From Publishers Weekly
Alder's clunky debut charts the rise and fall of King Harold, as seen by the fictional Evyn, the king's loyal Welsh servant and foster son. A regular Horatio Alger hero of Saxon England, Evyn finds his promising career as a storiawr (wandering storyteller) stopped short when his tongue is cut out by the high-born ruffians who killed his father. A few days later, Evyn's uncle sells the mute boy into slavery on the vast estates of Lady Ealdgyth Swan Neck, who, for some reason, arranges for the boy to be taught to read and write. Later, Evyn leaves Ealdgyth's household to serve her lover, Harold, Earl of Wessex. At this point the narrative really bogs down, becoming essentially a star-struck account of Harold's ascent ("It seemed to Evyn that all the power of the Saxon people was concentrated behind the muscle and bones of the Earl of Wessex") and his defeat at the hands of William the Conqueror. Characterizations are wooden and oddly distant: it's hard to get a sense of Harold's repeatedly emphasized charisma from Alder's clicheed phrases. A wealth of potentially fascinating historical details indicates thorough research; unfortunately, these snippets are poorly integrated into the story. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 7^-12. Eleventh-century Britain is the background for Alder's finely written account of a slave who becomes the chronicler of Harold, last of the Saxon kings. When Evyn is brutally attacked and rendered mute, his hopes of becoming a storyteller and escaping his life as a serf are shattered. Sold into slavery, he joins the household of Lady Ealdgyth, the common-law wife of Earl Harold of Wessex. Illiterate, mutilated, and feared by the thralls, Evyn becomes known as Shadow. When he is sent to a monastery to be educated, his future is altered forever. After his return, he saves the life of Earl Harold and follows Harold, as his squire and later as his foster son, from Wessex to London and eventually to the Battle of Hastings, where he witnesses Harold's death. On the journey, Evyn learns about loyalty, honor, and bravery, and he comes to realize that by chronicling the fate of his king, he has actually become a storyteller. Alder's vivid descriptions of the harsh conditions and customs of medieval life make the story come alive, and her brisk pacing never wavers. Evyn is an observant, sympathetic narrator, an apt recorder of the perilous times.
Chris Sherman
