I don't think there exists a competition for the ugliest book cover but, if there were one, this image would reasonably compete for a prize. Yet, the novel behind the ugly cover deserves a comment.
None of us can enter the mind of other people, but a novel writer must be able to do exactly that and to manage the characters he creates in such a way that they ring true in the mind of the readers. It is a nearly hopeless task especially with historical novels where the writer and the reader together attempt to recreate a world that they never directly experienced. Sometimes, though, it leads to flawless novels such as the "Memoirs of Hadrian" by Marguerite Yourcenar. I can't say what Emperor Hadrian would look like if I could meet him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he were exactly like the ghost that Yourcenar summoned.
But let me go to the matter I wanted to discuss here: the story of how the Catalan Company of the soldiers called the Almogavars fought a series of campaigns in Greece and in Asia Minor against Greeks, Turks, and other peoples around the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th. The company was led by Roger De Flor, also Roger von Blum, who was treacherously killed by his Byzanthine allies. It is a story told to us in the book the Crònica, written by one of the Catalan commanders, Ramon Muntaner (1265 – 1336). Not a novel, but an excellent book that reminds me of the "De Bello Gallico" by Julius Caesar. When an author knows what he is writing about, he writes well.
But every age needs to rewrite history according to its canons and, for us, the adventures of the Catalans can be seen as useful material to build the modern literary form called the novel. A form that, by the way, didn't exist in Europe at the time of Ramon Muntaner.
And that's the origin of Anderson's "Rogue Sword." Anderson (1926-2001) is one of the recognized masters of classic science fiction and he used to be, and still is, one of my favorite writers. But I recognize his limits and here they appear more clearly than in other novels of his. When he wrote this novel, Anderson was a little over 30 years old, already a mature writer in terms of writing techniques, but not yet able to master the rhythm and the structure of a complete novel.
So, what did Anderson have in mind with "Rogue Sword"? Possibly, the idea was to write a picaresque novel. Indeed, from the first scene we enter exactly that kind of mood, with the protagonist running away all naked from the fury of a husband who surprised him in bed with his wife. The scene is masterfully written, as most of the novel is. Apart from the various scenes of seduction, Anderson did his homework and he tells us of the Mediterranean world in a way that makes us almost see the colors, smell the smells, feel the breeze. Just think of how he notes that when sailing ships form a convoy, they must all be of the same shape and size, otherwise some will be faster than others and the convoy will disperse. Anderson never was the admiral of a Mediterranean medieval fleet but these are the kind of details that make a historical novel believable. The novel is true to history, it takes place after the death of Roger de Flor and features text taken directly from Muntaner's chronicle
The novel has more good points, one is the female characters. Na Violante de Lebia Tari, the femme fatale of the story, is more than a little overdone, but she is believable and wonderful. The Circassian girl, Diansha, is lovely, and the Greek widow, Xenia, is well described and human. It is what a good novelist should do, care for his or her characters.
But where the novel fails - and fails badly - is with the protagonist, Lucas Greco, never really making himself believable. One problem with picaresque novels is with the motivation of the protagonist or protagonists. What is that they want to accomplish? Mostly, it seems, they want to seduce as many women as they can and climb the social ladder as high as possible. But that makes for a repetitive an uninteresting plot.
And this is the problem with Rogue Sword. Lucas' character is consistent, but never really interesting. Anderson uses the partially omniscient viewpoint, which is the easiest way to write a novel, but also the way to write a sloppy one. So, we always know what Lucas thinks, but he thinks like a 20th-century character. He despises slavery and bloodbaths and he is a nice boy in all circumstances. But that's not the way we expect a Medieval rogue fighter to behave.
Where the plot really fails is at the end, where Anderson tries to make ends match with a totally unbelievable final battle royale where Lucas manages to kill all his enemies and gain the love of the girl he wanted. I don't have to tell you that it would never work in real life, but it doesn't work even in fiction -- it is pure nonsense that leaves the reader wonder how a professional author could write such tripe. Unfortunately, it is rather typical of Anderson to ruin a perfectly good novel with a final stretched way beyond credibility, but so it goes. As I said at the beginning, writing a novel is a monstrously difficult task.
Next post, we'll see how Elide Ceragioli has interpreted the same age and the same events, taking Roger de Flor as the protagonist of her novel. Overall with better results than Poul Anderson, but with defects, too.
