From Publishers Weekly
Hunter (the Knight of the Golden Plain series) visits the 14th-century Scottish uprising against the English dramatized in Braveheart. Though not as gory as that film, the novel features enough ferocious bloodletting to make the squeamish squirm. The plot is driven by convenience: the teenage narrator, Martin Crawford, a messenger and spy for Robert the Bruce, sees every important leader of the day up close, including the dying King Edward I. He also observes (and sometimes plays a decisive behind-the-scenes role in) many major battles, despite their far-flung sites. Hunter further stretches credibility by portraying the Scots, especially Bruce, as near-saints who are fearsome killers only on the battlefield, while the unremittingly evil English commit atrocities wherever they go. In sum, a not-altogether convincing yarn, but, for those who like war stories, the battle scenes are stirring, the pace is brisk and the Scots' bravery in the face of overwhelming odds is inspiring. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Opening with a suspenseful chase scene reminiscent of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, Hunter plunges into the difficult task of bringing to life a hero of even earlier Scots history, Robert the Bruce. She tells his story from the point of view of the bookish and pacifistic Martin Crawford. Moved first by sympathy to distract the armed men pursuing a fleeing stranger and then by duty to join his king's war to free Scotland from English rule, Martin comes to admire the Bruce's ingenuity as a strategist as well as his religious piety. Over seven years, the young man and his brother follow the Bruce's forces all over Scotland as he consolidates his support before the final confrontation with England's King Edward. In the course of his service, Martin continues to refuse to lift a weapon but rises from king's page to swift rider, spy, and leader of a sham troop of banner carriers whose appearance at the turning point of a battle caused the final English retreat at Bannockburn and his brother, finally, to see him as a "soldier" in his own way. Late 20th-century readers might have difficulty understanding Martin's religious ambitions, and some may be turned off by the somewhat uneven pace. However, Hunter is a fine descriptive writer, giving a good sense of the battles and the period. She has, once again, provided a powerful sense of a very different place and time.
Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DCCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
