Lady Knight by L-J Baker

Lady Knight by L-J Baker

Bold Strokes Books, Inc., 2007.

Overview: Lady Knight is set in a pseudo-Europe where Crusaders for a religion with four gods have to contend with the infidels’ magic swords, and Riannon, a lady knight—who is often criticized for not being much of a lady—and Eleanor, a beautiful, witty, and wealthy widow, can fall madly in love. While this book, more than any other I have read so far, doesn’t meet our criteria of books where being gay isn’t an issue, the main characters are all positive about it, including the one who has to come to terms with her sexuality, which softens the hate from the minor characters a bit.

My reaction: This was a pretty good read. I was a huge fan of the romance, which was front and center for the majority of the book, and was so desperate for them to end up happy together that I actually couldn’t make myself read the last quarter of the book for a little while. That said, the romance is really all that sucked me in. I had a problem with the religious crusade that, while engineered by a somewhat unsavory lesbian high priestess, was left essentially un-criticized. The “infidels” were basically reduced to plot devices with tattooed faces and swords that could cut through armor without even touching the victim, and while I understood that she was a product of her times, I resented Riannon’s unquestioning participation. While it annoyed me on one hand that we didn’t get much world-building detail about the history of the war between the infidels and the “not-Christians” (I read the book, but don’t really know that there was a name for the collective religion of the four gods…), it’s probably for the best in the end since what there was irritated me. More love and sex scenes than war scenes? Sure, I’ll take it!