Second in the Stephen trilogy of historical romances. These are set during ‘The Anarchy’ - the earlier English Civil War during the reign of King Stephen, not the War of the Roses or the later period commonly known as the English Civil War. They are also pretty true to period, so make uncomfortable reading with the general brutality and treatment of women and the lower classes, especially the non-free serfs. If you are expecting a book that panders to twentieth century sensibilities especially relating to romance, these are books you should not read.

See the third book for a review of all 3.

Pretty good. It's interesting the different views of Hereford in these three books - this one is his book, so of course we get a deeper view. Some of it's interesting, but the persistent terror of the future gets annoying after a while - he keeps falling into melancholy for no reason that makes sense to him, let alone the reader. Then it turns out he's a prophet...and everything he's gone through is pointless. Hmmph. So in this book, I like the romance better than the background (it may be accurate history, but it's painful to read). Elizabeth is so convinced that her husband means to suppress her - or she'll suppress herself through her attraction to him...and Hereford is completely oblivious to her fears, for a large chunk of the book. Once he figures it out, he comes up with an excellent solution (though he doesn't mean it exactly that way). This book also leans heavily on the trope of misunderstandings, like most of Gellis's historical romances. And like all of them, the best part of the book is the characters - very rich interactions. ( )

http://shelfandstuff.blogspot.com/2009/02/knights-honor-by-roberta-gellis.html ( )