I am so surprised

Well, imagine my surprise to find that this book, The Burnished Blade, still can take my imagination back in time. I'm at chapter 18 already, and Pierre, the young man who lost his parents at the story's beginning ten years earlier is about to start a voyage to Constantinople. I had forgotten how much knowledge I gained about the time from this reading. The fact that blood letting was the most common cure for all illnesses has been a fact that stuck in my mind for years. And I think this book I remember reading that actually made me see that there were differences in cultures.

Now as I reread the story and especially after researching several historical fiction sites, I realize that this book definitely fits into the romantic fiction category. But when I first read it, it was the story of the boy's adventures that I followed and they were not romantic.