Pagan in Exile (Pagan Chronicles, #2) by Catherine Jinks

Pagan in Exile (Pagan Chronicles, #2) Reviews

• 
  Tessa

  3.5
  Not quite as delightful as the first book, but still lots of fun. The stream-of-consciousness narrative is tricky to do well but this series nails it.
• 
  Riv

  Can I say that I'm obsessed with The Voice?
  <3Pagan<3
  This quartet is definitely a favorite, though I really didn't like the ending (because of Pagan-love and Roland-love, not because it was bad) and also, for similar reasons, I didn't like what was going on with Roland and Esclaramonde.
  Almost cried at the ending. The weirdest books are tearjerkers for me.
  
  Another thing about the voice; this book has a really interesting writing style. It uses sentence fragments, but not because of the character's capabilities to speak English. The fragments paint a picture. For example, (not from the book) "Here they come. Over the wall. Dodge the cart. Watch out, lady! Over the ditch. Under that stand. Through the door, and...safe!" See? Enough fragments to send any English teacher to the ER, but you know exactly what's going on. Awesomeness :)
  
  Well, anyway, I devoured this book, like the first one.
  
  <3
• 
  August

  I'm cursing myself for having taken so long to read past the first book in this series. Despite really liking the first book, it's taken somewhere around eight years for me to finally pick up the second, and it does not disappoint. I think I enjoyed this one more than the first book.
  
  I'm not well-versed in the history of the Crusades, so some of the historical references are likely going over my head, but as this book is much more firmly centered on local, family politics, the historical references are happening in the background and aren't so necessary to understand in order to enjoy the story. In this second book of the series, Pagan and Roland are back from the Crusades, and they have approached Roland's father to ask his help in raising an army to reclaim Jerusalem. Pagan quickly learns that the rest of the Roucy clan is nowhere near as saintlike as his venerated Roland. The pair quickly becomes embroiled in a conflict involving a local monastery and a colony of heretics.
  
  Jinks' fast-paced present-tense writing keeps the pages turning, and the plot unfolds behind the tapestry of a compelling family drama. Roland and Pagan, now friends as well as master and servant, show time and time again how much they need each other. In turns funny and heartbreaking, the relationship between these two young men shifts and changes as Pagan learns more about Roland's past. While the writing seems at times to be somewhat juvenile due to Pagan's sarcasm, this is one of the things I enjoy most about Pagan as a character. And somehow, Jinks manages to balance Pagan's witty, sarcastic tone with somber, tragic scenes in such a way that Pagan's uncertainty and grief is felt even through the veil of his humor.
  
  The characters are fully-realized and complex in their motivations: as we learn more about Roland's upbringing, we start to realize what sets him apart from his siblings. Jinks doesn't spell a lot out for readers - she drops hints, gives information, and trusts readers to fill in the blanks, which I absolutely adore, and which Jinks pulls off so well. On the surface, the book is a funny romp through medieval France, but there is so much going on beneath that - where does justice become revenge, or something even baser and more primitive? How can you know if a person is good or bad when they seem almost to be two different people in their kindness and their cruelty? Is it okay to turn your back on family and duty when these two things are changing who you are, and perhaps not for the better?
  
  All in all a stunning sequel, and I can't wait to get through the next book, as I'm sure it will only continue to get better from here.
  
  One of my favorite things about this series so far is the relationship between Pagan and Roland, which is good, because that seems to be hings around which the entire series operates. In the first book, Pagan is alone and uncertain, and comes to the conclusion that he needs to stay by Roland's side because he doesn't have anyone else; in this book, we see Roland coming to same conclusion. I was also happy to see them shedding some of the master-servant relationship - while Pagan is constantly taking care of Roland and anticipating his needs, it's refreshing to see Roland reciprocating that (beyond warning Pagan to stay away from "bad influences"). I don't think it's at all a stretch to say that Pagan and Roland love each other. I can't see either of them ever acting on that love, but it exists - I'm sure both of them consider it a brotherly love more than anything else.
  
  Judging by Roland's reaction to his brother Jordan having feelings for Pagan, I would say there's a bit of jealousy there (protectiveness?), but also reluctance on Roland's part to admit how important Pagan is to him. Regardless of any romantic feelings they may or may not have for each other, Roland and Pagan do have a deep affection for one another, as well as a deep loyalty. There are so many different ways you can love someone, and so many different ways you can define that love - in the end, the specifics don't really matter, and I applaud Jinks for writing a story with such a nuanced relationship.
  
  Also, I am so pleased that there is an actual canon queer character in this series, because so many novels neglect to do so when it is so easy to have that representation. I had Jordan pegged as gay from the first scene - I can spot a queer at a thousand paces.
• 
  Fatima Sarder

  "My lord, I'm safe and happy with you.' In God's name, Roland, why do you even ask? 'Where you go, I will go.”
  - Pagan
  
  Somehow, the acidic, sadistic Pagan has something to care for. I'm not sure how the transition happened, sentence fragments can only tell you so much, but he's turned into a very likable character (not that I didn't like him in the first book). The poor boy has something to live for.
  
  Jerusalem is sacked, Pagan and Roland return to Bram (Roland's home) and it's a shock. For Pagan. Which translates wonderfully to the reader. Who knew the man-of-marble, he of Saint George holiness and beauty came from such a barbarian, god-forsaken background? Roland Roucy de Bram's family are lunatics!
  
  This book was more intense than the first one, with lots of different emotions. I missed the light-hearted feel.
• 
  Molly

  Saladin is victorious and the Knights Templar thought to have survived are "sent home", well are at least sent packing and this send Pagan and his knight to France and the baronial home of Roland, third son and crusader. Roland sees this as an ample time to recruit for yet another Crusade. Pagan sees it as a time of doing time. Southern France is not Jerusalem and the ancestral home is worse that sleeping in the Jerusalem streets. Still, Pagan endures the trials set before him and Roland in this very foreign land. The sardonic subtext continues as well. The reader is left wishing that Pagan and Roland had never left Jerusalem. Although you can always go back, going home is never the same.
• 
  Ms. Patterson

  This book continues the adventures of Pagan, squire to Lord Roland, a Knights Templar who fought in the Crusades. At the start of this book Pagan and Roland return to Roland's home in France, hoping to recruit others to return with them to Jerusalem. What Pagan finds there is absolutely horrifying. Lord Roland's father and brothers are brutes involved in a local dispute, where violence is met with violence with no end in sight.
  
  I really like Pagan's voice, but the plot was drawn out and dull. I had a hard time staying focused to finish it. (Of course I was reading it during my 2020 "forced staycation," so that could be a factor. I have the other two books in my TBR, so I will read them at some point in the near future.
  
  C rating.
• 
  Ivy

  Outstanding follow-up to the first, this book is a lot darker and sadder than the initial installment. Some scenes are so visceral that I was expecting them before I even cracked the book. The hunt scene and the final sequence have lived in my mind for so long that when I read them over it felt as thought I already knew the words that would be on the next page. You can really feel the amount of study that's behind these works - Jinks being a medieval scholar isn't just a tagline in the backflap. Though I think this series is supposed to be for teenagers, adult readers will get just as much if not more out of it.
• 
  Lana Del Slay

  So I'm not much more coherent than when I finished the book because, um, all-night gaming bender = not enough sleep. Nevertheless I will try to give you something more than "OMG Roland/Pagan 4eva!" Because really, when it comes to these books, that's my default setting.
  
  A quick note about accuracy: Jinks got honours in medieval history. Indeed, while we may think of it as a modern name, "Jordan" was in use at least in the early 13th century, contemporary to this story. That said, and I did go look at the
  most accurate resource online, I am not sure everyone and his sister would've had what look to me like modern surnames. Germain Bonace is plausibly related to a guy named Bonatius, and Esclaramonde's father might have been Maury at that, but in the nobility, surnames were hit-or-miss. Indeed, "surname" is misleading. What was given in medieval Europe was a byname, which is what Bonace and Maury might be. Actual heritable surnames weren't a guarantee even among the nobility. Having two such families in close proximity ("one of the Morlans, Ada" and the whole Roucy de Bram clan) sounds odd to me, and I am not even touching the question of Pagan's naming.
  
  Pagan in Exile picks up pretty directly after Pagan's Crusade; Roland and Pagan have come home to Roland's family holding, Bram. Everything's in disarray, which is apparently business as usual, and can I say? Jinks does a great job of conveying the grossness of the situation. I doubt I could read this book on a shaky stomach. It's a relief when we get out of the manor-house setting because everything else is cleaner. Seriously. Even accounting for medieval standards of cleanliness, this place is disgusting.
  
  Though I know he's meant to be a Christian Arab raised in a monastery, Pagan sounds like something out of Mel Brooks. He's a smartarse. He was in the first book, he will be in the third, and I haven't read the fourth or the fifth but I'm guessing his reputation will precede him there. Jinks does a great job showing the impact of ten years in a monastery on Pagan; we know he can read and write, and he recognises passages from the Bible where Roland is clueless (203):
  
  "Do you remember the prayer that Esclaramonde recited? When her friend died? You said you knew it."
  "It wasn't a prayer, my lord, it was a gospel."
  
  Roland really isn't educated if he only knows the one prayer. Even I can recite the Our Father. All right, maybe I'm a bad example, since my default (and cracktastic) response to "May the Force be with you" is "And also with you", fully expecting to hear "Lift up your hearts..."
  
  The subtlety of Roland turning to the Cathars' cause is so well done that by the time I realised what had happened, it was Pagan warning Roland off instead of the other way around as in the beginning of the book. But the "heretics", except for a few pesky details, aren't so strange. They're just not following church rules. Were Catharism to reemerge today, it would look like the Shakers went vegan and adopted a quasi-Catholic church structure, which is not that strange to me. Not my thing, but not bad people.
  
  It's better if the average reader doesn't know what will happen to the Cathars.
  
  The overarching conflict wasn't that compelling for me. I guess I'm not an action-and-intrigue person. What I am is a relationships person, and the relationships between these characters are fascinating, if a little tragic. (Roland to his family: oh, just give it up, honey, they're the medieval equivalent of white trash.) While it is probably accurate to the time, the modern, enlightened reader in me hated that Jordan, the token gay man, was also the token creep. It was like watching
  one of those educational films from the sixties. Meanwhile Roland and Pagan are so devoted to each other that by the end, I'd have believed Pagan was warning Roland off Esclaramonde because Esclaramonde was the Other Woman! The first three books of this series read that way: Pagan is a little too devoted to Roland to just be his squire, and Roland reciprocates the devotion. That's the weird part. Why would Roland be that fond of Pagan? It goes above and beyond "this guy is Lawful Good and chivalry embodied". Roland's never really had anyone to love or care for, perhaps? Damn, if I could sit these guys down with a psychoanalyst...!
  
  There's something that'll emerge in the third book that might explain Pagan's reaction to Jordan's advances. It's not exactly apart from the raised-in-a-monastery thing. It's more like an unintended consequence. Bet you can guess. Straight is one thing; reacting with revulsion is... historically accurate but a case of
  Unfortunate Implications in a YA novel.
  
  This was never my favorite of the three I read (my library refuses to stock the other two -- time to go hunting); overall I love the series, and you will never persuade me that Roland and Pagan wouldn't be together in this day and age. But that was definitely then, and my slash goggles do not apply to Crusaders. No, not even with modern writers at the helm.
• 
  Esme

  I read this series as a teenager in the mid-2000s and loved it. I thought it was funny, and even had its heart-breaking moments.
• 
  Achoo

  Almost as good as the first in the series, but sad as hell :(
• 
  Cecille

  3 1/2 stars
  
  "Pagan in Exile" is the second in a four-book series about Pagan Kidrouk, a Christian Arab from Jerusalem who joins the Order of the Temple. In this book, 17-year-old Pagan serves as the squire of Sir Roland Roucy de Bram, a Templar Knight, who has gone home to recruit men for the Second Crusade. However, Sir Roland's family is content to stay and wallow in dirt, eat and drink to oblivion, and fight petty wars with neighboring fiefdoms.
  
  The reader experiences the story unfold through Pagan’s eyes and thoughts, and at first I found the chopped up sentences Catherine Jinks uses disorienting, as well as how Pagan can sound devoted to his master one moment and belligerent the next. Still, the book provides a good glimpse into the everyday squalor and violence that characterized the Middle Ages. I would want to go back and read the first book "Pagan's Crusade", as well as read the third and fourth books "Pagan's Vows" and “Pagan's Scribe”, if only for more glimpses into life during that period.
• 
  Lady Knight

  Catherine Jinks does it again! Typically sequels either fall flat or are much better than the original. I'm happy to report that "Pagan in Exile" is just as good as "Pagan's Crusade"! Pagan is still an ideal narrator with his biting wit and brilliant observations about everything.
  
  This time the story picks up a few months after the battle for Jerusalem. Pagan and Lord Roland have travelled back to France (Languedoc) and intend to stay with Roland's family. Pagan expects them to be much like his master: the picture of uprightness, fortitude and manners. What he walks into is a family of disgusting habits, filthy mouths and zero respect for anything even approaching holy. He's horrified and is starting to think that Lord Roland might be a changeling.
  
  Pagan and Roland are forced to deal with all sorts of catastrophes, unwelcome advances and insults as they try to recruit for the crusade to retake Jerusalem and keep themselves as pure as possible.
• 
  Shannon

  Very addictive, once you get into it. Pagan, as always, is colorful and full of the quips, but the setting here is far different from the one in the lively first novel, "Pagan's Crusade." Here, the majority of the story takes place within the Bram castle, with Lord Roland's vulgar relatives. Let's just say I lost my appetite for three days I spent reading this book in my spare time. After finishing it, though, I immediately checked out the third, "Pagan's Vows." This series is such a hidden gem!
• 
  Alison

  I thought this book was a great read; it had humour, action a touch of romance and it was practically full of emotion. It's the second book in the series and I thought this book was just as good as the first book.
  Roland, Pagan's squire returns to his homeland.. He meets his father but his father and family are as about as welcoming as (and I quote) ''a steaming turd.'' Pagan meets many new people, some bad and some good.. A series of events start to take place and Pagan and Roland find themselves in deep trouble..
  
• 
  Gloria

  Just finished this one, and I will say I really enjoyed this a bit more than the first. This time we are filling out some of Roland's back story, by going to medieval France. Interesting examination of heretics, I think-- something I really had grasped when thinking about that time period.
  
  Looking forward to getting to the next two books...
• 
  Nathan

  If you enjoyed "Pagan's Crusade", as I did, you'll like this too. Catherine Jinks has developed a formula --witty dialogue, gritty action and educational historical settings-- that should appeal to young adult readers. I think I'm getting a little too old for these, but I'm not quite there yet. Quick and easy.
• 
  Melody

  I didn't like this one as much as I liked the first, but I do very much like Pagan as a character. Roland's turning out to not be very bright. The setting this time was France, and there's a lot of action but the plot wasn't strong. The only good thing was Pagan's voice- and it was good enough that I'll be picking up the next book in the series. With trepidation, but still.
• 
  Aphie

  I love this series, and this book (the second) is probably my favourite. Although Pagan's acerbic wit is more restrained than in the other books he narrates, this is a compelling, easy read that illustrates life in Dark Ages France.
• 
  Jenny

  Since Jerusalem fell to Saladin, Lord Roland and his squire Pagan have traveled to Lord Roland's home to recruit soldiers for another Crusade. All is not well with the family, and soon Pagan and Roland are caught up in a land dispute . . .
• 
  Catherine

  Pagan and the Lord Roland have finally made their way to Roland's home in England. Pagan is very surprised at the frankly revolting family that Roland has come from. A sad tale with a very sad ending, I found it really hard to read because Roland's family is so hateful and sad.
• 
  Clickety

  Both fun and insightful. The characters are painted with a broad brush and become archetypal, though they did not seem (quite) stereotypical to me. Fascinating depiction of a heretic commune.
• 
  Jean

  I liked these books but I can't get junior high students to read them. I think they don't have enough back ground knowledge about the middle ages to understand them.
• 
  Lisa

  A bit darker than the first book, it's like the Empire Strikes Back of the series.
• 
  Catherine

  I don't remeber what this book was about... So I guess it wasn't that good... If it was I would have something better to say.
• 
  Autumn

  Not quite as enjoyable for me as the first Pagan book, but still a really enjoyable book with great characters.
• 
  Terry

  In the same vein as the first Pagan book, we are shown France in the late 1100s and learn a bit about the Cathar heresy.
• 
  Melanie H.

  The continuing hilarious adventures of Pagan and Lord Roland as they try to take on Lord Roland's awful family.
• 
  The Third Place A Teen Library

  F JIN pagan bk. 2
• 
  Louise

  An easy read. More like a stream of consciousness than a narration, but that only adds tothe impact of Pagan's words as he describes his feelings and fear, and his loathing for Roland's family.