The Cross and the Curse
This story is set in the North of England, at a time when Kings were vying with each other for supremacy, Northumbria, Mercia and Gwynedd at each other’s throats. Our hero, Beobrand, is a thegn of Bernicia serving King Oswald. Christianity is still a young religion with the people of the Saxon kingdoms teetering on the verge of conversion from Paganism. The Church is on the cusp of obtaining the power it will hold in later years.
The second in a series, I would have liked to have read the first, The Serpent Sword to be more familiar with time and characters, but this volume was fine to read as a stand-alone. The author has obviously done his research, and has included highly interesting author’s note. I found the story a little hard to get into – perhaps because I had not read the first book – but there is plenty to entertain: witchcraft and curses, the conflict between the new Faith and the old, battles and betrayals, hopes and desires, achievements and failures.
It is quite military-based, there are lots of vivid battle descriptions which may not be for the faint-hearted reader – the story is the fight for power, not relationships and romance. There are a few female characters waiting for their men-folk to come home, but they seem somewhat stereotypical, either beauties or hags. The author is very much at home with his male characters, but not as convincing with hearth and home. I found the style a difficult at times, there are a lot of short sentences, which can heighten tension but can over-egg the pudding. Having said that, for lovers of this intriguing Anglo-Saxon period who like a good adventure to get stuck into, this is warmly recommended