About half way through the 1087 pages of the book I found myself thinking about the author as much as the characters. Where was the passion and mysticism of the times? Where were inspired and lofty thoughts arriving from middle ages faith? Perhaps the author does not believe in these things and couldnt imagine them.The plot and detail about the middle ages are interesting.But the wooden characters seem to reflect the amoral and secular people of our times and are cast backwards into the middle ages. This is Hollywood stuff.Perhaps the book was meant to be made into a film.