Altdorf (a Novel of the Forest Knights)
The Forest Knights, no. 1
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4.2 • 170 Ratings
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Publisher Description
Over 340 Goodreads 5-Star Reviews. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom.
A druid priestess enlists the help of an ex-Hospitaller warrior and a charismatic outlaw to fight Austrian tyranny in medieval Switzerland. A subtle blend of fantasy and history, Altdorf tells the events leading up to one of the greatest underdog stories of the medieval age, the Battle of Morgarten.
“Re-imagining the William Tell legend—without William Tell.”
At the end of the thirteenth century, five hundred orphans and second sons are rounded up from villages in the Alpine countryside and sold to the Hospitaller Knights of St John. Trained to serve as Soldiers of Christ, they fight in eastern lands they know nothing about, for a cause they do not understand.
Thomas Schwyzer, released from his vows by the Grandmaster of the Hospitallers, returns to the land of his birth a stranger. Once a leader of men, and captain of the Order’s most famous war galley, he now settles into the simple life of a ferryman. He believes this new role to be God’s reward for years of faithful service fighting the Infidel in Outremer.
Seraina, considered a witch by most, a healer by some, is a young woman with a purpose. A Priestess of the Old Religion, and the last Druid disciple of the Helvetii Celts, she has been gifted by the Great Weave to see what others cannot. Her people need her guidance and protection now more than ever. For Duke Leopold of Habsburg, in his efforts to control the St. Gotthard Pass, builds a great Austrian fortress in Altdorf. Once finished, the Habsburg occupation will be complete, but the atrocities visited upon her people will have just begun.
Set in medieval Switzerland, ALTDORF, a novel of The Forest Knights, is the first
book in a two-book series.
Customer Reviews
Altdore, the forest knights
Medieval storytelling with interesting plot and characters.
Compelling Characters and Story
Warriors plucked from medieval times and a classic struggle of desperate common folk fighting for their lives against the despotism of privileged nobility and twisted religion and corrupted justice. This author is willing to sacrifice compelling characters when the storyline demands it, because the classic battle of good versus evil often requires such sacrifice.
Excellent blend of history, myth, and fiction
Well told, with believable characters, good and evil. Horrific in places; not for those who will be terrified by reading of torture and rape. These scenes run throughout but are each part of the plot, and not made into the point of the book. I ended wanting to purchase the sequel. A few grammatical errors, the type auto-checkers will not find, such as "where" in place of "were". The work could use a human final proof reader. Not enough errors to make the writing cumbersome, however.