Download PDF The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder
You can finely include the soft file The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder to the device or every computer unit in your workplace or residence. It will certainly assist you to consistently proceed reading The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder each time you have spare time. This is why, reading this The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder doesn't offer you troubles. It will certainly offer you important resources for you which intend to begin writing, discussing the comparable publication The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder are various book area.
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder
Download PDF The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder
The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder. Someday, you will certainly find a brand-new adventure and expertise by investing even more money. Yet when? Do you think that you should get those all demands when having much cash? Why do not you aim to get something easy at initial? That's something that will lead you to know even more regarding the globe, experience, some locations, past history, amusement, as well as a lot more? It is your personal time to continue reading practice. One of guides you could enjoy now is The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder below.
To conquer the problem, we now provide you the technology to purchase the publication The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder not in a thick printed data. Yeah, reviewing The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder by on-line or getting the soft-file just to review could be one of the means to do. You could not feel that checking out a book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder will certainly work for you. But, in some terms, May people successful are those which have reading habit, included this kind of this The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder
By soft data of the e-book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder to check out, you may not should bring the thick prints everywhere you go. Any time you have going to review The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder, you could open your kitchen appliance to read this e-book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder in soft documents system. So simple and fast! Reading the soft documents book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder will certainly give you simple way to read. It could also be quicker due to the fact that you can read your e-book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder everywhere you desire. This on the internet The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder can be a referred e-book that you could appreciate the option of life.
Due to the fact that book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder has excellent benefits to review, several individuals now grow to have reading routine. Assisted by the developed innovation, nowadays, it is not challenging to get guide The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder Also the e-book is not existed yet out there, you to browse for in this web site. As what you can locate of this The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder It will truly ease you to be the initial one reading this e-book The King's Shadow, By Elizabeth Alder as well as get the perks.
Evyn, a young Welsh serf, has dreamed all his life of becoming a storyteller. But in a cruel twist of fate, Evyn and his father suffer a brutal attack by a group of murderous ruffians. Evyn's tongue is cut off and his father is killed. Orphaned and unable to speak, Evyn assumes he is destined to a life of slavery. But Evyn is resilient and teaches himself to read and write. He is then appointed the personal companion to Earl Harold of Wessex, who later becomes the King of England. The two travel the countryside together, forming a close father-son bond. Evyn chronicles all of their exciting journeys, which culminate at the Battle of Hastings, where the future of the country is decided.
- Sales Rank: #26730 in Books
- Color: Multicolor
- Brand: Alder, Elizabeth
- Published on: 1997-08-31
- Released on: 1997-07-07
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.90" h x .72" w x 4.20" l, .30 pounds
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 259 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Alder's clunky debut charts the rise and fall of King Harold, as seen by the fictional Evyn, the king's loyal Welsh servant and foster son. A regular Horatio Alger hero of Saxon England, Evyn finds his promising career as a storiawr (wandering storyteller) stopped short when his tongue is cut out by the high-born ruffians who killed his father. A few days later, Evyn's uncle sells the mute boy into slavery on the vast estates of Lady Ealdgyth Swan Neck, who, for some reason, arranges for the boy to be taught to read and write. Later, Evyn leaves Ealdgyth's household to serve her lover, Harold, Earl of Wessex. At this point the narrative really bogs down, becoming essentially a star-struck account of Harold's ascent ("It seemed to Evyn that all the power of the Saxon people was concentrated behind the muscle and bones of the Earl of Wessex") and his defeat at the hands of William the Conqueror. Characterizations are wooden and oddly distant: it's hard to get a sense of Harold's repeatedly emphasized charisma from Alder's clicheed phrases. A wealth of potentially fascinating historical details indicates thorough research; unfortunately, these snippets are poorly integrated into the story. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. Eleventh-century Britain is the background for Alder's finely written account of a slave who becomes the chronicler of Harold, last of the Saxon kings. When Evyn is brutally attacked and rendered mute, his hopes of becoming a storyteller and escaping his life as a serf are shattered. Sold into slavery, he joins the household of Lady Ealdgyth, the common-law wife of Earl Harold of Wessex. Illiterate, mutilated, and feared by the thralls, Evyn becomes known as Shadow. When he is sent to a monastery to be educated, his future is altered forever. After his return, he saves the life of Earl Harold and follows Harold, as his squire and later as his foster son, from Wessex to London and eventually to the Battle of Hastings, where he witnesses Harold's death. On the journey, Evyn learns about loyalty, honor, and bravery, and he comes to realize that by chronicling the fate of his king, he has actually become a storyteller. Alder's vivid descriptions of the harsh conditions and customs of medieval life make the story come alive, and her brisk pacing never wavers. Evyn is an observant, sympathetic narrator, an apt recorder of the perilous times. Chris Sherman
From the Publisher
Evyn, a young Welsh serf, has dreamed all his life of becoming a storyteller. But in a cruel twist of fate, Evyn and his father suffer a brutal attack by a group of murderous ruffians. Evyn's tongue is cut off and his father is killed. Orphaned and unable to speak, Evyn assumes he is destined to a life of slavery. But Evyn is resilient and teaches himself to read and write. He is then appointed the personal companion to Earl Harold of Wessex, who later becomes the King of England. The two travel the countryside together, forming a close father-son bond. Evyn chronicles all of their exciting journeys, which culminate at the Battle of Hastings, where the future of the country is decided.
Most helpful customer reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
A Storyteller in the classic sense
By T. J. Mathews
It's often said that history is written by the winner. We know of William the Conqueror and his victory at the Battle of Hastings. What few know is who it was he fought against and what that enemy was like.
Now, 931 years after the fact, Elizabeth Alder has told us the story of Harold II, the last Saxon king of England. We are shown Harold's tragic story through the eyes of his "shadow", a voiceless squire who becomes one of the king's most trusted friends.
While some apparently think the story boring, it touched me like few other books have. Harold is portrayed as one of the few kings who gives all of himself for his realm and it is heartbreaking to read of all his efforts to unite England, knowing that in a very short while it will all be gone. Even the chapter headings tick off the years leading up to 1066 like some sort of death knell.
As to how this story has anything to do with us? If it were not for the events in this story many of us, myself included, would not even be able to read this book. We would be speaking and reading French.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
My English Teacher's Book Review
By Emily1117
Mrs. Alder is my English teacher and I say ,we didn't think she was capable of writing this well. It is strange to think of the person who yells at you and gives you detentions when you don't have your red marking pen writing a terrific book. But she did! We had to read the book for class and I know many people were prejudiced at the beginning, but towards the end, I think most of us enjoyed it. So here goes on the review:
Evyn is a young Welsh farmworker in the mid-1000's. He loses his tongue in revenge by the brothers of someone who his uncle killed. With it goes his dream of becoming a revered storyteller. His father is killed also, and he is sold into slavery. Luckily, his lady is kind and sends him to a monastery to learn how to read and write. He joins Harold the Fair as his squire and friend, and later on, his foster son. He returns to the monastery after the Battle of Hastings to write the history chronicles of their journeys and adventures. I think this book was well written, but there were a few points that I did not enjoy. When Mrs. Alder wrote about the Battle of Hastings, she was a little too descriptive. In fact, I felt sick. I understand that some information was vital to the battle, but the whole "He was hacked until he was unrecognizable" was just a touch too much. Also, in class, she told us that Ealdgyth and Harold had children together, but that was not included in the book. Since the Little Queen had no children, the children of Ealdgyth would have been heirs to the throne. I thought this would have been very important, and she only mentions it at the very end of the last chapter. But I also think there were very many strong points. She kept true to the historcal truth and detailed everything well, but not too much throughout the books. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more of her work!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Good story of a boy who fought beside tragic King Harold
By David T. Jarvis
Well-written historical fiction like this makes the period come alive. Late Saxon England is sometimes overlooked, notched between the Dark Ages and feudal Britain. Stone castles and chivalry came later; this was the age of wooden feast-halls and "housecurls" (a little like knights). The King's Shadow focuses ostensibly on Evyn, a Welsh boy whose dreams of becoming a bard are stolen from him by violence, but it is also the story of Harold, the last Saxon king of England. Evyn is drawn to Harold after being sold into slavery. He becomes Harold's guide, his squire, and, ultimately, his chronicler.
Alder handles the violence of the time just right for younger readers, toning it down without sugar-coating it, and manages to pull a satisfactory measure of believable and unforced happiness from the story's mostly sad conclusion. The details of her clearly extensive research never force themselves on the reader but emerge naturally as part of the story.
One criticism is that Alder's sympathies are perhaps a little too clearly with the Saxons. (One could easily imagine William the Bastard's lackeys addressing him as "Lord Vader", by contrast.) I felt she explained away some of Harold's faults/mistakes a little too neatly. Still, Evyn's respect and devotion to Harold are always believable.
The King's Shadow sufficiently piqued my historical interest to make me browse a translation of the Anglo-Saxon chronicles. I felt a chill while doing so, knowing that real people like Evyn must have written them. Recommended.
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder PDF
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder EPub
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder Doc
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder iBooks
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder rtf
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder Mobipocket
The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar