El Campeador

by Griff Hosker Book 2 in the Reconquista Chronicles series.

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4.5(851)

Rodrigo de Vivar rises in a Christian Iberia divided as much by dynastic rivalry as by warfare with the Muslim taifa states. His reputation as a warrior grows while King Fernando lives, but the king’s death divides his inheritance among competing heirs and turns former allies against one another in a struggle for power.

Rodrigo’s skill and independence make him valuable to rulers who do not fully trust him. Fighting in a peninsula where Christian and Muslim leaders can be allies in one campaign and enemies in the next, he begins to acquire the reputation that will become the legend of El Cid. The novel focuses on the unstable politics behind that legend, where loyalty to a lord may conflict with loyalty to land, kin and personal honour.