Kings of the North

The Life and Times of Corban Loosestrife #6

by Cecelia Holland

Having fled from Constantinople, Raef Corbanson and his companions--Lief the Icelander, and Laissa, the young girl who they rescued from Constantinople--are cast up on shore in Normandy. Their goal is to return to Raef’s home in the Viking town of Jorvik in England.  Raef is back in his home territory, and his old friend and shipmate Sweyn Forkbeard is now King of Denmark--and soon to overthrow King Ethelred II of England. Raef’s connections throw him into the middle of the struggle between Sweyn, Ethelred, and Ethelred’s son Edward. Raef becomes foster father of Sweyn’s son Knut…who will become known as King Canute when he in turn takes the throne of England.

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

416 pages, Hardcover

First published June 29, 2010

About the author

Pen name used by Elizabeth Eliot Carter.

Cecelia Holland is one of the world's most highly acclaimed and respected historical novelists, ranked by many alongside other giants in that field such as Mary Renault and Larry McMurtry. Over the span of her thirty year career, she's written almost thirty historical novels, including The Firedrake, Rakessy, Two Ravens, Ghost on the Steppe, Death of Attila, Hammer For Princes, The King's Road, Pillar of the Sky, The Lords of Vaumartin, Pacific Street, Sea Beggars, The Earl, The King in Winter, The Belt of Gold, The Serpent Dreamer, The High City, Kings of the North, and a series of fantasy novels, including The Soul Thief, The Witches Kitchen, The Serpent Dreamer, and Varanger. She also wrote the well-known science fiction novel Floating Worlds, which was nominated for a Locus Award in 1975. Her most recent book is a new fantasy novel, Dragon Heart.

Reviews

[Clay Kallam · Rating 4 out of 5]

With “Kings of the North” (Forge, $27.99, 416 pages), historical novelist Cecelia Holland takes the fantasy novel to its logical extreme: Rather than place her magical characters in a made-up pre-industrial world, she simply puts them in 10th century England – which is pretty much the fantasy default setting.

Since Holland is my favorite historical fiction writer, her dip into fantasy works perfectly for me – and her spare style and unsentimental plots (protagonists often die, and major characters can be eliminated in a seemingly tossed-off phrase at the end of the paragraph) have attracted me since I read “The Firedrake” back in the ‘60s.

“The Kings of the North” can work as a standalone novel, but it’s actually the final book of six: “The Soul Thief,” “Witches’ Kitchen,” “The Serpent Dreamer,” “Varranger” and “The High City” come first. All are recommended, and if you’re going to take the plunge, you might as well start with the “The Soul Thief” – if you like that one, you’ll have five more really good books to look forward to.

[Susan E. Newell · Rating 5 out of 5]

YET again, fun from Holland

Almost anything she writes is a treat (I would love to see her recipe book someday). Along with Bernard Cornwell, the best historical fiction around. He does battles better, and doesn't include fantasy, she does characters better and makes fantasy believeable. This story fills in that murky period just before the Battle of Hastings, the end of the brutal invasions by the Northmen (but history continues with the brutal invasion of the Normans - same thing, really). Highly recommended by me, but then I am biased.

[Karen Ireland-Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

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. [return]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.[return]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. [return]Good eventually trumps evil, but not without cost. [return]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. [return]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.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up after reading Holland's short story in the Warriors anthology, and have gotten hooked on her work. This book is at the end of a series of others chronicling the travels of Corban Loosestrife, and later his son Conn and nephew Raef.

Kings of the North describes the return of Raef Corbansson and his companions Leif and Laissa to England during troubled times under King Aethelred the Unready. Political turmoil is combined with the supernatural conflict between Raef and a demon-like figure called the Lady. There is some fighting, some romance, magic, and a look at the complicated world of Danes, Saxons and Normans not long before the Norman Invasion of 1066.

Holland has a spare writing style that makes her books quick, fairly easy reads, but she is able to draw out surprising emotional depth in short space.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2761230.html

I had expected this to be a non-genre historical novel; in fact although it's based fairly closely on the historical events of the 1014-1016 period in and near England, the central character, Raef, has magical powers and is contending also with dark forces attempting to seize control of whoever is on the throne that month. I have to say I did not enjoy it much. It is the third book in a trilogy, and I think it may work much better as a climax to the other two; I found it difficult to remember which feuding dynast was which (George R.R. Martin has done that much better) or indeed to care particularly which of them would win (spoiler: Knut). I was struggling with other unengaging books at the time and it really cut into my reading rate.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars. There were moments in the story that I thought, 'eh, this isn't that great, I'll put it down', and then I would pick it up and be hooked for a few more pages and then think the same thing. The characters are a little jumbled, there are so many of them. The one interesting quality regarding the setting concerns what the author calls the light field. If you've ever read anything about astral projection, that is clearly what is going on. There is a battle going on between kings in different towns and between a demon and a man who can see in the light field. That is one of the few redeeming qualities of this little story. I wanted more 'myth' like the light field, and less scirmeshes between waring factions.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reign of Ethelred (the Unready) is at the center of Holland's novel. As usual, she conjures up an authentic-seeming portrait of a distant time. "Conjure up" may be a fitting word chocie because the core of the book has a supernatural element. While England fights for its collective life, Raef Corbansson, something of a magician, fights off the soul-destroying work of a spirit that inhabits Ethelred's wife, Emma, as a base for consuming the essence of those killed in the wars. It sounds fanciful, but the two plot strands intertwine convincingly enough for me to suspend disbelief.

[Elli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Setting in a particularly violent predecessor of William the Conqueror/s reign, Saxon to Norman takeover. My objection to this is the type of witchcraft seer position the author uses. It's too much like science fiction, some historical version, for my taste. I'm sure many would enjoy this, but for me, no.

[Edie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the latest in a series that follows some Viking kind of guys. A bit of magic going on in this one and lots of fighting over England. Only for those who are into this sort of thing.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a weird book. I'm giving it two stars because the end was very anti-climatic and disappointing.