Our reading book: BRAVEHEART

As others have rightly pointed out, this novel does have its faults and weaknesses, but on the whole I found it entertaining. I normally read non-fiction, but I liked the movie so much that I felt that I had to read this book.

This would not be a particularly good book to rely on for a history lesson. Randal Wallace butchers history a bit in order to make a juicier plot. Though I would like to think that just as exciting a story could be told without sacrificing accuracy, I must admit that his technique works at times. For example, Randal Wallace portrays an affair between Scottish commander Sir William Wallace and French Princess Isabella that didn't and couldn't have happened. Randal Wallace also writes an epilogue which has an air of sober history, but where he's still running with his wildly revisionist story. He tells us that Edward II's reign was sad and brief. Sad, yes, but I wouldn't call a 20 year reign brief!

A blurb on the back cover makes the mistake of refering to Sir William as a highlander. Even Randal Wallace doesn't make this mistake himself.

There are also other little mistakes, such as giving the name "Stewart" to a character who is little more than a peasant. I'm no professor, but wasn't the name "Stewart" reserved for persons holding an important office in this period?

Despite these negative points, though, the book has its strenghts. There is romance, drama, tragedy, humor, action, and there are interesting characters. Though I favored the movie over this book in many ways, the book does deliver some bits that the movie doesn't. There are two separate scenes in the book that appear as one combined scene in the movie, and actually that's to the movie's credit.