| Title | : | The Dragons of Archenfield (Domesday #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0749025697 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780749025694 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 231 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 1995 |
The Dragons of Archenfield (Domesday #3) Reviews
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Another rich, rollicking tale of Ralph & Gervase on the trail of Domesday Fraud. The usual characters, strong but lovably flawed heroes, villains vile and not so much, damsels in distress but nevertheless strong in their own right, love and hate in equal measure and a satisfying ending.
This time along the Welsh Marches. The period and historical details are fascinating, around which runs a story that kept me engaged & turning the pages, to a bit of a cliffhanger!
A sort of Medieval Starsky and Hutch if you will, the good bits and plenty of period banter.
What’s not to like? It may or may not be your cup of tea, but I love this series! -
CAWPILE 6.57 3.5 STARS
The third in the Domesday series and sadly the last one I currently own.
I really love the main characters in this series- the friendship between Ralph and Gervase is precious and is one of the main reasons why I want to continue this series.
Didn't like the sexual assault/rape in this book by one certain character, I felt like it wasn't necessary to tell the story. You can write someone as the bad guy without them dragging off a 15 year old girl and raping her much to his men's amusement.
This is an older book, written in 1995 but even so....just yuck.
Otherwise I really enjoyed the story, the setting, the politics and I will continue the series sometime. -
further adventures of the duo now in deepest herefordshire in the welsh marches , when a saxon landowner is burned alive in his manor, most think its the welsh but there is more then meets the eyes as gervase is kidnapped. enjoyed the storyline in 11th century England as the story is played out on many levels.
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Not mad about the mystery, but here we meet Golde; the lovely Saxon ale-brewer who enchants Ralph. We also encounter the hysterical Archbishop Idwal of Wales, complete with his stinky sheepskin cloak
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Very entertaining!
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The series continued to improve with each outing, so glad I am rereading hem again. I only read three or four in the past and hope to read them all now. Thanks Alison & Busby for the ARC!
"DOMESDAY IS COMING ! In 1086, England's mighty king, William the Conqueror, sends out surveyors and census takers to record the resources of his land and its people."
This exciting story starts with an attack and horrific murder on a man and his holdings. It appears to be Welsh marauders because they left a red dragon imprint in the dirt, but was it? Three important men apparently had laid claim to the same tract of land that the King's agents were coming to investigate.
Gervase goes missing in this saga and Ralph seems to find a soulmate? A must read to understand this volatile era post Norman Conquest. -
Who is behind the murder of the Welshman, will Golde and Ralph come together and Why is Richard Orbec constantly watching over his lands and allowing no one to enter ?
I read this book and found it hard to put down. So many little mysteries , a great who done it !! -
The Domesday Books are a treat.
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I am enjoying this series so much! I can see myself reading them over and over.
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A good outing for the Domesday book inspectors.
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#3 Domesday medieval mystery series set across England in the 1080's. Ralph Delchard, a knight, and Gervase Bret, a lawyer, travel across England with their retinue resolving land disputes and investigating claims and set tax rates for the Conqueror. In this instance they are going to Archenfield, near the Welsh border, where resentments among the Welsh still run high against the Norman conquerors as well as the Saxons.
A disputed portion of land is sought by two sworn enemies, but the third man who has claim to it is suddenly burned to death, trapped in his own home with a red dragon carved in the earth and colored with cow's blood from the man's own cow. The red dragon is the symbol of Wales, so nearly everyone thinks the murder was done by Welsh insurrectionists, but the man got along peaceably with his neighbors and had no personal squabble with the Welsh, and Ralph and his team feel that the killing had a very personal element to it. Did one of the two men coveting his land kill him so brutally or was it another, more personal, matter? Ralph and Gervase are determined to find out, and during their investigation are threatened by both of the powerful landowners and Gervase is captured and tossed in a dungeon--by whom, he doesn't know.
I figured out one of the plot twists ahead of time but the main mystery remained a mystery til near the end. I quite enjoy this series, set in one of my favorite historical time periods. I like both Ralph and Gervase, although they are quite different men--and their secondary characters are also now quite familiar. Wonderful period detail, interesting weaving of real historical events with fictionalized details. Excellent as always, looking forward to the next, although they are getting harder to track down--I think the library will need to cough up the next one. -
First Sentence: He was coming down the hill when they struck.
Norman soldier Ralph Delchard and Breton lawyer Gervase Bret travel around Britain to resolve disputes to ensure the information in King Henry’s Domesday Book is correct. Archenfield in Herefordshire is situated in the English/Welsh border. There is a conflict as to who owns the land. When the men arrive, a wealthy landowner, and principal witness to the conflict, has just been burned alive in his home, a Welch lion filled with blood curved into the soil in front of his house.
Marston’s writing has a wonderful voice. His characters come to life for me. The two men, Ralph and Gervase, are companions and friends but opposite in temperament.
They travel with the often annoying Canon Hubert and Brother Simon who is terrified of women. We learn a bit more about Ralph as he talks about his late wife. In this book, we have Idwal the Welch Archdeacon about whom even Brother Simon comments “Blessed are the deaf…for they cannot hear him.”
It is that humor that offsets the occasionally gruesome action. Marston’s books make me think of Shakespeare; exciting, suspenseful, battle scenes and sword fights, duplicity, betrayal, humor and a touch of romance. There is a wonderful discussion between Richard Orbec, an English landowner, and Ralph about war being murder.
Marston’s sense of time, place and historical detail is wonderful. There was one portent, which I shall forgive, a surprising twist and an ending I loved.
I highly recommend this book, and series, to anyone who loves historical mysteries.
THE DRAGONS OF ARCHENFIELD (Hist Mys-Ralph Delchard/Gervase Brest-England- VG+
Marston, Edward – 3rd in Domesday series
St. Martin’s Press, 1995, US Hardcover – ISBN: 031213472X -
King William of England (as in the Conqueror) is ordering a comprehensive survey of his entire kingdom to be known as the Domesday Book. His agents Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret are off to the Welsh border to investigate a claim to some hundred acres there. But one of the main witnesses is murdered and Welsh-English tensions threaten to erupt into full scale war.
I enjoyed this series, and as I read this book, I remembered reading it several years ago. But the rather nonchalant approach to some horrific violence is a little off-putting. I know that times were brutal, but I'd rather not read the details. One Welsh nobleman casually hacks the forearm off a peasant and casually rides on, while the victim moan and cries in agony. Did such things happen? I'm sure they did. But it wasn't necessary to the story to include that.
Other than the violence, the characters vary from well drawn to stereotypes. The action never lets up, which is good, but these books are not so much mysteries as thrillers, I guess. For fans of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael, this will be much darker. And for fans of more modern hard boiled crime, there is a lot of history to wade through. A slightly odd mix, but I will read the next one in the series. -
The third book in the Domesday series. In this one, King William's auditors are at the western edge of his kingdom, just barely outside of Wales. The men they are investigating include to wealthy Norman lords and the son of a Saxon thegn who has lost much of his family's holding since the French took over England. Still, he is liked by his neighbors, and no one can understand the horror of finding him burned alive in his house.
So Gervase and Ralph, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon must find out not only who owns certain lands, but who killed one of the claimants. In the process, Gervase is kidnapped and Ralph falls in love with a woman he never would have expected to have found suitable. They are assisted--and annoyed--by a Welsh priest who has a heart of gold, the patriotism of all Welshmen, and a mouth that simply will not ever be quiet. They also make love matches, break marriage contracts and clear up a few minor land-appropriation issues.
A very good book. Well-drawn in character and in scenery. -
Edward Marston is a busy author, balancing an Elizabethan theater series and his Norman conquest era Doomsday series. This series pairs a warrior with a lawyer as they follow up on the plans of William I (William the Conqueror)to tabulate all of his new holdings in England in what is known as the Doomsday book.
This book mixes superstition, politics, religion, and plain old human treachery involving murder for various kinds of gain. While the characters are interesting and clearly defined, and the politics and history are engaging, I am not a fan of head-hopping point of view changes, and Marston has a habit of entering almost everyone's head. This is useful sometimes to build suspense, but it happens far too often and makes the book plod along in places. Nonetheless, it is a good read for the history and mystery buff. -
The Domesday crew ride again, this time to a county bordering Wales. A patch of land is once again being disputed, and once again, a claimant is killed. But are the killers Welsh raiders, as they appear to be, or part of a plot to grab land?
This entry in the series is a fun read. There’s plenty of drama, as Gervase is kidnapped and Ralph must fight a duel in order to stave off a full-scale border war during the siege of a castle. More drama means that in some ways, it’s bit less cerebral than the other books, but that’s okay. It will be interesting to see if Ralph, the ladies’ man, has really settled down, as he seems to have at the end of this novel. -
This is the third book from a series that is very difficult to find. I loved it.
Edward Marston pens enthralling mysteries during an exciting and interesting time of history, the Norman Conquest of England and the ensuing "Domesday Book" I am only sorry to discover him when all his books are not readily available.
He provides incites regarding the relationships of Normans, Saxsons and Welsh for the history buff. For those who love mysteries he provides an interesting group of detectives a knight - Ralph, a lawyer Gervase, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon. Marston deftly combines mystery, action and romance in a historical setting. -
c1995: Edward Marston aka Keith Miles read modern history at Oxford and puts it to good use in this series of novels. My first impression is that I did not enjoy this one as much as The Ravens of Blackwater. I can't quite put my finger on to the reason. I did like the camaradie between the antagonists (Ralph, Gervase, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon) and the ending - which was most just! Recommended.
