Do You like book Dawn Wind (1982)?
I have three tiers of Sutcliff novels: those which I love to distraction (*****), those I love (****), and those which I enjoy (***). (We won't talk about Warrior Scarlet).This falls into the second category. The protagonist didn't draw me in as with some of the others, and I'm not as madly in love with the setting and premise as I am for "Frontier Wolf" or "Blood Feud," but I deeply enjoyed it, and Owain's love interest Regina is one of the most interesting (and least queenly and dignified) Sutcliff women. Alas for my likelihood of loving the book to distraction, she was mostly offscreen.But it's probably the most nuanced treatment I've seen Sutcliff give both Saxons and organized religion, and worth reading for that alone. The antagonist is oddly fascinating, in a frustratingly unresolved way. And I did like Owain and care about his situation, although not to the degree I do my favorites.On the less positive side, there's not much action, less nature porn than I'd like, Owain's situation as a Saxon thrall is rather stifling in a quietly soul-killing way and not my favorite thing to read about, and Regina spends the majority of the book offscreen, likely being more interesting than Owain, but we'll never know because Sutcliff generally didn't find women as interesting to write about.
—Oreotalpa
My favorite of Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novel of medieval England. This one takes place in the "Dark Ages" (which weren't all >that< dark). Sutcliff ties together her stories with one physical item--a ring with a dolphin carved into the gem. The ring is passed from son to son to son and so on. A nice touch to tie together what seem to be unrelated stories across vast stretches of time. Sutcliff was a genius in the realm of young reader's historical fiction.Charles Keepings' illustrations are right on the spot.
—Barbara
I'm reading these chronologically out of order, and it's a bit of adjustment to jump back and forth into these transitional periods of time in early (recorded) British history. This shows, basically, the establishment of the frontier of Wales that stayed effectively intact into modern British history. Sutcliff's thesis in this book was an investigation of the commingling of the settling Northern European groups with the remaining Romano-British peoples in the first few hundred years after Rome's withdrawal--and while that stated sounds dry, this is anything but. The real gift Sutcliff has is her ability to develop complex emotional interplay with great deftness and subtlety. The feelings her character Owain struggles with are as much individual as they are on a grand, state-level scale. I can't praise her enough. Additionally, I watched the two series "A History of Ancient Britain" and "A History of Celtic Britain" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xchyf) last month, and while my appetite has been whet all my life for anglophilia, the coinciding of watching that amazing series with these amazing books has just completely captured my attention. This Dolphin Ring cycle will gain a permanent groove on my bookshelf, of that I'm certain.
—SA
