Kings of the North by Cecelia Holland (2010)
It’s been decades since I read this author’s “Floating Worlds”, which I remember as a favorite. I correctly recalled how excellently Cecelia Holland portrays the conditions and cultures of a particular time, but had forgotten just how detached her characters seem to me.
Raef, a magician of uncertain powers; his teacher; his Viking friend/shieldman Leif; and Laissa, a young woman that they rescued during an adventure - or misadventure - in Constantinople, are traveling through the Norman country side of the early 1000’s, bound for what would become England. Before her death, Raef’s teacher reveals that she had released a demon, a stealer of souls, whose power is growing.
Raef, Leif and Laissa become embroiled in the politics of England, the tug of war, literally, between the Normans, Vikings and Danes. The soul-stealer has possessed the king’s wife, and added her own lust for power to the maelstrom.
Good eventually trumps evil, but not without cost.
Holland’s language is more rhythmic than lyrical. Her characters are examined in an almost sterile third person, and I never felt close to them at all.
Being the geek that I am, I really enjoyed the author’s historical note at the end, partly because it was the first part of the book that I heard a “voice” of any kind from her. This entry was originally posted at http://www.dreamwidth.org/12345.html. Please comment here or there.