Edwin: High King of Britain by Edoardo Albert

Edwin; High King of Britain by Edoardo Albert(Cover picture courtesy of A Well-Watered Garden.)

Debut historical fiction series vividly recreating the rise of the Christian kings of Northumbria, England

In 604 AD, Edwin, the deposed king of Northumbria, seeks refuge at the court of King Raedwald of East Anglia. But Raedwald is urged to kill his guest by Aethelfrith, Edwin’s usurper. As Edwin walks by the shore, alone and at bay, he is confronted by a mysterious figure–the missionary Paulinus– who prophesies that he will become High King of Britain. It is a turning point.

Through battles and astute political alliances Edwin rises to power, in the process marrying the Kentish princess Aethelburh. As part of the marriage contract the princess is allowed to retain her Christian faith. But, in these times, to be a king is not a recipe for a long life.

This turbulent and tormented period in British history sees the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon settlers who have forced their way on to British shores over previous centuries, arriving first to pillage, then to farm and trade–and to come to terms with the faith of the Celtic tribes they have driven out.

The dramatic story of Northumbria’s Christian kings helped give birth to England as a nation, English as a language, and the adoption of Christianity as the faith of the English.

[Full disclosure: I received a free paperback copy in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

I was actually pleasantly surprised with Edwin.  The first page left me a little bit skeptical because of the strange setting and all of the strange names, but by the time we get to the mysterious stranger on the beach that helps Edwin I was hooked.  Edoardo Albert has a very interesting writing style: he describes things quite well for the modern reader and yet he keeps an air of authenticity about his writing.  He really does stay true to the period in the words and actions of his characters but at the same time he doesn’t leave his readers confused either.  I’m very new to the period being discussed and yet I came out of the book not feeling confused at all.

Edwin is not your typical hero in modern tales.  He’s dark and broody and occasionally prone to wartime atrocities.  At the same time, he’s a good man in that he cares for his children tenderly and is always there for his friends (especially the ones that were with him in exile).  Essentially, he’s a man of contradictions because his actions hardly make him a hero but neither do they make him a villain.  Edoardo Albert does this balancing act extremely well and you’re left with the feeling that even though you may not exactly sympathize with him, you do understand him.

For historical fiction of this magnitude and scope, Edwin is surprisingly fast-paced.  We are swept along through Edwin’s victories that lead him to declare himself High King of Britain and eventually through his conversion to Christianity.  Hardly anything seems to go his way at first, but through sheer force of will Edwin eventually succeeds.  Whether he actually can hold onto his power is another story, what with all of the back-stabbing rivals who aren’t happy with his self-proclaimed authority over the whole island.  The ending was sad, but not entirely unexpected considering the fact that kings in the early years were far from long-lived.

Like I said, I was pretty skeptical about Edwin: High King of Britain but by the end of the book I have to say that I’m a fan.  I honestly can’t wait for the rest of The Northumbrian Thrones!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

Lia was a hard character for me to read, if I’m honest.  I’m not the type of person that’s overly self-sacrificing, but her decision to run on her wedding day didn’t sit well with me.  It felt incredibly selfish, especially when the livelihoods of two kingdoms and all of their subjects were at risk.  She didn’t even give her marriage a chance to work, but made a pre-emptive strike by running away and putting literally thousands of lives at risk.  I can absolutely understand her motivations, though I certainly don’t agree with them.  Still, Lia was not a bad character and by the end she was at least well-fleshed out enough that I actually found myself enjoying her.

My main problem with The Kiss of Deception is that it’s like a really old table: it sags in the middle.  Don’t get me wrong—Mary Pearson’s writing really is amazing—but her pacing is somewhat lacking.  Most of the story’s plot centres around the fact that you apparently aren’t sure which of the two boys Lia likes is the assassin and which is the prince.  What really puzzled me was that there seemed to be no ambiguity in her writing so the ‘big reveal’ was somewhat spoiled by the fact I didn’t know there was a mystery to begin with.  It was rather jarring, I’ll admit.

One of the saving graces of the story wasn’t just Lia’s character development, but the aforementioned quality of Pearson’s writing.  It really was awesome and despite the poor pacing I found myself revelling in the world she created.  It was vivid and real with some really beautiful descriptions that you don’t often find in YA fiction.  In my opinion it’s hard to comment on the world-building simply because we haven’t actually seen much of the world yet.  Lia spent most of her time in a small-town tavern, after all.  Still, from what I’ve seen I’m pretty satisfied and it almost makes up for the poor pacing and Lia’s character in the beginning.

So overall?  I’d have to say that The Kiss of Deception is more contradiction than deception but that doesn’t mean the book doesn’t have merit.  The writing got better as the book went along and there was finally something resembling a plot at the end of the book so I think I will end up reading the second book.  However, you do have to have a certain mindset to read this book and not feel repulsed by Lia’s selfishness at the beginning.  It does get better as the book moves along, however.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

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The Best and Worst of August 2014

This month was very bad posting-wise but now that the summer rush is done at work I think you guys can reasonably expect me to go back to my regular routine of daily posts.  I just need to get back in the hang of things, starting today.  As a consequence of my irregular posting, my stats were significantly lower than they were in July.  I only received 5,308 views as opposed to 6,344 but I expect things to go back to normal this fall as everyone falls back into their routines (myself included).

Here are the top posts this August:

1.  Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal

2.  How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour

3.  The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome

4.  Discussion: Your School Reading Experiences

5.  The Mad Reviewer 1,000 Follower Giveaway

None of these are all that surprising, really.  They’re either previously popular posts that have maintained their popularity for months (or sometimes years!) or they’re posts that naturally would attract a lot of attention like reading in school or $50 giveaways.  I’m definitely expecting my Hunger Games article to rise in popularity as kids start to do novel studies on the book this fall but I’m still predicting that Game of Thrones will reign supreme.

So what were my worst posts this month?

1.  Happy 2nd Blog Birthday!

2.  Living with Your Body and Other Things You Hate by Emily Sandoz and Troy DuFrene

3.  The Hittite by Ben Bova

4.  The Fires of Merlin by T. A. Barron

5.  The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

As usual, my reaction to the worst list is ‘meh’ at best.  None of these have featured before and they’re either outdated posts like the first one or books that aren’t necessarily bestsellers at this point in time.  There will be a new line up of ‘worst’ posts next month so I’m not going to lose sleep over any of these particular ones appearing here.

So how was your August?  Did anyone go anywhere interesting on holidays?

 

Book Blast: Operation: Genocide by Yvonne Walus

 

An inhuman agenda… A clandestine organization… And the killing isn’t over yet…
 

 

Publication Date: September 2013
Genre: Thriller/Murder Mystery

An inhuman agenda…

In 1982, Annette Pretorius lives a life of privilege afforded to those of European descent in South Africa, but when her husband is murdered, she discovers a shattering secret: he’d been commissioned by the whites-only South African government to develop a lethal virus aimed at controlling the growth of the black population–already oppressed under the cruel system of apartheid.

A clandestine organization…

The murder came with a warning to Annette from a secretive organization: keep our secrets or you too will die. Captain Trevor Watson, Annette’s former boyfriend, is appointed to lead the investigation. Watson’s loyalty is tested as the evidence stacks against his high school sweetheart.

And the killing isn’t over yet…

When the investigation points in a terrifying direction, Annette and Watson face a wrenching choice: protect those they love or sacrifice all to save innocents from racial extermination.

A refugee from communism and the bitter cold of Poland, I lived in South Africa for 16 years. It’s certainly not a trendy setting for a novel, and I know people on either sides of the political spectrum will find OPERATION: GENOCIDE controversial. By trying to portray what South Africa was like at the height of its apartheid era, by inspecting both sides of the coin, I’m sure I’ve managed to offend all parties.

Still, I’m not sorry. South Africa means a lot of things to a lot of people: lions in long yellow grass, diamond mines, apartheid, Nelson Mandela, rugby. All of those images are right, yet none of them – in my opinion – are representative of the misunderstood country or its people. None of them describe what it’s like to live in South Africa, both in the 1980s and today.

I’d like my readers to smell the red dust of the continent and to fall in love with Africa the way I did when I first set foot there as an impressionable teenager. I left my heart in Africa, and I invite you to do the same.

And the Winner of the 1,000 Follower Giveaway is…

I’m not one for much suspense, so I’ll just say outright that it was comment #6, belonging to Tammy Sparks who won.  Thank you so much to everyone who entered!  I really enjoyed reading your thoughtful entries.

Tammy, I won’t be able to contact you today because first I work and then I have to go to a wedding (groan) but we’ll be in touch on Sunday.  If you could contact me through the Contact page on my blog we can work out the details first thing tomorrow morning (or afternoon, depending on how late I stay at said wedding).