The Rose of Blacksword

Title: The Rose of Blacksword (1992)
Author: Rexanne Becnel (Dell)
Period: Medieval (1156 England)
Grade: C-

I read this book two days ago. And if it wasn't sitting in front of me I couldn't remember the heros name to save my life.

Rexanne Becnel's medievals are usually excellent. Maiden Bride is on my top 20 all-time favorite list. Her books can be dark and smart and are loaded with sweeping melodrama. The Rose of Blacksword is just boring. It isn't actively bad. It just is.

Lady Rosalynde is waylaid by bandit on her way home. After a series of misadventures to find aid for herself and an injured servant boy, Rose handfasts herself to an about-to-hang convict who refuses to divulge anything about his background. Rose hopes that once the handfast period of a year and a day expires she can forget about Blacksword and go on with her life. However, when Blacksword a landless bastard knight learns he has been handfasted to the only heir to a wealthy and titled castle he refuses to go quietly. She treats him shabbily. He claims to love her but most of his emotions are located in his pants.

She refuses to reveal the handfasting to her father. He forces Blacksword to become a servant as a mistaken punishment for saving her life. There is also the matter of why he was framed for hanging and a tournament to win her hand in marriage. The two mystery plots intersect with the villain being one and the same in both stories. A convenience that is usually only contrived by lazy authors. Becnel usually is not one.