Wein, Elizabeth E. - The Sunbird
I adored The Winter Prince, was completely indifferent toward A Coalitions of Lions, and I love this one.
Telemakos is the son of Medraut and the nephew of Goewin, but he's also the grandson of an important Aksumite politician and a cousin or close relation to the new king of Aksum. I loved Winter Prince for what it did with the Arthur mythos; I love this book for its depictions of Aksum, for how distant it gets from the Arthur mythos. I was dissatisfied by A Coalition of Lions because I wanted more of Medraut and Lleu and the Arthur mythos and less of Aksum, but The Sunbird has more distance from the events of The Winter Prince while also being closer in other ways.
Plague is spreading, and to stave it off, Goewin, the British ambassador, convinces the king to quarantine his kingdom. But some traders are sneaking around the quarantine, and it's up to twelve-year-old Telemakos to find out who.
Twelve-year-olds spying should sound utterly implausible, but Telemakos is a wonderful character. I love how clever he is, but in ways that aren't difficult to believe, I love that he is afraid and unsure and that he is loved by Goewin and Turunesh (his mother) and even cold, mute Medraut. I love how Medraut's love-hate relationship with Lleu affects his relationship with Telemakos and Goewin, but in a way that informs Telemakos' story and doesn't overtake it. I love how much Telemakos wants to be loved by his stern father, how he deals with being a multiracial child, and most of all, how clever and real and bright and brave he is.
I also love all the political intrigue in this book; it hits all the spots that Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books do. And while intrigue about salt trade doesn't sound all that twisty, it is, and oh, when Telemakos goes undercover to find out more? It's wonderful and harrowing and real in a way that slick spy stories often aren't.
The side characters are also great; Goewin is a force to be reckoned with here in a way that she wasn't in A Coalition of Lions, Medraut is just as angsty and sometimes emotionally stupid, and I love all the new Aksumite characters, Kidane and Turunesh and Sofya and the king.
I'm not sure at all how to sum up the book, save that I love it to pieces and that it is entirely different from The Winter Prince in that Telemakos is loved and doesn't have his own traumas, until the events of the books. And yet, it's very similar in the complexity of the relationships and politics.
And! As if all that weren't enough, it is a historical novel set in Africa! In Aksum! With details and politics and complications!
Go read this.
Telemakos is the son of Medraut and the nephew of Goewin, but he's also the grandson of an important Aksumite politician and a cousin or close relation to the new king of Aksum. I loved Winter Prince for what it did with the Arthur mythos; I love this book for its depictions of Aksum, for how distant it gets from the Arthur mythos. I was dissatisfied by A Coalition of Lions because I wanted more of Medraut and Lleu and the Arthur mythos and less of Aksum, but The Sunbird has more distance from the events of The Winter Prince while also being closer in other ways.
Plague is spreading, and to stave it off, Goewin, the British ambassador, convinces the king to quarantine his kingdom. But some traders are sneaking around the quarantine, and it's up to twelve-year-old Telemakos to find out who.
Twelve-year-olds spying should sound utterly implausible, but Telemakos is a wonderful character. I love how clever he is, but in ways that aren't difficult to believe, I love that he is afraid and unsure and that he is loved by Goewin and Turunesh (his mother) and even cold, mute Medraut. I love how Medraut's love-hate relationship with Lleu affects his relationship with Telemakos and Goewin, but in a way that informs Telemakos' story and doesn't overtake it. I love how much Telemakos wants to be loved by his stern father, how he deals with being a multiracial child, and most of all, how clever and real and bright and brave he is.
I also love all the political intrigue in this book; it hits all the spots that Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books do. And while intrigue about salt trade doesn't sound all that twisty, it is, and oh, when Telemakos goes undercover to find out more? It's wonderful and harrowing and real in a way that slick spy stories often aren't.
The side characters are also great; Goewin is a force to be reckoned with here in a way that she wasn't in A Coalition of Lions, Medraut is just as angsty and sometimes emotionally stupid, and I love all the new Aksumite characters, Kidane and Turunesh and Sofya and the king.
I'm not sure at all how to sum up the book, save that I love it to pieces and that it is entirely different from The Winter Prince in that Telemakos is loved and doesn't have his own traumas, until the events of the books. And yet, it's very similar in the complexity of the relationships and politics.
And! As if all that weren't enough, it is a historical novel set in Africa! In Aksum! With details and politics and complications!
Go read this.