This book was so hard to get through. Maybe I went in with the wrong expectations, but I just did not get this one. I finished it just to see what would happen to the characters, but I'm not necessarily sure it was worth it. I had no idea how any of the characters felt the entire time.

Shame, because I really loved the Stravaganza series. Perhaps it's time for a reread! ( )

It's thirteenth century Southern France and Elinor, a young noblewoman, has little say in her own future. She is secretly in love with a much older Troubadour called Bertrand. Bertrand is travelling extensively to warn others of the crusaders who are sweeping through the country and attacking those who don't share their religion. He is a member of a religious sect that the powerful Catholic church wants to destroy. After being promised in marriage to an old man Elinor runs away disguised as boy and a troubadour.

Their story continues as Bertrand and Elinor separately journey through a land at war. ( )

I like the beginning of Troubadour, though it can sometimes be a bit confusing. In my opinion, the author wrote too much about the war, and not enough about the characters. ( )

From the back of the book: Elinor is in love with Bertran, a troubadour. But her parents will not hear of the match and Elinor is to be married to an elderly nobleman. Fearing the prospect of an unhappy and loveless marriage, she flees her castle to find Bertran, unaware that southern France is on the eve of a terrible war...

This is one of the most incredibly boring stories I have ever read. Essentially it’s a history lesson with a very clichéd plot that is barely mentioned due to every other paragraph just going on about the war. I love history but I nearly fell asleep, ended up skim reading the last 100 pages (didn’t miss anything important, story ended exactly how I expected).
Elinor is a very spoilt character, naturally I can understand why a 13 year old girl wouldn’t want to marry a guy in his forties but the way she tries (unsuccessfully) to commit suicide was rather hilarious. I should point out to anyone who’s like ‘OMG PEADOPHILE!’ that it was the custom then for a man (a noble one at least) not to marry until his thirties and usually he married someone half his age.
The role of a Joglar, or a Joglaresa was one of the most interesting parts of the book but unfortunately even this failed to entertain me. ( )

Troubadour is an interesting book, that readers of most genres should enjoy. It is written fairly simply, in the sense that it is an easy book to read. The vocabulary isn't particularly difficult, and any period terms are generally explained in the prose (with a handy glossary at the back in case you forget).

In fact there was only one problem that I had with the historical aspects if the book, and that was the definition of France. In my mind, France is as it is defined now. But according to the map in the book, the south of France was a region known as Occitania. Now this in itself isn't a problem, but it would have been nice to have known this at the BEGINNING of the book. Consequently, "the French were attacking" confused me, given that I was under the impression it was a civil war.

But other than this slight confusion, I found myself enjoying learning history while reading a novel. Of course it's not perfectly accurate, it's fiction, but it was an interesting experience, that I'd be happy to repeat. In fact, I really loved the first two parts (of three).

The third part however, feels rushed, sometimes unrealistic and somehow wrong. Obviously the war had to be won by the historical victor, but the fictional main character's end-story seems to disregard many of the threads that began the book, particularly what I would consider the main one, the love interest.

But before this final part, the feelings and emotions of the two main characters, Elinor and Bertran, are acutely described, and they seem to be very real people.

So while this book isn't in my normal reading genre, it has left an impression in my mind that perhaps I should read more historical fiction. The plot weakened towards the end, which was disappointing, but the first two parts, in my mind, more than made up for that. If you can't stand a book with a weak ending, this probably isn't for you, but if you read to appreciate a good writer, then buy/borrow/steal* this book as soon as possible.

*Do NOT steal the book, that was a joke. ( )