It was fun to read this book as a historian of the 12th century, but as a general reader not so much. I couldn't really tell when the plot was starting; there was so much exposition and reminiscing. It might have been a better idea to just start the book when the protagonist was a child, since the author spent more time explaining what had happened than what was happening now. Constantly, conversations between two characters were interrupted so the protagonist could spend several long paragraphs remembering/explaining events of years ago. But it wasn't terrible. I liked the protagonist Thurstan well enough and thought the plot (when it actually meandered towards happening) was interesting. But had there not been so much wandering, I would have grasped the significance of the events more readily rather than wondering whether they were just side quests.