A good story set against an interesting historical background

A review of 'The Northumbrian Saga' by AH Gray.

Aethelwin is the neice of King Osbert of Northumbria and a dedicated supporter of both him and her family, ‘The Peace Weaver’, the first part of this saga, is set against the turbulent times of the 9th century AD when Britain was overwhelmed by Danish and Norwegian invaders; popularly known as the Vikings. This provides an interesting historical backdrop against which the story is told but it can be a little confusing with many unfamiliar names and the particular character of Anglo-Saxon England at this time. You do not have to be a student of the early medieval period to enjoy this book and it is difficult for an author to balance an honest historical account of the time with the need to keep the reader entertained.

For the most part ‘The Peace Weaver’ manages to maintain the balance, never tipping into a historical essay and so becoming dry or forgetting its’ period and resulting in a superficial account of the fall of Northumbria as an independent kingdom. I enjoy descriptive writing and so appreciated reading about York, a place I know well, as the centre of the major events.

The story is told from Aethelwin’s point of view, which offers a female perspective on a period of history that is dominated by men. Unfortunately it also means that the several battles occur in the background with the women waiting for news. This is accurate but it does rob the book of both the tension and the excitement that such events can generate. There is one exception to this when the Northumbrians attempt to recapture York and Aethelwin is caught in the middle of the action, but events appear blurred, lacking a blow for blow account of how the Northumbrians managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I also found the use of modern words somewhat jarring, they don’t occur everywhere throughout the text but when they do they are noticeable. This incongruity can be solved easily with a little editing.

As for Aethelwin she did not have my sympathy throughout the whole of the book. It should perhaps be remembered that she is only 13 at the beginning when she is married off by her family; she lacks experience and has a vaulted judgement of her own importance to her family and the king. Her relationship with her husband could have been examined in further depth perhaps, it would make her fall from grace all the more poignant if the reader believed that at one point there was genuine affection between the two. Her later exploits in a York under Danish rule also do little to endear her as she seems motivated only by a dream to free Northumbria of the Vikings and, consequently, fails to establish any meaningful relationships with anyone who cannot be useful to her in this pursuit. One aspect that I did like was the development of her relationship with her half-sister as this helped to show their growth and maturity.

I did not find any real surprises in the development of the plot, however, but despite the lack of tension I was intrigued enough to want to see what happened next. It was not a chore to get to the end; in fact I enjoyed it. Indeed, Aethelwin’s situation at the close of the book seemed very authentic and made her a character easier to sympathise with.

The War Wolf - first in-depth review of my novel

It is very rewarding when your work attracts this kind of attention.

"This eight week period in our country's history has fascinated me for many years as, not only is it, arguably, the most important series of events in the shaping of this nation ever to occur, but because these events are understood, or even heard of, by so few people. It has become a cliché that everyone in Britain, if stopped in the street and asked to name a single date in history that they remember, would say "1066, the Battle of Hastings". Yet very, very, few of them would have the faintest idea of the dramatic events of the four to six weeks before that. Or the notion that King Harold, just as William (the Conqueror) was about to sail across the Channel, had to rush north to fight against a second invasion from a Viking force, beat that force and then jog back down to the south coast for another fight. Or, incredibly, that Harold need not have lost the Battle of Hastings at all if a large portion of his allies had arrived at the battle 40 minutes earlier, or, even, if his men had not been duped by the Normans into breaking their shield wall. What would our country be like now if King Harold had won at Hastings? Our language, food, laws, governance and almost everything else stem, to a large degree, from William's success at Hastings. This trilogy of books sets out to tell the tale of those few weeks.

The problems, for a writer, in this period of history include the fact that names were very different then and very strange sounding to us. Another problem is that the real events were so incredible that they sound truly 'incredible'; not believable, even to the point of having important characters who happened to have exactly the same name. Peter Whitaker manages that quite well and the index and map at the back of the book are very helpful. Perhaps a 'who's who' might have been a useful addition.

The story itself is quite slow in building and is none the worse for that. This was a very complex situation and an understanding of the politics and family links of the time is important to the whole thing and Mr Whitaker sets this out in a form that is both accurate and yet readily understood and engaging. The characters fall into two categories. Firstly, many of the main characters are real people from history and, although it is almost impossible to know for sure, Peter Whitaker's rendition of them has the ring of accuracy that convinced me and I engaged easily. The second tier of characters are the fictional ones and these too are very well crafted. I could have lived without the 'love interest' story as, to me, it seemed to be unnecessary and inserted only because 'every book needs a love interest'.

The joy that Mr Whitaker takes in his history just shines out of this book and the descriptions of the lives, clothes, weapons and general life of this period are lovingly portrayed in a detail that brings real colour to the story. The scenes of battle are absolutely excellent, taking the reader right into the shield wall and yet flying out every now and then to give a bigger picture (a luxury that the leaders of the day didn't have).

But there are flaws. The main issue I had was not with the author at all but with the very poor rendition of this book into e-book format so that many simple words are misused in a fashion that is jarring to the reader. Come on Amazon, don't do such an injustice to a writer who has invested so much trouble in his work! But Mr Whitaker isn't squeaky clean either. The plot does lurch a bit and it feels, just a bit, as though he has gone back in the proof reading and thought "Oh yes, I'd better insert a bit there". Then there's the place names. It is my personal preference that the names of places contemporary at the time should be used and having an explanatory index at the back is great, so the book should use 'Grimms By' rather than 'Grimsby' and 'Jorvik' rather than 'York'. Yet here, the names change frequently, with one form being used on one page and the more modern form on another. I suspect that Mr Whittaker intended that the Vikings use their older name forms (Jorvik) and the Saxons use modern forms (York) but the result is, actually, a confusing muddle that jars the reader out of the time frame. And then there is a personal gripe of mine in that the invaders' nationality is referred to as 'Viking'. In fact, they were Danes, Norwegians, Geats and a few other Scandinavian peoples and the term 'viking' is a verb, so these people would 'go viking'; a bit like 'go raiding'. Given the historical accuracy of the rest of this work, it would have been nice to have made this distinction, not least because it is important to understand that these thousands of invaders didn't think of themselves as a single national force of 'Vikings'.

This, the first book in the trilogy, ends at a logical point after the Battle of Fulford Bridge and the stage is set for the next set of events as Harold surges north. Minor grumbles aside, this is a really good book and I will buy the next in the series to follow the plot. The fact that we all know how it turns out doesn't matter in the slightest; it's the telling of the tale that counts. If you know your history, then this book will impress with its accuracy, and if you just want a romping saga of sword swinging and medieval action, then it won't disappoint you either."

Clive

Originally posted here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wolf-Sorrow-Song-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00FBZW76E/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

The Slayer Rune by John Snow

The Vikings more as people than as reavers

This is the first book in the Viking Series by the author and is set in around the 10^th century. It centres on the settlement of Vik, a place rule by Harald, a chieftain with domestic and political troubles. The story opens with the visit of King Godred to Vik seen largely through the eyes of Sigurd, Harald’s second son. Of course Harald wants the visit to go off well as it will reflect upon him accordingly but he’s a man with a few secrets and it seems like one of them, a particularly dangerous one, is about to get out.

It is common in popular culture to represent Vikings as blood thirsty killers who did nothing else but invade other lands and kill lots of people, but this staid image is not what we get here. The Vikings had their own laws to live by and the taking of another’s life without good reason was viewed very seriously. Murder is punished by the king and there’s more than one murder associated with Vik for Harald to worry about.

I like the idea of the story, it is original and shows this period of history in a new light. The characters are clearly written but under-developed to my mind. Sigurd experiences quite a lot of trauma by the end of the story but I was never convinced of his emotional depth. Although things happen to him they do not seem to have any deep or lasting impact. I am not sure that I came to care very much for him. This under-development is reflected in other ways, such as his relationship with his father Harald, it should have plenty of depth and back-history but none of this comes across. There seems to be no strong feeling between the two and this is the same with Sigurd’s mother Tora.

That said the narrative is richly embellished with references to Norse mythology and this adds an extra dimension to the tale. Quite clearly John Snow is well versed in his subject and this is definitely one of the books strengths. Indeed, I found the level of authenticity to be quite captivating and I learnt something new about the Viking people just by reading this book.

In conclusion, an original story with a rich cultural overlay that is well worth a read.

Back at last!

I have been very busy lately on a number of projects and also with having to earn a living as my book still has not sold in the quantities necessary for me to live in the lifestyle that I want to become accustomed to!

One thing that I decided to do was develop a website that brings many of the things that I am interested in together in one place. My first web-site was dedicated to The Sorrow Song Trilogy and was fun to do but someone pointed out that I am interested in more than just that and it might be better to show what else gets my attention.

The result is this: www.petercwhitaker.co.uk

There is a section on The Sorrow Song Trilogy, complete with background information on the Saxons – I was not going to throw all that work away! There’s also a section on photography and art and finally something on politics.

This is very much a work in progress, I mean there’s nothing there about dinosaurs yet! I will be adding and changing things frequently, at least I hope to be. Please have a look and if you feel like it share the link with others.
Many thanks.

Can writing make you Schizophrenic?

I started a project in historical fiction and it went very well, so well that I started thinking of other subjects even though I had not completed the first project (it’s a trilogy and I am working on the second novel). I am contemplative by nature so this is not a problem, my mind occupies itself with all kinds of imaginings, except that something has taken hold and refuses to let go.

In fact this little germ has proven so tenacious that I even started writing a couple of thousand words about it the other day. It was not much, just a few opening lines to see how things went…they went well! In fact it went so well that I opened up a project book and started developing characters, themes, plot lines, etc.

The next day I started to feel a bit guilty because I still have the first project to complete so, as if in a fit of penitence I drafted up two scenes to write into my historical fiction story. They worked really well too, so I felt much better.

Of course that was not the end of the matter, I soon found myself thinking about my new story and the ideas started coming thick and fast! I have read a couple of works on alternative history, William Gibson’s The Difference Engine’ for example (which he co-authored with Bruce Sterling of course) and I quite like the idea of bending reality a little to create something new; this is where the new story was heading. My imagination was quickly filling up with all kinds of possibilities for this new project, but was I losing touch with my Saxon epic?

Jumping from one time period to another can be quite tiring. I have a friend who cannot read two books at the same time if they are the same genre but different time periods, they claim that it gives them a kind of mental jet-lag! Strangely, they do not seem to be alone, I’ve read similar comments from people on the internet who state that if reading more than one book they like them to be as different as possible, so one might be a horror story and another might be historical fiction and the third might be a non-fiction book. It seems a common enough trait in reading.

I suppose that in a creative fashion this might also be a problem for a writer with two projects on the go at the same time, dashing from the 11^th century to a period some 900 years later where everything is different in so many ways?

I definitely want to complete both stories! The first one must come to completion because I have spent so long on it already, what with the research into a period that I did not know all that well when I started, and because the first novel has been reasonably well received. The second one is just so different and touches on a subject matter that has always fascinated me the way some people are fascinated by fire.

The commonsense path would seem to be that I divide my time up between the two of them, similar to what I would do when reading several books. Of course I often found that I had barely enough time to write the first book, what with work and family commitments, so how do I manage two? Well, fortunately the second instalment already has some 72,000 words written so I can say that it is well on its way to completion, hopefully to be published next year, this gives me some room to manoeuvre with regards to the new story. Time management is the key!

In some ways this might actually prove a saving grace in that there will be clear lines of distinction between the two projects, a bit like an actor appearing in two different roles on the same day. With a little preparation I should hopefully be able to switch comfortably from Saxons fighting Vikings to a subject much darker and more disturbing without losing my grasp on who I am at the same time!

In the Shadow of a Darker Project

I am writing a trilogy of historical fiction novels concerning 1066 but I find my mind turning to something much darker.

It seems that everyone expects me to continue in historical fiction after I finish my third novel but this project that currently exists only in my mind would be very difficult to squeeze into that genre. I don’t want to talk too much about it yet, what author does, but it is very different in every way from The Sorrow Song Trilogy.

True, it is set in a particular historical time, Britain in the 1930’s, but it is a very different Britain from that recorded in the history books, I suppose an ‘alternative history’ might cover it as a label but then it is so much more as well.

I am not setting out to write an alternative history, that is not the main attraction, it is just that the main subject kind of requires a slight alteration to the fabric of British history in order for the story to be told.

Curiously I have the subject of the book very strongly in my mind but other things are developing very slowly. I am not concerned as I still have two books to write before I can begin serious work on this project, but certain themes are already beginning to surface and a rather interesting notion has occurred to me that adds an extra dimension, perhaps a lighter one, to the very dark subject matter.

There are lots of other ideas scribbled down in my virtual jotter but this one has made the strongest impression upon me so far, I think that it is going to be something of a journey for me as it touches on personal experiences that are quite raw and although the subject often repels most people I find it fascinating in a way that others might not consider healthy.

Insertions do not have to be painful!

I suppose it depends what type of writer you are, whether you are a planner who gets everything sorted well before the creative writing starts or if you are more like me, someone who prefers to get the heart of the story onto the page and then go back and sort things out a bit?

There are pro’s and con’s to both systems, of course, it really comes down to a personal choice rather than one being right and one being wrong; it really is whatever works for you!

That said there are times when I wish that I took the more structured approach as I think that it might just save me a bit of time and work in the long run.

I am working on volume two of The Sorrow Song Trilogy and I have about 72,000 words written. There’s a dynamic relationship between two major characters that needs developing to bring a bit more excitement and drama to the narrative whilst the story heads towards an almighty climax.

Now when I was writing the 72,000 words I knew that I would have to go back and develop certain points, events and characters. It is not so much a problem as a need to insert a passage with a little consideration, perception and skill.

When I reviewed the draft manuscript I saw an opportunity to insert an episode that would build up the tension and make the reader (hopefully) care about one of the characters in particular. It also gives this character, her name is Mildryth by the way, a chance to prove her strength of character in dealing with a very dangerous situation instigated by a man who has already been revealed to a murderer and thief.

As this is historical fiction I have to be aware of the chronology of events in both a historical sense and with regards to the chronology of the plot, which all means that finding the opportune moment to introduce this new episode is crucial. It has to fit seamlessly, a fact all good writers understand, into what has already been written, which is where the consideration comes in.

To achieve this I picked a likely spot in the manuscript, marked it, and then read every chapter leading up to it. This gave me a fresh memory of what I had written and confirmed that I had picked the right moment in the story to insert the new work.

Again, because of my preferred style, this was not a one shot deal. I wrote the piece quickly to try and get all the excitement down on the page. Then I rewrote it almost immediately, only this time conscious of the material already written earlier in the novel, the historical background and the fact that female ninjas did not exist in 11^th century England!

Next came the proof reading, spell checking, the enriching of the cultural background and the editing to rid the piece of any pretence of being a historical essay; I sometimes find that my urge to retain a degree of historical integrity can lead me into writing in a very dry and academic style; something that must be amended at all costs!

Finally, if I am happy with the final written piece, I go back and re-read the manuscript again, making notes where necessary, and carry out a final judgement; did it work? Do the characters interact sufficiently? Is there tension? Did I achieve what I set out to do? Was the insertion invisible in consideration of the rest of the manuscript?

Happily, I can say yes in each instance. It did not hurt at all really. I enjoyed the writing and the editing, but you know what, a female ninja might make a good character for a more contemporary novel!