The Empty Kingdom (Mark of Solomon Book Two) [Hardcover]

Elizabeth E. Wein (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

In The Lion Hunter, Telemakos?the half-British, half-Aksumite grandson of King Arthur?was sent for his safety to stay with one of Aksum?s former enemies. When Abreha, ruler of Himyar, allegedly the boy?s protector, catches him in the midst of what appears to be treachery, he sentences him to a fate seemingly worse than death. Not only is Telemakos forbidden to see his beloved younger sister, Athena, but he is also commanded to reproduce the maps that Abreha plans to use in order to invade Aksumite territory. Countries away from his family, lacking any way to tell them what has happened, Telemakos must bring all of his subtle talents to bear in order to regain his freedom. The Empty Kingdom is a stunning conclusion to the Mark of Solomon duology?a triumph of historic suspense.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—In this sequel to The Lion Hunter (Viking, 2007), Telemakos, half-Aksumite grandson of King Arthur, has been accused of treason by the najashi of Himyar, in whose care he has ironically been sent for protection. As punishment, the boy is separated from his beloved younger sister, Athena, and forced to wear a bracelet of bells that announces his presence, so he can no longer explore the palace in hopes of finding the secrets behind the many intrigues that surround him. He is not able to communicate directly with his parents in Aksum, so he must use his wits to outsmart Abreha. Telemakos is an engaging character, a resourceful young man who is forced to make adult decisions that affect his loyalties and future, and the future of his country. Readers unfamiliar with the previous volume may have a hard time sorting out the many names and background, but fans of The Lion Hunter will find more of the danger, plots, and adventure found in that title. Filled with friendships and secrets, trust and treachery, this is a worthy entry in Wein's sophisticated look at ancient Ethiopia.—Beth L. Meister, Pleasant View Elementary School, Franklin, WI
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From Booklist

Wein concludes her Mark of Solomon duology, begun in The Lion Hunter (2007), with this equally absorbing title about Telemakos, grandson of King Arthur and heir to an ancient Ethiopian dynasty. Once again, the story’s richly imagined historical setting and scholarly underpinnings add great depth to the suspenseful political drama. As before, though, it’s Telemakos’ transformation from boy into hero and his fierce familial loyalty and love that are most affecting. Though a glossary, a map, and a family tree will help teens unfamiliar with the first book, this one will appeal most to those who enjoyed Telemakos’ previous adventures. Grades 7-10. --Gillian Engberg

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (April 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670062731
• ISBN-13: 978-0670062737
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,527,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Africa

More About the Author

I was born in New York City in 1964, and moved to England when I was 3. I started school there. We lived practically in the shadow of Alderley Edge, the setting for several of Alan Garner's books and for my own first book The Winter Prince; that landscape, and Garner's books, have been a lifelong influence on me.

My father, who worked for the New York City Board of Education for most of his life, was sent to England to do teacher training at what is now Manchester Metropolitan University. He helped organize the Headstart program there. When I was six he was sent to the University of the West Indies in Jamaica for three years to do the same thing in Kingston. I loved Jamaica and became fluent in Jamaican patois (I can't really speak it any more, but I can still understand it); but in 1973 my parents separated, and we ended up back in the USA living with my mother in Harrisburg, PA, where her parents were. When she died in a car accident in 1978, her wonderful parents took us in and raised us.

I went to Yale University, spent a work-study year back in England, and then spent seven years getting a PhD in Folklore at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. While I was there I learned to ring church bells in the English style known as "change ringing", and in 1991 I met my future husband there at a bell ringers' dinner-dance. He is English, and in 1995 I moved to England with him, and then to Scotland in 2000.

We share another unusual interest--flying in small planes. My husband got his private pilot's license in 1993 and I got mine ten years later. Together we have flown in the States from Kalamazoo to New Hampshire; in Kenya we've flown from Nairobi to Malindi, on the coast, and also all over southern England. Alone, most of my flying has been in eastern Scotland.

We have two children in elementary school. Both of them are avid readers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from a long-time fan, February 24, 2010

By 

mina - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Empty Kingdom (Mark of Solomon Book Two) (Hardcover)

what a powerful, exquisitely crafted conclusion to the mark of solomon arc. what i find most remarkable about telemakos is not necessarily his growth into a formidable, unforgettable young man so much as the path he takes in the process, all that ferocious courage and fear and unswerving loyalty for those he loves. it is heartbreaking, how he must pay for his experiences with scars. it is also utterly believable, and i would demand nothing less than that in my heroes. i loved too the way in which wein handles athena's own growth, both physical and not, and that tricky negotiation between mutual support and overdependence. the prose was, as always, beautifully measured, and i can't wait to see more of telemakos and co. in the future.

also, can i say how NICE it is to read arthurian-related stories that go beyond the (physical and racial) borders of england?? more please!

1 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Empty Kingdom Empty of Facts full of other things, January 30, 2010

By 

David Taye "David" (AA Ethiopia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Empty Kingdom (Mark of Solomon Book Two) (Hardcover)

I purchased this and another book from Wein's list. I thought she was going to do a fair job. Instead I discovered an extremely sloppy storyline and even worse facts. Wein seems to be running interference for the recent Ethio Eritrean war and on the Eritrean side. Everyone that is familiar with Ethiopian history knows that the region that we know today as Ethiopia is but a shadow of what those ancient Ethiopians and Axumites ruled. Yet Wein repeatedly misses this. She insists on a dubious and outright falsified peering of the Axumite Empire with what at that was Roman and Byzantine ruled Brittania. Axumite's contemporaries of Byzantine and numbered only 3rd in power next to the Persians and Chinese are reduced to entertaining with the barbarians from Brittania to the extent of intermarrying with them.

The ridiculousness doesn't stop there. Wein insults the history she writes about by not even respecting the hard facts that remain of it. When taken to task she argues her work is a work of fiction not history, but then rounds about and testily remarks that it is as factual as the records of that time allow it to be. Not so fast.

There was no record, NONE, of any interruption between the reign of Kaleb(Ella Asbeha) and Wazeb(Ella Gebre Meskel). She creates one just to insert her British caricature and gives him the title Ella Amida, yet another of Axum's kings. Is she trying to tell us in her non-historical history that no Ethiopian could suffice and we had to, alas and alack, rely on a barbarian to rule us.

So after all the claim of Ethipians never to have been colonized is false, after all Elizabeth Wein says so.

But not so fast. The entire Britanic saga is not just unlikely but impossible. Axumite coins may be found in britain for a number of reasons including commerce, but Britannic journey's to Axum were impossible. None were made. There were no records of "white hairs or blue eyes" anywhere in Axum's hagiography until well after the Solomonic restoration.

Finally Wein's politics gets in the way of her story telling, she seeks to give Eritrea, the 19th century Italian creation footing in 4th Century Ethiopia. This may be done to give the Eritreans a sense that this is their history too. Admirable but the story should not suffer for such political ambition. The contrivance of Telemakos as a white haired child is insulting to say the least. And the choice of names for people, "Ras Meder", "House of Neber" is inexcusably in its sloppiness. Those are not Axumite names or even names people would give to people. And Ethiopian monarchy are not organized by "houses". This is an imposition of a British mindset on a poor attempt at an Ethiopian story. Finally the contrivance of Goewin as a British Ambassadress that defies the age old customs forbidding females from entering monasteries is perhaps the most damning. Such thing would be punished by immediate and instant death to the offender. Axumites then were fervent about their rules. It is telling how disrespectful Wein is to the people she writes about, typical of the inculcation British education had one her, that she choses their most sacred institutions as the battleground for ancient feminism. Such acts would not have occurred and again had they occurred the Emperor or king would have been powerless to stop the guardians of the holy places from exacting swift and terrible retribution.

Overall while Wein writes well in general, she writes badly about Axum and overall about the Ethiopian Empire. She chooses to weave her own unfulfilled fantasy into the stories than to subsume her ego and her politics to the deserving and demanding story that needed to be told.