notch quality, for the author has certainly the ability to keep you spellbound from start to finish with his tremendous way of writing.
Also all the characters, whether they are mostly real and while some are fictional, come all superbly vividly to life within this astonishing tale about Chivalry with all it's good and bad.
The book begins with a wonderful prologue which is set in Calais in the year AD 1381, and it's there where our main real character Sir William Gold is starting to tell his tale about his life and his chivalrous adventures, and where one of the audience is a certain famous Geoffrey Chaucer, also very well known for his Canterbury Tales, but the book itself is divided into different sections, as to start with in AD 1356 with the Battle of Poitiers, followed by Paris AD 1357-59, while this is followed by Brignais AD 1362, and it ends in Italy in the years AD 1362-64.
The story is about Sir William Gold, who after been branded a thief joined the ranks of Edward, The Black Prince, as a lonely cook's boy, and when the time comes when you have to fight, even a cook's boy has to fight for his life at these Battles that will come his way, starting with Poitiers and all its aftermath.
What follows is a superb tale not only about Chivalry, but also about intrigue, betrayal and greed, and in this treacherous world William Gold must learn to survive if he wants to become what he always dreamed of, a great Knight.
Totally recommended, for this is story-telling at its very best, and that's why I like to call this book, "A Masterly Knightly Achievement"!

5 people found this helpful

MTGDUB

Readable, well-observed Medieval military fiction

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2019

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A gritty, well-observed and deceptively subtle military historical novel. Coming to this from Christian Cameron's fantasy books (written as Miles Cameron - see The Red Knight and others), I knew that Cameron could write fast-paced stories with compelling, flawed characters and well-observed description of medieval combat, but this brings it all to a different level. Set in the time of the 100 years war in the mid-1300s, and segueing into Italy in the time of Sir Richard Hawkwood, it's steeped in excellent historical and historiographical knowledge that doesn't get in the way of writing a fast-paced and compelling tale. The main character, William Gold, starts the tale no better than he must be, and if there is some path to moral growth, it's the one of virtú and honour - but again, leavened with human ambition, anger and greed. The conflicts of chivalric and knightly ideals versus the grim and brutal reality of hand-to-hand combat are at the core of this tale. Recommended, and looking forward to the next one.

2 people found this helpful

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