I am primarily an author and reader of Roman fiction. I occasionally stray from that, but I have always claimed a general lack of interest in Dark Age England. Indeed, when Canelo persuaded me to write something of that era, my stipulation was that is was far removed from the usual Dark Age NW Europe, and I ended up writing in the Caucasus and the Byzantine world, which is more in my sphere. So where does this leave me with the Dark Ages in England? Well, I am extremely choosy. I am no great lover of Cornwell’s Dark Age books (while I love his Sharpe series), and various other similar series have left me cold. I have enjoyed Giles Kristian and Robert Low’s Viking adventures, but of England, until recently the only books that truly grabbed me were James Wilde’s Hereward series, and Matthew Harffy’s Beobrand books. That being said, M J Porter is an author who has been on my radar for a while, thanks to a number of mutual friends, and when I discovered her new novel on Netgalley, I was inclined to give it a try.

The blurb:

Tamworth, Mercia AD825.

The once-mighty kingdom of Mercia is in perilous danger.

Their King, Beornwulf lies dead and years of bitter in-fighting between the nobles, and cross border wars have left Mercia exposed to her enemies.

King Ecgberht of Wessex senses now is the time for his warriors to strike and exact his long-awaited bloody revenge on Mercia.

King Wiglaf, has claimed his right to rule Mercia, but can he unite a disparate Kingdom against the might of Wessex who are braying for blood and land?

Can King Wiglaf keep the dragons at bay or is Mercia doomed to disappear beneath the wings of the Wessex wyvern?

Can anyone save Mercia from destruction?

Review:

I did not read this blurb before I began. In fact, I went into the book completely blind, other than loving the cover. They say never judge a book by its cover, but to some extent we all do it. This one is lovely.

I will get my niggly negative out of the way immediately, as it is a matter of personal choice and may well not affect other readers. Simply: I do not find the first person present tense easy to read. I am comfortable reading in first or third person, but usually in past tense. That being said, Son of Mercia is well enough written that after a while I found myself not only accepting the tense, but actually appreciating some of the immediacy it lends the story.

Son of Mercia takes place entirely in what is now the English midlands region (ancient Mercia, surprise, surprise), centering largely on the capital of Tamworth but with cameos of other places including Offa’s Dyke. Much of the action, however, takes place in the wilderness. Recorded knowledge of Ninth Century England is sparse enough that much of what we need to picture of the world of the novel is born from our imagination, nudged in directions by the skilled author. The milieu Porter builds is vivid and realistic, familiar and deep, the detail teased from our own imagination by the writing.

The history on which the story is based is recorded in chronicles, as we learn in the author’s note, but, just like the Roman texts I use, these chronicles are subject to spin and bias, and so in order to build a realistic view of the world in which the tale is set, sometimes it is necessary to bridge gaps in logic. Porter is fortunate, perhaps, in having chosen a Character and a series of events that directly affect this history, while largely taking place in the unrecorded periphery. This allows her to narrate great events while telling a much more personal story, the two becoming closer and closer aligned as the tale goes on.

What of the characters, then? The principle character is a young man named Icel, related to a renowned warrior, but himself tied to a well known healer as her apprentice. As political and military disasters unfold, and Mercia stands on the brink of oblivion, facing rule by the King of Wessex, Icel’s uncle, one of the king’s warriors, decides the time has come to flee this foreign control, He takes Icel and another young warrior and rides away, seeking somewhere to stay out the way. But over the many months hiding, events gradually conspire to pull them back to the world.

What really grabs me, character-wise, in this book, is Icel’s character. In Dark Age/Early Medieval novels there is a propensity to make every major character a warrior, hard as nails and invincible. Icel is not one of these stereotypes. He is a passive, pacifistic, nervous, quiet academic sort, low born and unimportant. As such he is a true breath of fresh air as a protagonist. Indeed, the freshness of this is not confined to Icel. His companion, the young would-be warrior is a frustrated, untrained lad, and even the uncle, who is clearly a great warrior, seems to spend much of the book undergoing repeated treatment for horrible wounds. He is a great warrior. He fights, he kills and he survives, but he does not walk through it all untouched. He suffers through it.

Another aspect I enjoyed is the small detail. This is evident in much descriptive of locales, of structures and of the landscape and nature, but nowhere is it more evident than in the treatment of medicine and surgery. I am used to Rome, which is a strange mix of magic/folk cures and actual true medicine. The Dark Age healing Icel and his teacher display here are a mix of herbalism and folk cures, but there is less true medical and surgical knowledge now, and time and again a wound is completed with searing closed and hoping. That being said, the knowledge of herbs, poultices and natural cures and their application is excellent, and gives the book all the more depth and colour.

In short, Son of Mercia is a profoundly personal book, centering on believable and sympathetic characters, telling us of momentous events in 9th century Britain through the eyes of the nobodies on the periphery. The story at times seems more an introspective personal journey for Icel than any kind of saga, but as the tale progresses, and politics drag our characters back into the crucible, war is inevitable. The battle scenes are as as deep and personal as the rest of the book, and no lover of Dark Age warfare is going to be disappointed.

Son of Mercia is personal, real, fascinating and satisfying. It is out on Wednesday 16th, but you can preorder your copy now.