Arn
by Jan Guillou
- Series
- 4 books, The Templar Knight is number 2
- Genre
- Historical novel
- Age
- adults
About the series
Arn Magnusson grows up in 12th-century Sweden, partly on a large farm and partly with Cistercian monks, who teach him to read, to fight and to believe. At 17 he falls in love and is sentenced to twenty years of penance as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land.
The series follows him from the monastery to the Crusades and home again, and it paints a picture of how the Nordic countries became part of Europe in the Middle Ages.
In English the books are called The Road to Jerusalem, The Templar Knight, Birth of the Kingdom and The Heritage of Arn. The series isn’t fantasy, but it has the knights and the battles that a lot of fantasy readers love.
The books in the series
- The Road to Jerusalem (Vägen till Jerusalem, 1998)
- The Templar Knight (Tempelriddaren, 1999)
- Birth of the Kingdom (Riket vid vägens slut, 2000)
- The Heritage of Arn (Arvet efter Arn, 2001)
My thoughts
I’ve read The Templar Knight, and it’s the life of a knight without the magic, but with the same sense of honour, faith and battle. It’s a good pick if you want a Middle Ages that feels real.