At first I was really getting into Lady Knight. I liked that it was medieval, with knights and epic battles. I was getting this whole Game of Thrones feel (even though I have only seen the show), since that show, too, had a large female knight that takes no crap.
I can’t even say I didn’t enjoy the book. It takes a little while to get the romance started, but it’s very clear who it will be between. Once it gets started, you feel for the two characters, as they are unsure of each other’s feelings and they both care for each other so much that neither wishes to risk the friendship for their feelings. But they do, and some very subtle sex scenes ensue. All in all, for a romance novel especially, there was not enough sex. I did like what sex and intimacy was there, but there was not enough sex.
Also, the author used some words in an interesting context. I think perhaps they were going for antiquated uses of certain words, but really it just left the modern reader kind of confused as to what the author meant, as I know I certainly don’t use those words those ways.
[spoilers/trigger warning follow]
[trigger warning for rape] My main complaint with Lady Knight however, was the surprise rape. Late in the story, one of the main characters has to marry, as her widowhood is no longer profitable for the realm. Her lover, the other main character, gives her a magic ring to make her new husband impotent so that she will not have to be bedded. So there is the hint or possibility that she may have to sleep with her husband that as the reader you can accept, however, it is then the new husband’s ill-tempered brutish son that decides to rape her because he believes her to be wonton. There is no evidence of this, it just happens randomly some 20 pages before the end of the book and then the two main characters simply leave and the story ends.
I could have (and mostly did) forgive the other things I didn’t like in the book, but surprise rape in a story that didn’t need it isn’t fun. It felt like a cop out. Like the author simply created an easy out for her ending.
I wouldn’t recommend Lady Knight, but if you’re really desperate for a medieval story and can look past the rape, then give it a whirl.
