Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

100 Must-Read Medieval Historical Fiction Novels

For discussions of historical fiction. Threads that do not relate to historical fiction should be started in the Chat forum or elsewhere on the forum, depending on the topic.
Post Reply
User avatar
Rowan
Bibliophile
Posts: 1462
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I love history, but it's boring in school. Historical fiction brings it alive for me.
Preferred HF: Iron-Age Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

100 Must-Read Medieval Historical Fiction Novels

Post by Rowan » Tue September 12th, 2017, 1:47 pm

Can't recall how I found this link from BookRiot, but I did scan through it and found over 30 books I hadn't heard of which interested me. Some of our members are even on this list like Susan Higginbotham and C.W. Gortner and Elizabeth Chadwick. Of course there may be others of our members who made it on the list, I just don't know who you are. ;)

100 Medieval Books

User avatar
red805
Avid Reader
Posts: 303
Joined: August 2008
Preferred HF: I like a series the best - more to look forward to after one book ends. Masters of Rome, The Century Trilogy, & the Outlander series are some of my favorites.
Location: Southern California

Re: 100 Must-Read Medieval Historical Fiction Novels

Post by red805 » Tue September 12th, 2017, 8:01 pm

He missed one of my favorites - The Falcon of Palermo by Maria R. Bordihn. In looking up Maria Bordihn on Amazon, it looks like she's written another book - Die Kaiserin von Ravenna, but my German is very elementary & it looks like there is no English edition at this point, even though the publication date is 2012. I'd love to see that in English!

User avatar
Lisa
Bibliophile
Posts: 1153
Joined: August 2012
Favourite HF book: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Preferred HF: Any time period/location. Timeslip, usually prefer female POV. Also love Gothic melodrama.
Location: Northeast Scotland

Re: 100 Must-Read Medieval Historical Fiction Novels

Post by Lisa » Mon November 27th, 2017, 11:25 am

Thank you for the link Rowan, I only just got to it now but there are lots of interesting sounding books on there that I've never heard of! I only own 16 of the titles mentioned and haven't even read them all yet...

User avatar
Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Re: 100 Must-Read Medieval Historical Fiction Novels

Post by Margaret » Wed May 23rd, 2018, 4:15 am

What a great list! I've read quite a few of the novels on it, but not nearly all, so it will be a great resource for my TBR.

Some of my absolute favorites are on the list: Illuminations by Mary Sharratt, The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse (proof that a really good YA novel can be just as enjoyable for adults as for teens), A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter, Down the Common by Ann Baer (not the usual ladies-and-knights-at-court setting, and truly a must-read for anyone serious about novels set in the Middle Ages), and Katherine by Anya Seton. For Dorothy Dunnett, I would pick the last novel in the Lymond Chronicles, Checkmate, although maybe that's not fair, because one really has to read the previous 6 Lymond novels to appreciate (or even comprehend) Checkmate. But the whole Lymond series counts as medieval must-reading, I think. And for Sharon Kay Penman, I would pick the standalone novel about Richard III, The Sunne in Splendour, as her most important medieval must-read, though many of her others could also count as must-reads.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

User avatar
Nefret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2994
Joined: February 2009
Favourite HF book: Welsh Princes trilogy
Preferred HF: The Middle Ages (England), New Kingdom Egypt, Medieval France
Location: Temple of Isis

Re: 100 Must-Read Medieval Historical Fiction Novels

Post by Nefret » Thu May 31st, 2018, 12:55 am

Thanks for the new TBR list. :)
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}

Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”