I bought The Edge on the Sword many long years ago at a Half-Price Books store. I put it on my bookshelf and promptly forgot about it. Then this year, I made a resolution to at least try and finish all the books on my bookshelf. The Edge on the Sword is right after Fire on the top shelf (which contains my Tough Femmes books), so it was the next one to be read. A handful of other reviews stated that the Edge on the Sword had a slow beginning that accumulated into a satisfying end. I agree. The very beginning of the book seems to be disconnected from the rest. When I began to read the first chapters, I flipped to the back to make sure I was reading the right story. I was puzzling over what a young girl sneaking in to the woods to meet her angry brother had anything to do with the 'greatest woman in Old English military history.' Stick with this book though, because very quickly we get to the good part. Aethelflad soons learns she will be betrothed to her father's trusted aldorman, Ethelred, a man as old as her father. Before she will be shipped off to marry Ethelred in a strange town, she has to be followed by the trusted servant of Ethelred. She slowly sees her freedom taken away as this new man scares her little sisters and limits her favorite walks into the forest. But Aethelflad isn't one to go down without a fight, leading her to use her wits against this servant and setting the scene for her brilliant military strategies she employs later. The amount of historical detail that went into this novel is amazing. I loved the little touches of the Middle Ages scattered throughout the Edge on the Sword. Its easy to see that Rebecca Tingle went through a lot of work to make the book accurate. I'm not an expert on the Middle Ages, however, so maybe don't take my word for it. She, at least, made me believe everything she wrote was correct. I think her characters' mindsets were correct for the time period, as well. Many authors try to write historical fiction, but their characters end up sounding like they were plucked from 2010. Aethelflad is a real Mercian woman, known in history as beloved by her people and a genius on the battlefield when she was forced to take over for her husband in his later years. She is a strong woman, without being a feminist that wouldn't have existed in those times. She may not have liked being engaged to an older stranger, but as a princess she would have know she had to submit to her father and king. She didn't run away from the problem but faced it head on, no matter how miserable that made her feel. Aethelflad is inspiring because when she knew she was right, she stood up for herself and when she thought she may be wrong, she stuck out her chin and plowed through the consequences anyway. The only shortcoming of this novel is the cast of secondary characters. They left some things to be desired when it came to emotions. Towards the end, there should have been an extremely emotional scene with Aethelflad and her trusted servant, Red. I didn't even blink. I realized later I should have felt something during this scene, but I really didn't even register it. I found out as I was writing this review that there is a sequel, Far Traveler! I plan to read it as soon as I can.
Ignore the irritatingly standard YA cover. This was GOOD. I found this on Open Library when I searched for the keyword Mercia - it was a stab in the dark, really, but I was hoping to find something on the Lady of Mercia, Alfred the Great's oldest child. And did I ever! This wasn't perfect. For example, I felt it started off on the wrong foot a little bit, the prose while clean and serviceable did not ache to be read aloud, and while the references to Christianity were all positive they lacked the kind of all-encompassing influence really present in the Middle Ages. BUT -- Tingle kept surprising me. Over and over, she seemed to be taking the heroine in a conventional YA direction, only to totally and delightfully overturn my expectations. What a pleasure to have a teenage heroine who must genuinely grow and mature and be willing to change and admit her faults in order to step into her rightful position in history. Aethelflaed's character arc is achingly real and understandable. I really hurt for her in the story and longed for her to be refined and strengthened by her trials. The novel has a slow start but builds very satisfyingly and suspensefully with a great interplay between character development and plot. Dare I admit that I actually had tears rolling down my face at the end?Will so look forward to sharing this with my daughters when they are 12 or so.UPDATE: I had a chance to read the beginning again, and I just wanted to say that there is a significant flaw in this novel, which will annoy people who really know the Middle Ages. Basically, Aethelflaed at the beginning of the novel is an average 15-year-old girl…but not of the 800s. It's a stretch to imagine that this unskilled, small-minded child would have been found in the household of Alfred the Great. One of the things I found most appealing about the book is the fact that the heroine had to change drastically as a person in order to face her enemies and carry on her father's nation-changing vision. On further reflection though, it doesn't really make historical sense. Aethelflaed seems completely shocked that she is expected to make a strategic marriage that will benefit her people. Her only interest seems to be hiking with her brother. Really? At 15?? Where's her distaff?! There's a nice scene where she is weaving with her mother, but it takes place after dark by rushlight which makes no sense at all if you've ever seen either a medieval loom or a rushlight. I still really, really enjoyed this book and will share it with my daughters. I wish Tingle could have kept the character trajectory that I enjoyed so much, and refined the historical believability of her character. Suzannah Rowntree did something rather neat in her medieval epic "Pendragon's Heir" by placing a world-traveling character from the year 1900 into Arthur's court. Thus her character could adjust along with the reader to medieval norms. In a way, I felt like this was happening in Tingle's book,.
Do You like book The Edge On The Sword (2003)?
This book was such a joy to me, I read it in grade school and years later I find out she is my grandmother so I had to read it again! The historical accuracy is eye opening and brings every reader back in time, the complicity of coming of age of bring yourself to see ahead of your actions and the burden of honor. All the characters and minor characters have importance and you will shed a few tears. May I also add if your like me and have a notebook of quotes you love you will be adding to it after reading this book. This book is great for all ages!
—Nina Fonteneau-Fuentes
The Edge on the Sword is a imaginative, speculative tale of the early life of Aethelflaed, eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of England, who grew up to govern Mercia (and be known as the Lady of the Mercians) after the death of her husband Ethelred of Mercia. Aethelflaed is an independent and intelligent fifteen-year-old, accustomed to freedom, so when her father tells her of her betrothal and assigns her a guardian, she does her best to escape from her newfound loss of liberty. When her escape leads to trouble, her guardian begins to teach her to fight and ride, training her to lead her people.This is a very accomplished first novel. Aethelflaed is a wonderful character, strong-willed, smart, and sympathetic, and her setting is thoroughly researched and detailed (though not in an overwhelming way). The plot is tight and the climax nicely paced and exciting. Tingle apparently has a sequel (Far Traveler), about Aethelflaed's daughter, and I'm definitely going to look that one up as well, as The Edge on the Sword was easily one of the best young adult historicals I've read.
—Margaret
I recently read the author's second book about some of the same characters as appear in this first book, but I read it not knowing about the existence of this first book. Just as well, because if I had read this one first, I would not have read the second one and I liked the second one Ivery much. As for this book, I scan-read the first half of it. By that I mean I read only about twenty words per page, just enough to follow the thread of the story but fast enough to skip everything else that I found uninteresting. The second half of the book was good, and I did very little scan-reading. The second half of the book was good like I remember the other book being, so perhaps by then the author had hit her stride. I would give one or two stars to the first part and three or four stars to the second part. So it is probably a 2-1/2-star book--much as I hate to say it with that good last half.
—Patricia
