A Kingdom's Cost by J.R. Tomlin

Eighteen-year-old James Douglas can only watch, helpless, as the Scottish freedom fighter, William Wallace, is hanged, drawn, and quartered. Even under the heel of a brutal English conqueror, James's blood-drenched homeland may still have one hope for freedom, the rightful king of the Scots, Robert the Bruce. James swears fealty to the man he believes can lead the fight ag...moreEighteen-year-old James Douglas can only watch, helpless, as the Scottish freedom fighter, William Wallace, is hanged, drawn, and quartered. Even under the heel of a brutal English conqueror, James's blood-drenched homeland may still have one hope for freedom, the rightful king of the Scots, Robert the Bruce. James swears fealty to the man he believes can lead the fight against English tyranny.

The Bruce is soon a fugitive, king in name and nothing more. Scotland is occupied, the Scottish resistance crushed. Only James believes their cause is not lost. With driving determination, he blazes a path in blood and violence, in cunning and ruthlessness as he wages a guerrilla war to restore Scotland's freedom. James knows he risks sharing Wallace's fate, but what he truly fears is that he has become as merciless as the conqueror he fights.


I adore historical fiction, there’s something so seductive about dipping into another era. This book is a good example of how it can be handled without boring the reader, which is one of the major issues when it comes to this genre. Too often writers bog the story down with details, either to make sure the reader understands exactly what the differences in time are or to show how much he or she has researched. I was happily surprised with the way this story was crafted, with a good balance of description that added ambiance more than empty words and action that propelled the plot forward.

I must admit I am biased, since Scotland and Ireland are two of my loves, especially as locations for books, but even with that not-quite-impartial view, I think the setting was well established with lots of the cultural phenomena infusing color into a medieval story.

The characters were amusing. A whole range of personalities mixed together to keep the reader either chuckling or nail-biting in concern. I loved the military strategies of the time, the way that the author managed to describe them without it becoming a play-by-play, not an easy task.

It was also interesting to see the interactions between the men and the women during this time period, especially when, at one point in the story, groups of highborn women and soldiers are all thrown into the wilderness together with their king.

I can recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. It is part of a series, so you might just have to buy the next one also.