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Aelf Fen #3
Music of the Distant Stars
Very early one summer morning, Lassair slips out of her Fenland village on a deeply personal mission and discovers the body of a young woman, hidden where it has no place to be. The girl's identity is quickly discovered but, as she wonders who killed her and why, Lassair swiftly becomes mystified and frightened. Why did a sweet-natured seamstress have to die? Suspicion soon creeps uncomfortably close to home; then another body is found . . .
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2010
16 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Alys Clare
46 books222 followersAlys Clare is the pen name used by Elizabeth Harris for the Hawkenlye series of historical mysteries.
Alys Clare is the pseudonym of a novelist with some 20 published works to her name. Brought up in the countryside close to where the Hawkenlye Novels are set, she went to school in Tonbridge and later studied archaeology at the University of Kent. She lives for part of the year in Brittany, in a remote cottage deep in an ancient landscape where many past inhabitants have left their mark; on her doorstep are relics that date from the stone circles and dolmens of the Neolithic to the commanderies, chapels and ancient tracks of those infamous warrior monks, the Knights Templar. In England, Alys's study overlooks a stretch of parkland which includes a valley with a little spring. The waters of this spring are similar in colour and taste to Tunbridge Wells's famous Chalybeat Spring, and it was this that prompted Alys's setting of her fictional Hawkenlye Abbey in the very spot where her own house now stands.
Alys Clare is the pseudonym of a novelist with some 20 published works to her name. Brought up in the countryside close to where the Hawkenlye Novels are set, she went to school in Tonbridge and later studied archaeology at the University of Kent. She lives for part of the year in Brittany, in a remote cottage deep in an ancient landscape where many past inhabitants have left their mark; on her doorstep are relics that date from the stone circles and dolmens of the Neolithic to the commanderies, chapels and ancient tracks of those infamous warrior monks, the Knights Templar. In England, Alys's study overlooks a stretch of parkland which includes a valley with a little spring. The waters of this spring are similar in colour and taste to Tunbridge Wells's famous Chalybeat Spring, and it was this that prompted Alys's setting of her fictional Hawkenlye Abbey in the very spot where her own house now stands.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 2, 2020
Although I usually like historical murder mysteries with a female character, I found it very hard to get through this novel. This story takes place in the marshy Fens, during the Norman period, maybe 100 years after the invasion. Alys Clare is an experienced author, having written many books, and several in this series. However, throughout the novel, I kept having that feeling that this was her first novel. The main problems for me was genre, bringing modern attitudes into the story, and shallow characters.
The main character is Lassair, a teenaged girl who is learning the healing arts from her aunt (a witch); both of them are pagans living in a Christian world.
Lassair is very young and, therefore, lacks the wisdom of a more experienced woman. The author describes the other characters through Lassair's eyes. When we are told that someone is nothing but good (or bad), I am not sure if this shallow description is due to Lassair's youth or if the author has deliberately written the character to be the way Lassair has described. For example, Lassair dislikes Claude even before she meets her. Throughout the novel, she maintains her dislike for Claude. Is Claude really so utterly unpleasant, or does she have some redeeming qualities that Lassair doesn't see due to her uncompromising youth?
Genre:
This is a mixture of historical mystery (where you expect some details about daily life, a few historical facts, a realistic world-building) and fantasy (people have special "powers" such as thought transference; being able to go into a trance and see traders from the east bringing opium to Europe; Lassair casts runes and they send her visions of the future). While I enjoy both genres, I do not expect a mixture of the two in one novel. That is just me. Also, Lassair makes use of this magic to help answer questions about the crime. She just "knows" someone is innocent; a voice inside her head tells her "the truth"; the warlock uses thought transference to find out what happened between a couple and then he sends that scene to her as if it were a video. This use of magic it is too convenient.
Modern Attitudes:
(1) Did a woman in that time period have a choice of marriage partner or did her family decide for her?
Zarina, a peasant, explains that her father had chosen her husband. She ran away from home to flee being forced into marriage. Lassair agrees that a woman has no choice; the parents can force her to marry a criminal or an idiot; she has no agency. A noblewoman, Claude, wanted to be a nun. By starving and beating her (p. 39), her family got her to marry Alain. Later on, Lassair says that Claude would not marry Alain if she knew he had done such-and-such (p. 149; 160). However, this is inconsistent. The author has already shown us that the family can force their daughter into an arranged marriage.
(2) Romanticism: we expect to fall in love before marriage and continue being in love during marriage; we also find physical beauty to be important; one wants to marry the person one loves. For example, we are told that if Alain knew how ugly Claude was, he would not have agreed to marry her. Lassair says (p. 53), "I wondered if he would have agreed to the match if he had set eyes on her beforehand, no matter how much his family needed her wealth." Throughout the novel, we are told that it is such a shame that Alain (nobleman) could not marry the woman he loved (servant). This concept is modern and does not belong in a novel set in the Dark Ages. The romantic ideas expressed by the author and/or Lassair kept taking me out of the story.
(3) Physical Beauty: Man wants an attractive wife (p. 146, 148, 160). A woman wants to look beautiful to attract a husband (p. 53), "A woman with such a vocation [nun] would naturally not have wasted her...time making the best of herself while she searched for a husband." The nobleman Alain would be very unhappily married to the ugly and cold Claude (p. 146): "Did he add on a sum for each of her drawbacks?" In my opinion, Dark Ages noblemen married rich women for their breeding and dowry; whether she was beautiful was not important. I doubt they expected love in marriage (a modern ideal) and I am sure they commonly had affairs outside of marriage.
Shallow Characters:
There are two woman in supporting roles who are mirror images of each other. One is the personification of "good/desirable" and the other is "bad/undesirable". Both of these characters are unbelievable. Every person has good and bad in them; people are complicated.
The first time we see Claude, a whole page is spent describing her unattractive physical features (p. 53). Later on, we are told she is "pale, skinny, unlovely, unloved, unlovable" (p. 146). We are constantly told she is ugly (and that Alain deserves a good-looking wife) and "chilly and distant" (p. 109). Lassair says (p. 148) that even Jesus would have been reluctant to accept Claude in his company. She even questions whether Claude is human (p. 109).
Ida, on the other hand, is the personification of goodness. She is beautiful, full of life, lovely and loved, and popular. For example (p. 107): "She was young, cheerful, pretty, and people had liked her. LOVED her." Nothing negative is ever said of her throughout the novel. We are told that Alain the Good deserves Ida the Good and not Claude the Bad.
Final Note (sorry this is a long post):
I appreciate a bit of historical realism in historical fiction. The author did explain the harsh life of a servant or peasant. For example (p. 181): "In an uncertain age when starvation was always lying in wait for most of us, a good job where the work was not too arduous and, above all, was indoors, was not to be sniffed at." But such comments were few and when present, seemed out-of-place to me somehow.
Possible Spoilers below
Overused Trope: the "madwoman" who is repelled by sex has been done too many times (The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry comes to mind.) In this novel, there is not one but TWO such women. During the Dark Ages, I believe, women had realistic views about married life. Particularly, noblewomen would know that they were expected to produce heirs for their husbands. I knew ahead of time what would happen as it is stated very early (p. 78) that "she might even be slightly mad." Throughout the novel, we are told she was "fanatical" and "there was something not right about her." I was not satisfied by the story due this heavy foreshadowing and the overuse of this trope.
The main character is Lassair, a teenaged girl who is learning the healing arts from her aunt (a witch); both of them are pagans living in a Christian world.
Lassair is very young and, therefore, lacks the wisdom of a more experienced woman. The author describes the other characters through Lassair's eyes. When we are told that someone is nothing but good (or bad), I am not sure if this shallow description is due to Lassair's youth or if the author has deliberately written the character to be the way Lassair has described. For example, Lassair dislikes Claude even before she meets her. Throughout the novel, she maintains her dislike for Claude. Is Claude really so utterly unpleasant, or does she have some redeeming qualities that Lassair doesn't see due to her uncompromising youth?
Genre:
This is a mixture of historical mystery (where you expect some details about daily life, a few historical facts, a realistic world-building) and fantasy (people have special "powers" such as thought transference; being able to go into a trance and see traders from the east bringing opium to Europe; Lassair casts runes and they send her visions of the future). While I enjoy both genres, I do not expect a mixture of the two in one novel. That is just me. Also, Lassair makes use of this magic to help answer questions about the crime. She just "knows" someone is innocent; a voice inside her head tells her "the truth"; the warlock uses thought transference to find out what happened between a couple and then he sends that scene to her as if it were a video. This use of magic it is too convenient.
Modern Attitudes:
(1) Did a woman in that time period have a choice of marriage partner or did her family decide for her?
Zarina, a peasant, explains that her father had chosen her husband. She ran away from home to flee being forced into marriage. Lassair agrees that a woman has no choice; the parents can force her to marry a criminal or an idiot; she has no agency. A noblewoman, Claude, wanted to be a nun. By starving and beating her (p. 39), her family got her to marry Alain. Later on, Lassair says that Claude would not marry Alain if she knew he had done such-and-such (p. 149; 160). However, this is inconsistent. The author has already shown us that the family can force their daughter into an arranged marriage.
(2) Romanticism: we expect to fall in love before marriage and continue being in love during marriage; we also find physical beauty to be important; one wants to marry the person one loves. For example, we are told that if Alain knew how ugly Claude was, he would not have agreed to marry her. Lassair says (p. 53), "I wondered if he would have agreed to the match if he had set eyes on her beforehand, no matter how much his family needed her wealth." Throughout the novel, we are told that it is such a shame that Alain (nobleman) could not marry the woman he loved (servant). This concept is modern and does not belong in a novel set in the Dark Ages. The romantic ideas expressed by the author and/or Lassair kept taking me out of the story.
(3) Physical Beauty: Man wants an attractive wife (p. 146, 148, 160). A woman wants to look beautiful to attract a husband (p. 53), "A woman with such a vocation [nun] would naturally not have wasted her...time making the best of herself while she searched for a husband." The nobleman Alain would be very unhappily married to the ugly and cold Claude (p. 146): "Did he add on a sum for each of her drawbacks?" In my opinion, Dark Ages noblemen married rich women for their breeding and dowry; whether she was beautiful was not important. I doubt they expected love in marriage (a modern ideal) and I am sure they commonly had affairs outside of marriage.
Shallow Characters:
There are two woman in supporting roles who are mirror images of each other. One is the personification of "good/desirable" and the other is "bad/undesirable". Both of these characters are unbelievable. Every person has good and bad in them; people are complicated.
The first time we see Claude, a whole page is spent describing her unattractive physical features (p. 53). Later on, we are told she is "pale, skinny, unlovely, unloved, unlovable" (p. 146). We are constantly told she is ugly (and that Alain deserves a good-looking wife) and "chilly and distant" (p. 109). Lassair says (p. 148) that even Jesus would have been reluctant to accept Claude in his company. She even questions whether Claude is human (p. 109).
Ida, on the other hand, is the personification of goodness. She is beautiful, full of life, lovely and loved, and popular. For example (p. 107): "She was young, cheerful, pretty, and people had liked her. LOVED her." Nothing negative is ever said of her throughout the novel. We are told that Alain the Good deserves Ida the Good and not Claude the Bad.
Final Note (sorry this is a long post):
I appreciate a bit of historical realism in historical fiction. The author did explain the harsh life of a servant or peasant. For example (p. 181): "In an uncertain age when starvation was always lying in wait for most of us, a good job where the work was not too arduous and, above all, was indoors, was not to be sniffed at." But such comments were few and when present, seemed out-of-place to me somehow.
Possible Spoilers below
Overused Trope: the "madwoman" who is repelled by sex has been done too many times (The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry comes to mind.) In this novel, there is not one but TWO such women. During the Dark Ages, I believe, women had realistic views about married life. Particularly, noblewomen would know that they were expected to produce heirs for their husbands. I knew ahead of time what would happen as it is stated very early (p. 78) that "she might even be slightly mad." Throughout the novel, we are told she was "fanatical" and "there was something not right about her." I was not satisfied by the story due this heavy foreshadowing and the overuse of this trope.
March 23, 2011
Not many surprises here. I figured out all the mysteries & twists early on.
December 16, 2023
In this third volume in the Aelf Fen series of murder mysteries, the Saxon healer’s apprentice, Lassair, is mourning the death of her beloved Granny, Cordeila … Lassair discovers that a second corpse has been placed in her grandmother’s tomb … Who is this stranger??? … What will her Norman overlords think??? … Who is the killer??? …
by
Alys Clare
by
Alys Clare
by
Alys Clare
by
Alys Clare
April 3, 2025
Another entertaining and interesting look into life in early medieval East Anglia in the decades immediately following the Norman Conquest. I continue to appreciate the focus on village and peasant life, not the noble class, though this book had more intersection points than previous installments. The plot had more twists and turns than I thought, given that the villain was heavily telegraphed throughout. I have Books #4 and #5 already downloaded from the library, so I'll be looking to see how Alys Clare handles (or not) the way Lassair, healer and slightly mystical protagonist, moves through the plot. Hopefully, her intuition will be deployed more strategically and less like a flashing arrow.
December 22, 2022
Book Three in the Aelf Fen Series does not disappoint. Lassair finds a young woman entombed in the grave of her recently deceased Granny. The girl is discovered to be a seamstress for the daughter of the local Lord and Lady who has promised to marry Sir Alain, a man who is a newly appointed judge of the region. Marriage is the air as Lassair's brother has found his love. But additional murders entertwine the two couples. Can Lassair solve the killings? An enjoyable read,
January 15, 2021
Lassair is out walking early one morning when she discovers a death body. It turns out to be a much loved seamstress. The villagers can’t work out why, although Lassair thinks she does. So begins the investigation.
I liken this book the least of the series so far, working out the culprit early on.
I liken this book the least of the series so far, working out the culprit early on.
July 25, 2018
Lassair is back! In this story she continues her studies of healing with her aunt and solves not one but two murders and one attempted murder. Again there is a lot of detail about the time period.
March 14, 2019
Engaging story with interesting characters.
August 31, 2020
Pretty much guessed who and why they did it at a third of the book
December 24, 2020
Interesting but not as charming as Ellis Peters.
October 9, 2022
I'm enjoying this YA series. More heavy on the historical fiction than the mystery, it's a good quick read.
November 23, 2022
Great series
October 12, 2025
NOT MUCH STORY
I do not know how I finished it. I thought it might improve but unfortunately it got worse.
will not read that author again althouth I have enjoyed her other books
I do not know how I finished it. I thought it might improve but unfortunately it got worse.
will not read that author again althouth I have enjoyed her other books
May 30, 2024
Although I liked the 11th century setting, the 17 year old protagonist was too young for me. This series may appeal to YA readers rather than mature audiences.
June 18, 2011
Young apprentice healer Lassair is distraught with grief over the death of her beloved grandmother. She goes to the grave to invoke spiritual attention and discovers the slab ajar and not one but two bodies there. The second body belongs to Ida, seamstress for Lady Claude, a visitor at the castle. Lassair and her aunt Edild begin to investigate the death, puzzled since everyone loved Ida and wished her no harm. Readers who like historical fiction and a medieval atmosphere will enjoy this second in the Aelf Fen mystery series, even though the whodunit aspect is not very mysterious--readers should cotton onto the murderer fairly quickly. Also, the author's habit of changing voices unexpectedly and rather randomly is bothersome and clumsy.
September 26, 2011
When I first saw the cover, I thought that the book was going to be about a new detective to me called Aelf Fen. I am not sure that I would have chosen this book if I had known what it was about and even as I started I wasnt sure , what with the strange names and a bit of difficulty grasping what was happening and where.
It soon started coming into focus and became a most enjoyable tale.
Set a couple of generations before Cadfael I am sure that this novel will appeal to his devotees.
I am looking forward to others of this series.
( I will remember this authors name as it makes me think of the favourite phrase of the visiting German teacher in Royston Vasey !!)
It soon started coming into focus and became a most enjoyable tale.
Set a couple of generations before Cadfael I am sure that this novel will appeal to his devotees.
I am looking forward to others of this series.
( I will remember this authors name as it makes me think of the favourite phrase of the visiting German teacher in Royston Vasey !!)
May 25, 2013
Quite undemanding but interesting. Soon after Norman Conquest so we actually know very little about the period. This is very much ordinary people carrying on their own lives with changes starting to impinge on them
August 31, 2011
Book #3 in the English Fen lands series. The author picked up her momentum in this tale and I was spellbound all through it as I tried to figure out the ending. And I was wrong! LOL!
August 19, 2014
Enjoyed this book more than the first two in the Aelf Fen series.
March 6, 2015
This series is quite interesting from the standpoint of development of the main character.
November 24, 2016
The third Aelf Fen mystery - set back in the 11th century in Britain. I quite like them, but feel there's a bit of filler in getting to the end.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews