“A great struggle for power and wealth goes on at all times over your head, and you are safer knowing nothing about it.”
This lovely, tautly written series for young adults blends Arthurian mythology with adventures in sixth-century Ethiopia and the Arabian peninsula, in kingdoms then known as Aksum and Himyar.
Wein’s books aren’t widely known, which is a shame, because her reviewers compare her to the likes of Rosemary Sutcliff, one of the grande dames of historical fiction, and one of my personal favorites, Megan Whalen Turner. Wein’s earlier books told the story of Medraut (Mordred) and his half-sister, while The Lion Hunter and The Empty Kingdom, essentially two halves of the same story, concern themselves with Telemakos Meder, Medraut’s half-Ethiopian, half-British son.
From the age he could walk and talk, Telemakos has been bright, curious, stealthy, and an accomplished eavesdropper, all the best qualities of a spy. Before he was old enough to know what was happening, he was being involved in the politics and schemes of his noble relatives. He has already suffered some harrowing experiences in their service, as well as a disfiguring attack by one of his emperor’s lions. At thirteen years old, the boy has enemies.
In The Lion Hunter, Telemakos is sent for his safety to a neighboring country; but by the opening of The Empty Kingdom, he no longer knows who to trust with the coded warning of impending treachery at home. Telemakos is also coming into his own as a young man, old enough to choose his own allegiances and shoulder responsibility for his headstrong sister’s upbringing. The adults around him are capable of both love and cruelty; it’s hard to tell who to trust.
In relatively few words, Wein creates multifaceted characters and extraordinarily tense situations. With an exotic setting, lots of sensory detail, and a resilient, self-possessed and compassionate young hero, her books should appeal to attentive readers of either historical fiction or fantasy. I look forward to watching Telemakos grow up: Wein has connected the noble families of Britain and Aksum in ways that could have very interesting repercussions in books to come.
Check the WRL catalog for The Lion Hunter.
Check the WRL catalog for The Empty Kingdom.
I like Weins stories about Telemakos adventures after I read The Lion Hunter, I will for sure soon also “eat” The empty kingdom”…
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[…] gushed about Elizabeth Wein’s prose before, and I’ll say it again: not a word is wasted. Details about the English home front, wartime […]