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 Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead
reviewed by Lynne Ann Morse
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 15, Winter 1997-1998
What's this?
A book, dummy!
I can see that its a book - stop going for the cheap jokes!
Fine. Maybe you don't want to read a historical fantasy.
Feh, looks more fantasy than historical, on the cover - cliché Celtic knot work and a Viking.
Well, you don't see anything twee like a wizard or a dragon, do you?
Hmmmph, what is your point?
You're not even just a little curious about how the author brings together Celts, Vikings, Arabs and the citizens of cosmopolitan, medieval Byzantium? Folks usually didn't travel that far, you know, in the ninth century.
Right - so, some Irish monk gets carried off from his monastery by Vikings. That's the book, right?
Ah, not quite... though you make a close guess about the monk. Aiden's his name, and he's been chosen to go on a pilgrimage to Byzantium.
Wait,... Aiden, you mean Saint Aiden? Oh, no, not a saint.
C'mon, give it a chance! Besides, this isn't the historical Saint Aiden. But the detail is so good, he might have been real. It's not at all what you're thinking. Look, he starts off as a simple monk, and he has these visions.....
That's it, this conversation's finished -
No! He's actually trying to hide his visions, not use them to advance himself. He concludes from them that he'll die in Byzantium. He thinks this is God's will. But then, it all turns out different from he expects, really different, and that provokes him to abandon his faith.
Huh.
Ah, ha ah... gotcha there, didn't I?
I didn't say anything. I'm still not convinced. So far you've only been telling me what you like about the book.
Well,...
Out with it.
Well,... all right. There's a bit too much 'You are there', like each little detail. But, it's a problem just in the beginning, when you're still at the Irish monastery.
Ha, you got bored at the monastery, did you? But, lots of detail. That's not so bad.
Yeah, and sometimes it works really well. You read a gory battle, but it's definitely not Dungeons & Dragons. Aiden's view of each battle changes, as he does through the story. He's in a complete panic during the first battle, when he's captured and made a slave. Later, he's actually cheering for his Viking captors, because they fight with such valour. And his heart aches for them because they've been betrayed and are outnumbered, so that the valour means nothing in the end. The author doesn't just spill out blood and guts for decoration - each battle has a terrible toll. But it isn't all battles and stuff.
Right, I was beginning to wonder...
Well, there are in between times, too. Like after Aiden's capture, when he's a Viking slave: he has to learn how to speak his masters' language. He gets a bit of his own, back, because he's still trying to proselytise his captors at this point. He gets to do that in really funny ways - like when he recites the Beer Prayer, and the Vikings all are amazed: "Aiden's god even has a prayer for blessing the ale."
Humph, they weren't Vikings, that's what they did. They were Swedes, or Norse or Danes...
Yeah, right, you're right. Anyway,...
Doesn't it get a bit preachy, with all that faith stuff?
Well, you have to remember the time it was in. And the religion theme is full of surprises - later in the book, we learn that Aiden's group of monks were going to try and place themselves under Byzantium's authority: the Celtic Church was feeling too much friction with Rome. So, you get lots of power politics, too. You almost start wishing for a battle then, because the politics turn out to be a lot dirtier. There's also the time Aiden spent with a Muslim prince's household, and they learn about respecting the other's faith. So, it's not so much about one-true-way dogma, but more about, well, how folks live.
Huh.... so, you're telling me it's not preachy.
Er, uh....
So, like Aiden does find his faith back by the end of the book?
That would be telling.
Yeah, right, it always comes down to not telling because it'll spoil the book.
But, half the fun of the book is reading it for the historical bits. Not just to find the end of the story. It's a romance in the original sense: the story tries to be true in detail, and also with bigger questions. It shows how the lives of the characters change, and what they learn along the way.
So, that's the book there in your hand?
Yeah.
It's mine, now. Thanks, bye!
The Pendragon Cycle (Talkiesin; Merlin; Arthur) by Stephen Lawhead
reviewed by Helen Ryder
Original appearance: FTL 9, Summer 1991
In these troubled times the world has looked to many heroic tales in which to find the traditional values of chivalry and honour, Outstanding amongst the legends are the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which have inspired numerous novels over the centuries will a large range of interpretations. In each of the treatments the basic story has remained the same, but the writers have imbued the themes with stories which take them from superlative fantasy to more historically accurate fiction,
One of the most recent treatments has been published in a trilogy format by the fantasy writer Stephen Lawhead, whose other books including "In The Hall of the Dragon King", a straight fantasy. In the Pendragon series Lawhead has used the scope of a trilogy to deal with the events leading up to the reign of Arthur from the fall of Atlantis and the advent of the great Welsh bard Taliesin, to his son Merlin Emrys and the guidance of the young Arthur by Merlin. The first book is written in an initially annoying format of alternating chapters; first of Charis, daughter of King Avalloch whose people escape the destruction of Atlantis to become the Fair Folk or Fairie of The Glass Isle (Glastonbury); and then of Taliesin, a fey child found and adopted by a Welsh king, who exhibits powers nurtured by the druids and bards of the West. Merlin, son of the grown Tallesin, attempts to bring to fruition the Kingdom of Summer through his protege Arthur. He is opposed by the evil Morgian, half sister of Charis and possessing the powers of the ancients of Atlantis. Of the series the first book is perhaps the strongest, drawing an engrossing picture of two streams of fate converging into a strong irresistible river of events. "Merlin" holds the theme, introducing a strong religious theme combining the old ways of the druids with the new Christian faith. The character of Arthur in the last part is intensely irritating, fluctuating between a strong and innovative WarLord and a naive and selfish boy monarch. However at least the character of Gwynhwyfar is finally given a strong treatment, and she comes across as a fierce and loyal companion to Arthur, with the ill-fated romance with Lancelot severely soft-pedalled. As a whole, the trilogy can stand besides others of its ilk with no ill-comparison.
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