Warrior of two Kings: 1 (The Northumbria Trilogy)
Northumbria, 1070. This is the first in the Northumbria Trilogy. Oswulf’s village is destroyed and most of his family killed during the Harrying of the North. Oswulf is spared when his fighting skills are spotted by a Norman master of arms. He is taken to a manor house claimed by the Normans and is ordered to train their squires. He soon realises he has been to this place before, after the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
He begins to look back over events since the Norman invasion of 1066 – the beginning of the end of life as he knew it – dogged from the start by his nemesis, Stígandr, who follows him into his new life.
In the front matter of the book, the author claims to write ‘historical novels for language nerds’, which, along with the time period covered, is what drew me to this novel. There is a considerable amount of Old English in the dialogue as well as some Anglo-Norman. It works well in scenes where the language barrier would be a problem and when it is reasonably clear what the characters are saying. But for the most part, it is unnecessary and slows the pace because the reader will need to stop and look up the phrase in the glossary if they want to know what was said. Most of the novel is of course written in ‘modern’ English; language nerds whose mother tongue is English will be distracted by occasional awkward phrasing and unusual word choices.
The plot shows promise in the beginning, but its pace is slowed drastically by too much insight into Oswulf’s thoughts, and the conflict between Oswulf and Stígandr is underdeveloped. On a more positive note, the battle and fight scenes are good, and there is some nice scene-setting.
