The Walking Drum

Customer Reviews

• Do NOT read if you have anything to do for thenext 12 hours.  Nov 29, 1999 (22 of 23 found this helpful)

  One word to sum up this book. Addictive. Totally, completely, amazingly addictive. I was up till 1:00 am because I HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT! It just gets better with each reading. The period detail is fantastic. History teachers could certainly pick worse assignments although be warned, you may stand up your prom date because as stated before this book is impossible to put down!

  Read it if you love any of the following:

  History cool characters Love Swashbuckling Funny dialogue Fiendish villains (The guy at the end gets the prize as nastiest villain of ALL TIME)

  Read it, you will never regret it although your prom date might.

• One of three books to profoundly influence my life  Dec 13, 1998 (9 of 9 found this helpful)

  I was given this book for my twelveth birthday, and since then I have read it at least once a year. As a history major, I love to find books that reflect the truth of history in a beautiful and realistic way. Kerbouchard is a truly renaissance man who is on a quest to find his father, who may or may not be dead. In this quest, he travels mideval Europe, from the Christian lands of France to the Muslim lands of Spain and East to the steeps of Russia. What amazed me when I read this was that the middle ages were only the dark ages for western Europe; the Muslim lands were bright and alive and unoppressive. Kerbouchard's philosophy in life of learning for learning's sake is one I have adopted in my own travels through life.

• "YOL BOLSUN! May there be a road!"  Oct 6, 2005 (8 of 9 found this helpful)

  This is the story of Mathurin Kerbouchard, a sailor/druid/horseman/student (most of all...lol) and defender of all that is good in Moorish Spain (Very interesting period in itself.) and elsewhere.
  
  I find the story very similar to others that L'amour has done (some of them quite well) but this is the best. The all encompasing man view that he likes to have about his characters is even more interesting in this, where knowledge, if anything, is more of a tool even than skill with "a blade."
  
  This will bring to bud within you a desire to read, to contemplate, to sit in a tea house in the streets of Cordoba and enjoy thoughs...to rage across a plain on a beautiful Arabian mare, characteristic of the most precious breeding of any age...decend deep into ancient underground staircases seeking an escape from hunters...even relish the taste of water on lips almost too long parched, believing (perhaps truthfully) that you have never enjoyed something more...Anotherwards, It's a good read! Nothing too heavy, it had much the same effect on me as the Harry Potter series: just wanted to read it, nothing more. There isn't a wealth of knowledge here, just enough to make it rather interesting.
  
  Oh, yes, I particularly liked the part where the Bedouin boy speaks to Kerbouchard about the Syrian(?) camels. These are creatures much too forgoten in fiction. The camel is a creature just as worthy (or more) than a horse.
  
  
  It's better than three stars, but four was a bit of a stretch...
  
  Other recommended readings by this author: West from Singapore (Short stories about sailor/Captain "Ponga" Jim Mayo), The Haunted Mesa (about Anasazi mythology...very interesting. Here, according to my aunts who spent several years working for a native Anasazi, L'amour does his homework), and The Last of the Breed (about an American (Irish-Soux) pilot captured on a test flight, believed dead, and forced to attempt to flee a USSR prison and the brutalities of the Siberian climate alone). These are the four best L'amour books, in my and my family's opinion.

• This book rocks!  Jan 2, 1998 (7 of 8 found this helpful)

  The Walking Drum is the first historical fiction book that I've read. I was very impressed. I had read other books by L'Amour (the westerns), but decided they weren't my thing. When a friend recomended "The Walking Drum" to me, well... I cringed. But I eventually acted on faith. I am now a beliver.

  The great adventures of Kerbourchard kept me in suspence all the way through. I would finish a chapter, and be too excited to see whay happened next to sleep!

  Mr. L'Amour did an excellent job fleshing out the charecters as well as setting the scenes and moods. I enjoyed his attenton to detail, especially: the correct foods and titles of nobility. Geographical references were also a plus. I was able to trace in my head where Kerbouchard was traveling- enjoying the ride along.

  I would recomend this book to anyone interested in culture, history, fiction and fantasy.

  Excelent!

• THE BEST BOOK IVE EVER READ.  Sep 4, 1999 (4 of 4 found this helpful)

  WELL, I WAS IN STATE PRISON AND I CAN TELL YOU. THAT THIS BOOK IS VERY EDUCANTIAL AND EVERY TEENAGER SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. ME AND ABOUT 1500 PRISONERS TREASURED THIS BOOK. IT WAS THE BEST, EVERY BODY HAD TO SIGN A LIST, AND WAIT IN ORDER LIKE GROWN MEN. THANK YOU.