Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here, at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you're continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.

While I got The Land Beyond The Sea by Sharon Kay Penman last week, I couldn't really decide which book to compare it to, either one of her old books, or perhaps another novel?  I decided to go with another novel,  and thus I decided to compare it to Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha which also talks about this time period but is a bit more inaccurate I would say? (For one its determined that neither Richard nor Saladin ever met, and somehow I cannot imagine a christian of that particular era would fall in love with a Jewish woman. The marriage would be forbidden unless the Jew becomes a christian, and should a christian choose to become a Jew, swift death would follow...) 

The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman

Published Date: March 5th, 2020

(From Goodreads)

1172. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as 'Outremer', the land beyond the sea. Outremer was a young realm, one baptized in blood when the men of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Saracens in 1099. Those crusaders who stayed had to adapt to an utterly new world, a land of blazing heat and exotic customs and enemies who were also neighbors.

Balian d'Ibelin had long enjoyed a relationship of mutual respect with Saladin. But Saladin was set upon taking Jerusalem by storm, seeing it as a blood debt, retribution for the massacre in 1099. Defeating Saladin would have been a challenge for any king, but while Baldwin IV was intelligent, educated, charismatic, courageous, and dedicated to the welfare and protection of his people, he was also doomed by his affliction with leprosy. However, he fought his disease as fiercely as he fought the Saracens, though, and when he learned that Saladin was planning to invade Outremer, he won a remarkable victory over a much larger Saracen army at Montisgard in 1177; Saladin himself barely escaped capture. Balian took part in that battle, too, for he was loyal to his young, dying king. Eventually, Balian's finest hour would come, for he convinced Saladin to accept a peaceful surrender . . .

Filled with drama and battle, tragedy and romance, Sharon Penman's latest novel tells the epic story of a clash of cultures that continues to resonate today.

Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha 

Published Date: 2010

(From Goodreads)

Saladin, a Muslim sultan, finds himself pitted against King Richard the Lionheart as Islam and Christianity clash against each other, launching a conflict that still echoes today.

      In the midst of a brutal and unforgiving war, Saladin finds forbidden love in the arms of Miriam, a beautiful Jewish girl with a tragic past. But when King Richard captures Miriam, the two most powerful men on Earth must face each other in a personal battle that will determine the future of the woman they both love—and of all civilization.

      Richly imagined, deftly plotted, and highly entertaining, Shadow of the Swords is a remarkable story that will stay with readers long after the final page has been turned.