Customer Reviews

Northlander: Tales of the Borderlands Book One

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Northlander arrived in the mail today, and I immediately sat down on the front porch and started reading. And I didn't stop for three hours except for the ten minutes while I ate supper.

Now, I'd already been lucky enough to read the first few chapters online a couple months ago, so I knew some of the characters already. I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVE these characters. The five Northland princes, Ellin the Southland 'witch-girl', Ellin's wonderful, loving father. The relationship between Ellin and her father was so great, it made me think about my own relationship with my father.

The plot is exciting, and each time I started thinking, "Oh, I see where this is going", I was proved wrong. Not that I thought that very often, anyway.

I don't want to talk too much about it, because I don't want to spoil you at all for the story. Let's just say that in the Northlands, all Southlanders are reviled. They're seen as lower than low because of their red hair and their predisposition to the healing arts. They're required to carry papers, and if a Southlander wears clothes, they're fit for nothing but burning afterwards. Yet Southlander Ellin and her father are the only people who have the ability to save the life of the Northlander king, and as healers, they feel compelled to try, even if they endanger themselves by breaking the law to do so. Because of Ellin's bravery, momentous events are set into motion, and danger threatens from several sources. She has to rely on her wits and the new talents that are awakening inside her to keep her alive--and she can't tell who to trust.

It's a riveting story, and I found it both emotionally moving and engaging.

Ellin is the sixteen-year-old daughter of the best healer in Southland. Though forbidden, her father is asked to help heal the dying king of Northland. This is the same king who made laws to forbid the use use of "witchcraft." The penalty for doing this is death. After being refused entry to the city, a kind guard lets her stay in a gatehouse, where the youngest king's son finds her. He takes her to his father after she tells him she can help him. Later after she helps save the king's life she finds out she has another gift. A gift her father fears. It's only when they go back to Southland does she find out the reason for her father's fears. Ellin is one of the 'tainted', someone even her own people fear. Now it's up to Ellin to find out more about her gift and what she needs to do in order to not fall into the hands of the Guardians, who want her dead.

This is an engaging tale. I couldn't put it down! I was fascinated in Ellin's ability to heal and also her telepathic ability. Also this story shows how hatred is only ignorance of what is unknown. The author does a great job showing how Ellin feels when she discovers her gift and how it feels to be different and feared by others. I can't wait for the sequel!

The Southling Ellin has been summoned with her father to the Northland kingdom. In a land where they are despised for their red hair and feared for their magic, their hand in the healing of the Northland king is a secret. However, the healing powers that have been banned by law may be the only thing that can save the ailing king.

On a crucial night, Ellin must fight against the prejudice that threatens to keep her from fulfilling the oaths that her father, as a healer, took, and that she will take on the day she is of age. Her determination manages to pull the monarch through the worst, but, while she learns that the potential for peace among individual Northlands and Southlings exists, she and her father are forbidden to return to their homeland until the king regains consciousness.

The friendships that she forges will bring her through a time when all she once understood about her life is destroyed, and she must find a way to come to terms with the power she's inherited and the truth she has grown to understand before a war sweeps away everything she has left.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and recommend it to all who have found themselves on both sides of a drawn line. The characters are easy to identify with, and the plot rich and relevant. I will be keeping an eager eye out for Book Two.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

First off this book has actually been in my possession for an embarrassing almost two years and I don't know what kept me from it, given that I originally purchased it based on Leila's review over at Bookshelves of Doom. And she never steers me wrong. But I did undergo a pregnancy in between buying NORTHLANDER and reading it and so maybe that had something to do with it. Those pregnancies. They can wreak havoc on your mental state. In any event, I was pleased to see it pop up as the selection for this last month, particularly as I had heard the sequel had been published in the intervening time and I was looking forward to being able to run right out and read the second book if I ended up loving Meg Burden's first Tale of the Borderlands. That's the only good thing about waiting to read the first in a series, isn't it? And I held the knowledge of a sequel out before me like a promise. But more on that later.

Ellin Fisher and her father have come to the Northlands in secret and under pain of death. Her father--a noted Southling healer--has been summoned illegally to work his arts on the Northlands King. The king is dying and none of the leeches they call healers in the North have been able to do anything to ease his pain or stop the rapid decline. And so a few of his highest councilors do the unthinkable and smuggle a hated Southling healer and his red-haired daughter into the royal city as a last resort. Despite the fact that the king has specifically outlawed evil Southling magic and despite the fact that their southern neighbors are looked down upon like the plague. And so Ellin finds herself forced to hide out in a country where she is reviled and watch her father attempt to save the life of a man who would have them both flayed alive if he knew they set foot in his kingdom or dared to lay even a finger on his royal person. Then one freezing night Ellin is out fetching the ingredients her father needs and returns to the city gates only to be turned away on the grounds that she has no papers. And it turns out that the young guard who so acrimoniously shuts her out in the cold is the king's youngest son Garreth. But when Prince Garreth realizes it is Ellin's father who stands the only chance of saving his father and that Ellin herself possesses an unusually gifted talent for healing as well, things become a little more complicated. As Ellin works to reconcile the unfriendly, raw land she's come to with the friendship of Garreth and his older brothers her perspective begins to change and it is only the first in a long line of shocks she will have to endure before she and her father will be allowed to return home. If they aren't killed first.

I fell into step with Meg Burden's writing style from the first page. The easy, fluid writing reminded me a bit of early Tamora Pierce and Patricia McKillip, with a little bit of The Blue Sword thrown in for good measure. Ellin's relationship with her father is a strong one, even though they occasionally keep things from each other because of their love and desire not to see the other hurt. Her mother's death was hard on them both and it's a difficult and dangerous process allowing yourself to care about more people who might betray you by dying at any time. Which is why the Northlands princes pose a particularly uncomfortable problem for Ellin as it becomes clear that it will be impossible to hate them, with their blond hair and boyish charm and the way they seem to have of including her in their escapades. Even grumpy, dumpy Coll who is only interested in horses and wants Ellin in his home about as much as he wants an incurable disease. And they all clearly love their father, tyrant though he may be, and that is an emotion Ellin can relate to. Here is a scene early on, in which Ellin begins to see the castle and its inhabitants in a slightly different light:

***

He leads me through the hall Garreth brought me in and then into the castle's great room, where I stop with a quiet gasp and look around. I had thought this place dark and forbidding, but now, with sunlight streaming through the high windows, I realize I was wrong.

The darkness made all the furniture look black and heavy, but now I see that the large tables are deep red, with carved legs and polished to gleaming. The banners and tapestries are richly dyed, scarlet and deep green and dark blue and gold. And they're beautiful, worked with ornate pictures of wolves and horses and snow cats and other Northlands creatures. A fire crackles orange in the huge hearth, keeping the room warm despite its size, and benches and chairs are gathered in front of it, waiting for a storyteller and listeners to pass the cold nights.

Ahead of me, Erik stops and turns. "What's the matter?"

"This place," I say slowly, still dazzled. "It's beautiful."

He looks around, too, and shrugs."This? It's not bad."

I shake my head, realizing that this room has to be larger than the main room at Alder's inn, back home in Harnon. "It's so big. How many people live here?"

"At the castle?" Erik's brows pull together in thought. "Well, there's Da, and us. That's six. Nan and her girls make ten, add the stable boys, Jana the cook, Lord Ivan, Lord Erfold the Wise and his wife, Master Thorvald the Physician, Master Fenrik the Smith and his family . . ." he shrugs. "Twenty-five? Thirty? Alaric would know exactly, and could tell you without blinking an eye," he adds with a grin. "I'm not really sure."

I nod, a little overwhelmed at the idea of living with so many people. "So, do they call you Erik the Uncertain?" I ask, teasing, as we leave the room.

He grins again. "Erik Archer. Actually."

"Because you're as quick to shoot with a bow as you are with your mouth?"

"Not as quick as you," he retorts, half-laughing. "Or as sharp, apparently."

"And the others?"

"Well, they call Alaric the Golden."

"I know that one."

He nods. "And then Coll Horse Master. Officially, at least," Erik adds with a wicked smile. "Everyone calls him Coll the Fat, though."

"And he doesn't mind?" I ask, trying not to giggle.

"Course not. He is, isn't he?" Erik waves one hand dismissively. "Then there's me; they call Finn--actually Finnlay, by the way--'the Deaf,' of course, and Garreth the Youngest."

"I see Northlander names aren't always flattering."

"No. But they're always true."

***

The characters in this book surprise each other. They live in a world of absolutes and yet somehow manage to reach across borders--quite literally--and form friendships where only enmity existed before. That is why I loved them and NORTHLANDER. They succeeded in surprising and endearing themselves to me and all I wanted to do was spend more time with them. Not to mention the enticingly dangled hints at the real history between these two countries and these two families and what it might mean down the road.

And so we come to the subject of the sequel. By all accounts, The King Commands--the second installment in the Tales of the Borderlands--was published on April 12th of this year. That's right. Just under two months ago. And yet an actual copy of this book is nowhere to be found. Or it's going for more than $50 used here on Amazon, which amounts to the same thing for me. What gives? I know some of you out there have read it. So help a girl out. What happened to make this book disappear in so short a time? I'm mystified. I realize Brown Barn Books is a small publisher and so on, but did they only print like ten of them and then, once those were gone, that was it?! Because, if so, then I have a problem on my hands. I need this book. I'm going insane here. I have to find out what happens to Ellin Fisher Healer, to Alaric the Golden, to Finn the Deaf, to Erik Archer, and, of course, Garreth the Youngest. Who can help me? Anyone?

I heard about this book through the grapevine, and bought it on Amazon as soon as it came out. I just finished reading it last night (a marathon reading session of 12 hours, once I started, I couldn't put it down) and I can't wait for the sequel! The characters are loveable and detailed, complex, three-dimensional, and interesting. The world Meg Burden has created is truly mysterious. I loved every moment of this book, even the sad parts, and I hope Meg writes the sequel SOON!

Ellin and her father find themselves in the precarious position of healers to the king of the Northlands. Normally, being in the employ of a king would be a position of some honor but not if you are from the Southlands. It is a crime for a Southlander to lay hands on the king, let alone use their much feared magic to heal him. When the deed is done and the king has recovered, Ellin and her father are arrested, for the king fears their magic more than he appreciates what they sacrificed to save him. With the help of the most unlikely accomplices, Ellin will have to learn to harness the magic that evokes such fear in Northlanders. Ellin is powerful, much more powerful than anyone imagines, powerful enough to be feared by her own people as well.

I fell instantly instantly in love with little Ellin. She's headstrong, stubborn and at times a bit reckless- just the traits I look for in a heroine. Rather than feel compassion for her plight, Ellin's strength did not allow for any pity. You want to cheer for her, not caution her. When the story began, Ellin had no idea about her powers, or that such a talent even existed. A nice, tidy set up for a good fantasy. I like to grow with my characters, especially the ones that encounter things that are in sharp contrast to reality. Rather than being thrown in the middle of a story where the fantastical was already underway, discovering the magic along with Ellin allowed for better understanding of her world and more importantly, how it viewed her powers.

This is a relatively short little novel, and a quick read but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been nicely detailed. Burden fully develops each and every character that comes on the page making the supporting cast just as alive as Ellin. I loved, loved, loved the king's sons. They were all so very unique and likeable. I caught of hint of Alaric maybe becoming troublesome in the future but I'm going to hold out hope that he pulls through. And though it might be a little premature- I'm Team Finn.

I have the sequel The King Commands sitting right here next to me, begging to be read. It has the most awful cover perhaps in existence but I'm already in love with the story so I'm not deterred.

I first heard about Northlander somewhere online, perhaps from a blog, and I'm glad I decided to pick it up. It's a great story, with multiple twists and engaging characters.

Ellin's father is a talented and renowned physician. Rumors of his healing prowess reach even the frigid Northlands, a country that actively discriminates and disdains Southlings like Ellin and her father. Whenever Southlings enter the Northlands, they are treated with contempt and prejudice. However, the Northlander king is deathly ill, and desperate enough to send for Ellin's father as a last resort.

While living at the Northlander palace and tending to the sick king, Ellin manages to make friends with king's five sons. Through conversations and time spent with them, she soon discovers that she has a mysterious talent... she can communicate mind-to-mind with several of the brothers.

When their bravery and kindness end up landing them in jail, Ellin and her father despair at never being able to return to their home in the warm South. Through the help of some friends, they manage a harrowing escape, aided by Ellin's new found powers, and all seems to end happily.

Except that we're still only barely halfway through Northlander! Ellin soon learns that her powers are putting her in danger, and there is a strange and mysterious organization out to get her for what she can do with her mind.

I'm always impressed by authors who go above and beyond what is promised or assumed by the back cover summary. Northlander was a real adventure and had a lot of unexpected, yet realistic surprises. The writing was just a little stiff in some parts; I wouldn't say Burden was especially gifted stylistically. I feel like Northlander would be really awesome for the younger pre-teen or teen set. I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Young Adult Fiction

Author Website: www.megburden.com

Reviewed by Avni Gupta (age 15) for Reader Views (02/10)



When I received "Northlander" by Meg Burden, I was very excited to read it. I had read the summary on Amazon and it seemed as though this book was just what I was looking for; a book filled with excitement and action along with a little bit of magic. As soon as I started reading it, I was hooked.

This book begins with Ellin Fisher being stopped at the gate that leads into the Northlands all because she is a Southling without any papers. She is trying to get back into the city so that she can deliver some herbs to her father who is trying to heal the king of the Northlands. Since she was unable to make her way into the city, she found herself some shelter in the guard house by the gate, where lo and behold she meets one of the king's sons!

As soon as I started reading "Northlander," I realized that I had underestimated how amazing this book would be. I feel as though this book can appeal to both guys and girls. There are aspects of this book that both sexes will be able to relate to.

I felt as though Meg Burden's writing style was what made me enjoy the book as much as I did. She used so much imagery that this entire novel just popped. I could vividly picture every single scene that I read. These vivid portrayals made me feel as though I was in the book, and whenever I feel as though I am in a book, my reading experience is taken to a whole new level.

One thing that I really enjoyed about Burden's portrayal of the Northlanders and the Southlings was the fact that they had different hair colors based upon where they were from. Through these hair colors, I felt as though Burden portrayed the stereotypes that are present in our society today, therefore making it easy for me to relate to her novel "Northlander" and the discrimination that Ellin was facing due to her hair color. On a side note, red or orange hair is my favorite. I feel as though gingers have more fun.

Book received free of charge.

Read the glowing reviews,immediately checked the library shelves - walked there in snow and ice to have a good foul weather read. Just so you know that I really did want to love this book. Sat down and read in one sitting - the author is a competent writer. Could have used a bit more care to editing. The story felt rushed after the middle and a bit sloppy, some repeats that I will leave you to find. The writer will probably improve (hopefully) as she and the story progress. The library categorized as Science Fiction and should have probably been Young Adult. That is not a put down - there are plenty of great reads in Young Adult. I really would love a great, can't put down fantasy to read if anybody has any suggestions. I have read/re-read and loved Bartimaeus Trilogy, Harry Potter, LOTR, Neverwhere etc. Help??