Edoardo Albert

“Edwin: High King of Britain” is a comfortable read in that I found it engaging but not enthralling. Much of the time, the characters are talking about paganism and/or Christianity, which at times is interesting, but never exciting.

Action is infrequent, yet despite this, the narrative is not slow paced. Still, more vivid confrontational scenes, be it verbal or physical, would’ve been more appealing.

The language is inconsistent in that there’s a mixture of archaic phrases, like ‘whence came she?’, alongside modern sayings like ‘toilet seat’ and ‘keep it in your trousers’.

Regarding the period, I felt confused more than once by sudden leaps in time that weren’t made clear by the third-person narrator. For example, Edwin’s thinking about his children – children we didn’t know he had until this moment – so it interrupts the flow because the reader needs to adjust, processing that time has moved on in years.

While the author has done a good job on the research side, he – like several other historical fiction writers I’ve encountered – has neglected principal creative writing skills and quality elements of English style. As a result, much of the prose is passive, plus too many adverbs lead to ‘telling’, not ‘showing’.

For example, to state that Edwin’s sons ‘stood nervously’ is blatant telling. *Show* their nervousness with body language.

The use of weak verbs also leads to passive sentences. ‘Edwin looked at him’ doesn’t show anything. There’s always a stronger verb than ‘look’ that shows *how* a character looks at someone/something, and without the need of an adverb. The phrase ‘looked questioningly’ crops up several times, and on each occasion this could be replaced with one strong verb or a description of body language.

‘Walked’ is another weak verb that should always be replaced. ‘Penda walked rapidly’, for instance, could be ‘shown’ with a stronger verb: ‘Penda marched’, ‘Penda strode’, etc.

Regarding passive prose, numerous sentences or clauses open with ‘there were’ or ‘there was’, such as: ‘Certainly there was fear there’, plus ‘There in the centre of the river he remained’, when each could be made active if changed to: ‘Fear was there’, and ‘He remained in the centre of the river’.

In short, avoid passive prose, weak verbs, and ‘telling’ adverbs, and make every word count. A good read therefore becomes a great read.

Another overused word I must criticise is ‘gasped’. At one point, for instance, everyone ‘gasped’ when seeing a sword. This sounds melodramatic. In real life, you ‘gasp’ if you’ve been doused in cold water or have been holding your breath too long for comfort. You don’t gasp in surprise; you ‘catch your breath’.

This novel also includes some untranslated Latin, which locked me out of the story, as I don’t understand it. Using foreign language in an English text is my ultimate pet hate in literature. I’m pro-language learning, but a novel advertised as being written in English should be just that. Always put the reader first or you’ll lose them.

Despite my criticisms, I liked the story well enough to give it three stars. Anyone who’s interested in the period or specifically in Edwin should give it a read.… (mais)

This is a First Reads for me - I won this as a Giveaway.

The story revolves around King Edwin and the struggles he faces both in consolidating small, petty kingdoms into one and also whether or not he wants to follow the new Christian God or remain true to the gods of his fathers. Whatever choices he makes affects the other kings and also all of his people.

The battle scenes were interesting, especially the major one toward the end of the book. There were also scenes in the book revolving around Edwin's wife and his children. I wish there would have been more depth and character development of his family. I would have liked to have gotten to know his wife better and also to have known more of the background of the priests, James and Paulinus.

There is some conflict between the sons, Osfrith and Eadfrith, and also with his wife, Aethelburh. This was not fully developed in the story although there was definitely some foreshadowing about this leaving me to think that it would become part of the novel.

This is the first of three novels. Although questions remain, the novel can be read stand alone with the option of continuing the story of the High Kings when the future books are written.… (mais)

I'm DNF-ing pretty close to the beginning because I'm not enjoying the book and the mild content is too much for my taste. I'll probably pick it up again someday, or I may not. It depends, but I know I'm not going to read it right now. I'm not going to waste my precious, limited reading time on a book that makes me uncomfortable and that I'm not enjoying or looking forward to reading. I've only been reading a few pages at a time because I'm not invested enough in the story. I wanted to like this book, but I had to realize that I'm not liking it or enjoying it and that I shouldn't continue at the moment. I do want to know what happens, but not enough to keep me reading quickly. I very much wanted to like this book, but even if I might someday, it's not the best for me at the moment.

I liked the main character from the start, and his sidekick as well. Edwin, the protagonist, was noble, honorable, and a good man, and he seemed pretty pure so far. That was not the case with the other kings, and I didn't like them or want to read from their point of view, because there was some content that made me uncomfortable. I liked the writing style for the most part, and it was very good...except when it was occasionally clumsy. What I loved without reservation was the rich and organically detailed historical setting and immense accuracy. The author did such a great job of bringing Anglo-Saxon culture, society, and characters to life, complete with realistic and accurate worldview, values, culture, and setting. The massive I'm out of research and care that went into this book is extremely evident, and it shows in the realism, believability, and vividness of the story. The story itself also appealed to me greatly. An exiled king striving to evade enemies who want to kill him and to reclaim his rightful throne...I love that sort of thing.

Even though I'm stopping the book now, I have a feeling it's about to get better, but I'm not sure. The characters whom I didn't like are gone now, because they died in a recent battle, which so far leaves only characters I like. So now that I think about it, I probably will read it again, because I have heard it's good from people I trust. If there's more content in the rest of the book, however, now is not the time for me to endure it. And it did already serve its purpose for reading it right now, with only a few chapters - it succeeded in inspiring me with its Anglo-Saxon setting.
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Content summary:

Sexual Content: One of the kings in this book, who had point of view for part of it, was not pleasant or very pure in this department. It made me uncomfortable to read about the way he was admiring his wife, even though she was his wife. He was feasting his eyes on her beautiful hair and her bare shoulder as she prepared for bed in her nightgown. Of course there was nothing explicit, but it was more than enough to make me very uncomfortable, and it was slightly icky. It wouldn't have been as bad except that it was also mentioned that the same man had concubines. It was also mentioned in passing that other men had multiple wives as well. All this was surely realistic and accurate to the Anglo-Saxon culture.

Violence: There was lots and lots of extreme violence. It was way too much for my taste. In the one battle scene so far there were bloody, gory, and gruesome in-depth descriptions of men killing each other and their mentality during it. I don't like lots of violence, so it was not pleasant for me, and I wasn't looking forward to reading more of it.

Language: None so far.

Note: This is an adult book by a secular author, so of course there's mild content. It's very clean considering. I'm just in the mood for purer and less violent books at the moment. Also, my tastes in content are for very, very clean books. What bothers me would not in the least bother most readers.
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Those were the biggest things that took away from my enjoyment of the book. I'm not sure if it was mostly the content that kept me from enjoying it, or if I didn't enjoy the story in general as well, though I did really like the setting and the main character, and it was a good story. But some parts of it are not what I want to read at the moment. Probably someday I'll try again...… (mais)