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Reviews tagging 'War'
King Alfred's Daughter: The Remarkable Story of AEthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, the Heroine who was Written Out of History by David Stokes
2 reviews
bethpaws's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.75
An interesting account of the most active years of the Lady of Mercia Æthelflæd. Whist battles naturally feature heavily there is enough character to keep the reader interested. A list of the characters at the start of the book certainly helped me keep track in the early stages of reading whilst familiarising myself with Anglo-Saxon names of these historical characters, many of which were very similar. You can tell the author is a historian and so whilst this is a novel I felt like I was also having an engaging history lesson. I did get irritated by the use of statements like 'it was a decision I would regret' but wonder if this was done to ensure the reader would remember events to ensure the story flowed (especially with the complex character names).
Interesting timeline and historical notes at the end.
Interesting timeline and historical notes at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
emmsbookshelf's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
I was hooked on this novel from the prologue alone, which provided the necessary introductions to the story, while creating a sense of both historical context and immersion.
Aethelflaed was an enjoyable protagonist to share the story with, she is observant, but to the point. The writing style was authentic and the story had great flow and the pacing was perfect, sometimes I find in historical fiction the pacing can be a bit slow, or we spend a lot of time in the characters youth and I get frustrated and bored, this didn’t happen here. Furthermore, Aethelflaeds thoughts and memories were so well described, that at times I thought this would make a really good film or mini-series, as these scenes felt like they were playing out in my head as I read them.
My only (and incredibly minor) issue, is as it is written as a reflection, there was very little opportunity for a twist or surprise in the story, with Aethlflead musing “I would come to regret it in the end” throughout. It was great foreshadowing, but it made the story feel a bit predictable at times.
This book is great for fans of The Last Kingdom and Vikings, an engaging trip through time, told from a feminine perspective. Aethelflaed is so often a footnote in tales from this period, is was satisfying to read about her being the power player that she was. It is clear that this book has been incredibly well researched and it puts forward events of the past in an entertaining and accessible manner.
Thank you NetGalley and The Book Guild Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and share my thoughts about this book in exchange for an honest review.
Aethelflaed was an enjoyable protagonist to share the story with, she is observant, but to the point. The writing style was authentic and the story had great flow and the pacing was perfect, sometimes I find in historical fiction the pacing can be a bit slow, or we spend a lot of time in the characters youth and I get frustrated and bored, this didn’t happen here. Furthermore, Aethelflaeds thoughts and memories were so well described, that at times I thought this would make a really good film or mini-series, as these scenes felt like they were playing out in my head as I read them.
My only (and incredibly minor) issue, is as it is written as a reflection, there was very little opportunity for a twist or surprise in the story, with Aethlflead musing “I would come to regret it in the end” throughout. It was great foreshadowing, but it made the story feel a bit predictable at times.
This book is great for fans of The Last Kingdom and Vikings, an engaging trip through time, told from a feminine perspective. Aethelflaed is so often a footnote in tales from this period, is was satisfying to read about her being the power player that she was. It is clear that this book has been incredibly well researched and it puts forward events of the past in an entertaining and accessible manner.
Thank you NetGalley and The Book Guild Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and share my thoughts about this book in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
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