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Shieldwall by Justin Hill5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() Readers who only want a warrior's tale will be satisfied that there are no digressions from the conflict narrative others will yearn for some relief from the gritty determination to keep fighting.įor my part, the unending tone of military hardship and betrayal would be fine if there were contrasts in the ways in which characters dealt with this psychologically but only Godwin's inner struggle is treated in any depth. One of Hill's characters complains that "poets sang too much of war and glory" and some might say the same of this book. Indeed, there is little else in this book but war. The theme is fairly and squarely war and the loyalties and hardships of war. It is centred on the early career of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, father of the King Harold killed at Hastings, and particularly on his friendship with Edmund Ironside towards the end of the reign of Edmund's father, Ethelred the Unready (978-1016). Shieldwall is the first part of a trilogy that leads up to the Norman conquest. ![]() But how does he fare in his first venture into the strange territory of 11th-century England? Hill has previously won a string of prizes and plaudits for his books about China, while his travel book about Eritrea was listed for the Thomas Cook award. H istorical fiction, like writing for children, is harder than it seems. ![]()
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