Awen

Rating:
Summary: Richly textured historical novel!
Review: Awen is a richly textured historical novel that would appeal to fans of Sigrid Undset, Dorothy Dunnett, and Sharon Kay Penman.

The reader steps into early eighth century Britain and meets Brys, a disgraced court poet, who must somehow knit together an uneasy alliance of enemies. His mission is to unite warring Welsh kingdoms in time to stave off the encroachment of the English kingdom of Mercea. Palace intrigues, bloody raids, romance, and misunderstandings are the name of the day.

This is a monumental literary novel, and once you start it, you will immerse yourself in a world which is both unique and universal. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Do yourself a favour. Get it!
Review: This book is no ordinary novel. As such it requires some patience and commitment by the reader. However, the rewards for this small effort are vast and manifold.

The plot evolves around Brys, a soldier/poet in eighth century Wales. In his efforts to serve his country he fights battles, defends his friends, survives assassination attempts and deals in the political intrigues of the day. Fictional and non-fictional characters are woven into the plot along with historical events.

Anyone interested in the real Dark Ages or Welsh history will be fascinated by Awen and anyone just looking for an exciting read will end up interested in the Dark Ages and Welsh history!

Do yourself a favour and grab a copy today!

Rating:
Summary: Awen
Review: This is a fantastic book that deserves to be much better known. The story of conflict between Powys and Mercia in the eighth century, it is primarily from the point of view of Cynfarch "Brys", who becomes pencerdd, chief poet, in Powys.

Sentence-level writing is gorgeous and unobtrusive at the same time.

The plot has an interlaced, knotwork-like quality. At times it's completely gripping -- Cynfarch's graduation in song, for example. Here and there it falters a little, as when the characters visit Aachen, but it never lost my interest. Because of the political complexities and the huge number of characters, some with similar names, the book requires a lot of attention and the name lists are vital. Even having studied this period, I had some trouble keeping up, but the work is worth it.

Characters are deep in a subtle way -- there's not a lot of introspection and emoting "on-stage"; the reader has to watch for it. Mayse has created a host of attractive and vivid individuals; Brys, Heilyn, Meirwen, Gwydron, and the sadistic Cenwulf stand out.

This is a subtle book, again, and sometimes I wanted a bit more visceral impact. The battles and actions scenes are good, but could stand a touch more grit. The themes of slavery in Mercia and Cenwulf's sadism aren't completely developed -- which means, really, that the author chose to be less melodramatic with the subject than I would have been. Overall, Mayse's choice of tone works well, reminding me of the medieval Welsh poetry with which she is clearly conversant.

Historical accuracy is one of the book's strengths. A lot is, inevitably, speculation, but it worked for me. I'm not sure people were quite as relaxed about romantic relationships as she portrays, but who knows? The characters had believable period mentalities and the details of daily life were well-portrayed. I did wonder why no one ever sang or mentioned the epic poem Y Gododdin -- surely familiar material to Brys. (The events are briefly mentioned, but not the poem.) Perhaps, given the political difficulties Mayse postulates between southern and the descendants of northern dynasties, Aneirin's poem was politically incorrect. In any case, it's a pleasure to read a historical novel by an author who knows the sources. Many other novels set in medieval Wales have not had that advantage in their upbringing.

I love the tragic, though not utterly hopeless, quality of the end.