Queen of the Lightning

Dark Ages of Britain trilogy #2

by Kathleen Herbert

It is AD 641. Britain is a land of warring tribes, of small kingdoms that firecely guard their sovereignty. A brave and mighty line of warriors had dwindled to one last princess, heiress to the crown: Riemmelth, Queen of the Lightning. Before he dies, the old king knows he must safeguard Cumbria. And the only way to do that is to marry Riemmelth, his granddaughter, to one of the hated English.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fantasy, Fiction, British Literature

Paperback

First published August 1, 1983

Reviews

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the death of her brother, Riemmelth becomes sole heir to the seventh-century kingdom of Cumbria and finds herself torn between her own desires and the needs of her people.

Outstanding and unusual historical fiction.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's definitely some trigger warnings for this one, oh boy: forced marriage, sexism, non explicit rape, war, descriptions of mutilated bodies, and the deliberately drowning of women.

This is the sort of really tragic, classic fantasy that I love, even though I was originally expecting it to be a gaudy romance from the cover of my edition. It was fun, and despite some of the weird, contradictory stereotypes I enjoyed all the characters.

The issue I had with the book is that I ended up being confused about who everyone was and their stake in the story. It jumps around so much, barely focussing on any relationships beyond the initial one between Riemmelth and Elidir, that it was hard to keep track of the actual plot. My expectation that the story would mostly follow those two, as they either fought to get back together or Riemmelth fought an attraction to her husband was, er, really off. If that's why you're interested in this, you're better off finding another historical romance to read. Instead, their relationship sort of works as tragic background noise to the politics between three kingdoms (Mercia, Northumbria, and Cumbria) and people moving from place to place.

[Tish · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 in Herbert's Northumbrian Trilogy, set in the early 7th C. I loved the first one (Bride of the Spear) and was disappointed that this one didn't pick up where the first one ended, but rather two generations later. That said, Herbert is such a good writer that I got engaged with this new story within the first few pages. Very happy to have #3 waiting in the wings.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe unfairly forgotten, very unusual ( set in Anglo Saxon England and it´s nothing to do king Arthur!!) historical fiction. I read it ages ago from a library, but as far as I recall it was very good.

[Truc · Rating 3 out of 5]

at one point, before her political rivals fake-killed her with mud but after she used a decoy on her wedding night, riemmelth describes how the king played her body like a harp or some such thing. i distinctly remember thinking — i'm way too young for this nonsense.

[Elysium]

DNF page 68