Pretty good historical fiction covering a relatively underappreciated time in history. This series follows Antonio, the son of a knight executed for false crimes, who falls in with Rodrigo de Vivar, known as El Cid. This one has a bit of a slow start with a lot of setup to establish our main character, but in the middle third it picks up and starts moving briskly. There's some politicking, some fighting, a large-scale battle that's done pretty well.

The Lions of Al-Rassan this is not. The prose is pretty sparse, and it's clear this novel was self-published as there's some odd word choice and some funky grammar throughout that an editor would have caught, but those are minor nitpicks in what turned out to be a fun novel. If I had to make a comparison, this book is similar to Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles trilogy, though not written quite as skillfully.

A good start to a series covering some history that doesn't get a ton of love.