I loved 'In Honor Bound' and really liked this novel, the second in Miss Dodson's 'Chastelayne Trilogy', though I confess I did not love it as much as the first. As before the novel was quite historically authentic and the author has clearly taken great pains to make the language of the characters authentic too.

Readers of the first book will love ‘seeing’ the characters from it again growing, developing and having to face new challenges. Tom the brother of Philip was one of my favourite characters from the first book, so I particularly enjoyed the way that this novel focused on him.
As with many other readers, I hated seeing him hurt and mistreated by his wife Elisabeth, who repaid his love and affection by slapping him in the face, both literally and proverbially. I can also fully understand why other readers are so annoyed by her shrewishness, and over possessive jealousy which caused her to condemn Tom as a lecher if he so much as talked to another woman. Yet for all this she was willing to believe that she was wrong, even though she was too strong-willed to admit it, and all her disgraceful treatment of Tom was essential to the storyline.

Again, the attitudes and values of the characters reflected those which would have been common at the time, and, unlike the characters in Robin Hardy's 'Medieval' series the Latter Annals of Lystra they do not hypocritically hold some people subject to these standards and others as exempt, or condemn some people for immoral and disreputable behaviour and regard it as perfectly acceptable for other people to do things which are worse. The author is also clearly familiar with the legal and political conventions of 15th century Europe and England, and details of these really add a more realistic edge to the story.

There were a few historical issues, such as the mention of characters riding in carriages which were extremely rare in the medieval times and two characters fighting with rapiers which were not used until at least a century after the time the story is set.
There were a couple of scenes which did seem a little implausible in their details such as Tom engaging in single combat with an expert swordsman yet not wearing any armour, or the sheer absurdity of King going off to deal with potentially a potentially dangerous situation without any reinforcements or an armed escort.

There was much more emphasis on Romantic rather than Historical content in this novel than the first, which was one of the reasons I did not always enjoy this novel quite so much as the prequel, but this content worked well with the storyline and was presented (usually) tastefully and sensitively.

Personally, I did not feel that the 'sexual' or rather Romantic content was ever too graphic (unlike that in Robin Hardy's books) or that the author ever actually went too far and described sexual acts in detail, she always stops short of doing this and more important knows when to stop so as not to stray beyond the bounds of taste and decency.

I also feel that there is more of a commitment to and emphasis upon truth and truthfulness in this series than in others. The characters are flawed, but they are honest about what is right and wrong, and about their own behaviour and others.
Elisabeth for instance willingly admits that she was responsible for her adulterous liaison any only engaged in it to ‘get her own back’ on him when she wrongfully believed he had been unfaithful, whereas other authors would have tried to lay the responsibility entirely upon Tom’s shoulders.

Altogether, another great instalment in an excellent series that far surpasses many others in quality and content, but is sadly under appreciated. The only things I did not like were
1. The cover image of the paperback version, which is whimsical, silly, unrealistic and inaccurate.
2. The fact that is book is out of print

I look forward to the third and final novel, but the feeling is bittersweet knowing that it will be the last in the trilogy.
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