The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour is his only book that takes place in the twelfth century. It follows Mathurin Kerbouchard in his various travels starting when he is conscripted as a galley slave while still in his homeland shortly after learning about his father’s supposed death. He is able to eventually escape through a combination of trickery and opportunity as he outsmarts the pirates who had conscripted him. From there he works his way through several areas of the Middle East as he works on expanding his knowledge and tries to find more information about his father. While he gains employment as a scribe and later as a traveling merchant he also falls afoul of several schemes run by local lords as they attempt to seize control over various holdings. In the process he also finds himself falling in love with various women who he saves or who save him as he continues his travels across the width and breadth of Europe from Constantinople to Paris to Kiev. Every time he falls he finds a way to pick himself right back up again.
This book was well written but I also have several potential issues with it as well. The story is actually pretty engrossing as you follow Kerbouchard and his various daring exploits across Europe. In terms of adventure it definitely is one of the more all-encompassing ones and covers a rather broad stretch of themes. It also does a pretty good job of explaining what is going on and how things tie together as the story sometimes circles back around to earlier events. At the same time it also frequently leaves things unfinished as it doesn’t always explain what happened to end certain storylines. More specifically the various events regarding the women Kerbouchard gets involved with after they split ways which makes it feel like those elements of the storyline are left unresolved. I know the story stays focused on Kerbouchard so it only makes sense to not cover what doesn’t involve him but I also just like having things wrapped up all nice and neat. This doesn’t overly detract from the story though as the story is still really good. The one thing I really didn’t like though was how easily Kerbouchard was able to handle everything. It often felt like nothing was ever really a challenge for him and it made him feel like an overpowered character or as someone who was too perfect and had too few, if any, character flaws. I like flawed characters as they make for a more believable story and this one didn’t feel overly realistic, especially in comparison to so many of L’Amour’s other stories. Don’t get me wrong as I did enjoy the story and I even rather liked it but it also did not have the same character quality that drew me in for some of his other works. Overall it was still good but I am also only giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
This book is an interesting example of historical fiction written by someone who predominantly wrote westerns. If you enjoy historical fiction, especially works with a high sense of adventure and action, than you should probably consider trying this one. It would also appeal to readers who like adventure books as well though I highly doubt it would appeal to readers who don’t enjoy that type of work. This is definitely more of a niche reader type of work it seems. There is some violence that is probably about the same general level you would see in a western and there are few adult references present and none of them are explicit. In my opinion this could probably be read by older teens or young adults but nobody younger than about fifteen. As always if you decide to try it feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.