love, love, love.

This book was intriguing. It was 3rd person-omniscient, which is always an interesting style of writing to read, because you get all perspectives at once.

The book opens on a small Welsh town. Evyn, our main character, is a boy in his early teens whose only life aspiration is to become a storiawr, a storyteller. When Evyn's Uncle Morgan comes into town, Evyn knows from the start that he will cause trouble. And he does. He provokes the sons of a local feudal lord, who seek revenge by killing him. Only it isn't him they kill. It's his identical twin brother, Evyn's father. And even though Evyn barely knew his uncle, he is punished as well. His tongue is cut out, leaving him mutilated and muted for the rest of his life.

With such a grim introduction, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. But I kept reading anyway (thank goodness).

Uncle Morgan takes Evyn away from his town, brings him to Exeter, and sells him into slavery so that he will be able to pay off his debts. After all, what good is a mute, illiterate young boy? Luckily, the woman who now owns Evyn is kind, and smart, because she can tell almost immediately that there is more to Evyn than meets the eye. When he breaks his arm carrying water, she does him a favor and sends him to a local monastery to heal, where he is taught to read and write.

One event leads to another, and Evyn (now called Shadow) becomes the personal squire of Earl Harold Godwin, the kind leader of Wessex. I loved Harold immediately. He was kind, courageous, and brilliant. Unfortunately, when Harold inherits the throne from the late King Edward, his reign is not an easy one. He has to fend off enemies from all sides, and his leadership is tested in some of the best historical fiction battle scenes that I've read in a long time.

To conclude, before I give away the ending: I really did not expect to like this book very much. I was pleasantly surprised. It shows a perspective that is not often explored, and the author did a wonderful job building characters, resurrecting civilizations, and showing the true mindset of the people in this time period. Fantastic read.

Wow. Just wow.

This book was incredible. I don't know what anybody meant by it being "too slow." For me, it was really hard to put down.

I loved the majority of the characters. Silla drew me in immediately, I found Gram Judy hilarious, and I wished Reese were my big brother.

Spoiler

When he died, I almost cried :'(

I liked Josephine at first, and her slow descent into power-hungry insanity was interesting to follow. The only character that I didn't like quite as much was Nick. He seemed nice, for sure, but the way he went from total obnoxious bad-boy in the beginning to sweet and fearless in only a couple of weeks/days(?) seemed unrealistic. (Not that I always mind things being unrealistic. I'm totally down with instalove :P) Also, it drove me crazy when Nick called Silla "babe." If you respect her, you should use her actual NAME.

Multiple narrators in books tends to irritate me, but I thought it fit this story very well. Especially the use of Josephine's diary entries to let the reader in on why she turned out the way she did. I looked forward to each of the main characters' perspectives on things, and couldn't wait to read each of Josephine's diary entries.

The plot was wonderful. Immortality is tempting, but it comes with a price, for sure. All the possession creeped me out, and made me totally paranoid along with Silla, Nick, and Reese. It was impossible to know when the villain would take someone else's body. Speaking of the villain, the mystery shrouding his/her identity was FANTASTIC. I never would have correctly guessed that

Spoiler

Ms. Tripp was Josephine, but it totally makes sense now.

The scene at the end, filled with destruction, was super-satisfying.

The actual ending of the book, the last chapter, was so-so. I thought it wasn't over yet, so I turned the page and there were the acknowledgements. I hate it when that happens :/

Great book overall. :D