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Paths of Exile by Carla Nayland

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EC2
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Paths of Exile by Carla Nayland

Post by EC2 » Thu October 30th, 2008, 9:05 pm

A review of Paths of Exile by Carla Nayland, one of our Historical fiction Online authors.

To summarise the content, I can do no better than repeat/paraphrase part of the back blurb from the novel itself.

'Britain....605 AD. Eadwine is the youngest son of the king of Deira (roughly equates to modern day Yorkshire), guardian of a neglected frontier and the faithful ally of his eldest brother and hero Eadric. Eadwine's ambition is to be a worthy lord, a good husband to his betrothed, and a reliable second in command to his brother. All these hopes are swept away when Deira is invaded and overrun by the forces of its powerful, predatory neighour Bernicia. Eadwine fights a rearguard action to give his brother extra time to rally, but finds out that Eadric has been shamefully slain by an unknown assassin. Eadwine survives the subsequent disastrous defeat of his people and badly wounded, goes on the run. He must evade the conqueror, Aethelferth who has sworn to kill him, for he has his own oath to avenge his brother's murder. It is also his duty to rescue his betrothed from the clutches of the Bernician invaders. However, he finds his heart torn in two directions when he encounters the skilled and wise physician Severa, and then torn again when he discovers an appalling detail about his brother's murder.

This is an enjoyable adventure novel about a little known part of British history. The author has included some very useful maps and terminology to make things easier to understand for the geographically challenged. Her landscapes are vividly and evocatively described and her characters walk in them with three dimensional assurance. The secondary characters are as well painted as the protagonist, Eadwine. I particular liked his Pictish companion, Drust who speaks with something of a Jamie Fraser brogue but is otherwise unlike Gabaldon's sex on a stick.
Eadwine is a likeable young man who relies more on his brain than his brawn, although he can use the latter as necessary. He has fears and doubts. He gets grumpy and despondent, but has the strength of will to bounce back again with a little help from various warband companions. There is romance in the story, but it's not the dominant thread, rather it's a blended part of the weave. It's not at all 'girlie'. Male readers who enjoy tales of back-packing, cunning plans and derring do, will enjoy this one a lot. Occasionally I have to admit I was pulled out of the story by a modern phrase or two, but it's still a lot less blatant than Simon Scarrow's Macro books and it really does boil down to personal taste and it's more of an observation from me than anything stronger.
Although the novel has a satisfying conclusion, it is made pretty obvious that the author is working on a sequel...I hope so. There's something of a cliffhanger that needs still to be resolved. (Note to Carla, hurry up!)
In some ways Paths of Exile reminds me in its voice of Rosemary Sutcliffe, and really I can give it no bigger accolade than that. It's free as a download from Carla's website, or you can do as i did if you prefer a book in your hand and order from Lulu.
Last edited by EC2 on Thu October 30th, 2008, 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Thu October 30th, 2008, 9:48 pm

I have the book and am reading it next!!

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Post by Carla » Fri October 31st, 2008, 5:46 pm

Thanks, EC! I'm delighted you enjoyed it. Rowan, I hope you like it too. Re the sequel, yes there is one in the offing and I'm typing as fast as I can :-)
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

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Rowan
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Interest in HF: I love history, but it's boring in school. Historical fiction brings it alive for me.
Preferred HF: Iron-Age Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain
Location: New Orleans
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Post by Rowan » Mon December 1st, 2008, 2:06 am

I finished the book earlier this week and took a wee break by reading some lighthearted Horrible History. :D

There's nothing I can add to EC's review, save that it took me a little while to actually like Eadwine as he seemed a bit assy telling off his companions at every turn once he left town. But then I realised I had to take into account his age and that he was in a foreign situation and then I began to like him.

And I'm glad there will be a follow-up. I wanted to follow along with them as they left. :D

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Post by Carla » Tue December 2nd, 2008, 12:49 pm

Thanks for your comments, Rowan! Is it the bit where they are on the run for their lives after the battle that annoyed you? If so, it's worth bearing in mind that Eadwine is trying to drive them away - he expects to be caught and killed at any minute and doesn't want his friends to die with him.

There will certainly be a follow-up novel in due course and may well be more after that, especially if the first one does well (see author announcement thread: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... .php?t=969). Now that Quaestor are publishing it the free download and the Lulu edition are no longer available, but with luck it won't be long before it's available on Amazon. You might want to hang on to your Lulu copy, Rowan - I think you bought the last one!
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

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Rowan
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Posts: 1462
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I love history, but it's boring in school. Historical fiction brings it alive for me.
Preferred HF: Iron-Age Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Post by Rowan » Tue December 2nd, 2008, 5:47 pm

Wow! That's funny.

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Post by annis » Sun February 22nd, 2009, 6:34 pm

I'm just about to start this one, Carla, so haven't got anything useful to say just yet, but I'm wondering if you can satisfy my curiosity about the runes which border the cover. Do they mean something, or are they purely decorative?

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Post by Carla » Mon February 23rd, 2009, 11:23 am

[quote=""annis""]I'm just about to start this one, Carla, so haven't got anything useful to say just yet, but I'm wondering if you can satisfy my curiosity about the runes which border the cover. Do they mean something, or are they purely decorative?[/quote]

They transliterate

EADWINE REX ANGLORUM

in Anglo-Saxon runes. You can check for yourself if you like, just find a reference source that lists the English runes alongside their modern equivalents and read off the letters one by one like a code. Last time I looked the Wikipedia page was accurate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Futhorc).

The phrase itself comes from Bede's Latin Historia Ecclesiastica. I wanted to at least give a nod to Bede, since he's where I first found the story, and given that we write English with Latin letters, I thought it was mildly amusing to write Latin with English runes for a change. I had the same inscription on the back cover of the Lulu edition, and Quaestor2000 re-used it on their edition.

Two of their other titles also have runic inscriptions on the covers using the same rune set (Far After Gold and The Whispering Bell, both reviewed by me on the forum here), and you can transliterate those from the Wikipedia page as well if you feel so inclined (I have).
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

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Post by annis » Mon February 23rd, 2009, 6:08 pm

Thanks, Carla, how cool :)

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Post by rex icelingas » Tue April 28th, 2009, 5:07 pm

I Love this period but understandably its a very difficult period to write about as so much of it can be speculative it can be very easy for people to disagree on the slightest thing.`Paths of Exile` is something of a marvel, Carla has managed to write an absorbing book which is Historical but refrains from making bold statements about the shadowy 7th Century Period but still is written by an expert historian who writes with both fact and fluency.
`Paths of Exile` is a book that has just enough of all the ingredients-there are battles that are exciting but dont go on for twenty pages,there is Romance,mystery,thrills,drama and more than enough to demand a sequel!
The characters were memorable and believable,the different peoples of Britain act like you would expect them to do in the Religious and Political climate of 7th Century Britain.
I so enjoyed reading this book and without a doubt would recommend this to anyone a fan of Cornwall`s Alfred series,Historical based Arthuriana or just great HF.

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