Shadow on the Crown

This is a first: a book that completely disappoints before the first line of narrative. I got excited about this book after seeing it mentioned in a Facebook group on Anglo-Saxon history. Sadly, this book is not good fare for anyone who already knows anything about Normandy or England in the 10-11th century.

Exhibit A: there's a glossary in the front of the book. Why not in the back like in every other book? I can't help but think it is to impress the reader with all the cool things either the author or some editor wants to show they've learned about medieval England. In support of that point, the glossary includes the word ague, which is still part of the common lexicon in many parts of the English-speaking world. What kind of condescending author needs to define such a word? None of the good ones.

The saddest thing is that the first entry in this glossary is the word “aetheling” (æþeling), which the author contends translates as “literally throne-worthy.” No, it doesn't. Not even non-literally. Æþel means “noble” and “ling” means ling as in duckling. The most common translation is “prince” or “noble one,” sometimes used to mean any good person, and sometimes applied to Christ. I feel like the author, editor or whoever was in charge there thought they could pull one over on the stupid readers.

Another thing that had me scratching my head were the deliberately over-dramatized entries from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that introduced the sections. I've read plenty of ASC entries in Old English and they are not novel material. They are the work of someone writing fast while still trying to get down all the important facts. The most embellished they get is in certain metaphors for death, as in “he forsook this world and joined our creator” and so on. There is mention of dragons in one entry but it's just that: “and there were dragons in the sky.” Everyone takes this to mean meteorites.

I just don't get why an author would try to make a very well-known and documented time period into fantasy like this. Bernard Cornwell didn't do that. Even Philippa Gregory knows where to draw the line. But they don't talk down to their readers. Neither does Pat Barker or Ken Follett, and he even gets away with plenty of “ooh check out this cool thing about medieval England.”

It's just really frustrating to pick up a book about interesting characters that are rarely written about or have movies made about them, to be greeted with condescension and BS. I don't recommend this if you're looking for something featuring Emma, Æþelred, Cnut, etc.