Review: Historical fiction with a touch of fantasy
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 9, 2013
Aislinn is only seven years old when her brother is killed. To uphold the family honor, Aislinn is determined to become a knight in his place. With the blessing of the king and the approval of her father, she begins her training. She makes a few friends and endures some minor bullying, but she does manage to do well in her lessons.I enjoyed Aislinn’s early years as she struggled to learn and catch up to the other students. She has a determined personality, and she does not give up or give in to self pity. She doesn’t make excuses for herself, she simply tries harder. I feel she sets a wonderful example for all young girls. She proves that you can do anything you want, no matter the opposition.This is a good story at heart, and it has some memorable characters. It was presented to me as fantasy, but it is lacking in that department. There is some minor magic which appears about two-thirds of the way through, and I would have liked to have had that throughout the story. Perhaps it is more prevalent in future installments of the series. Aislinn does have visions to communicate with her deceased brother, which introduces a paranormal aspect. For me, this story falls more under historical fiction than fantasy. Romance came into play at the end, and it was nice to see a man who preferred a strong woman over a typical obedient wife.I was quite surprised to see her riding out after bandits at the young age of 9-10. That seems far too young, even for the boys who are training alongside her. I doubt any child would be required to do such a thing until they were closer to 14-15 years old, even in 1155 CE. A typical girl of her era would have been too small to go around slashing at bandits.There are a few wrong word errors in this book, and it could benefit from a professional proofreader. I doubt her brother was killed by a “rouge band of bandits” (unless they were all wearing red). I suspect the author intended to use the word “rogue”. We all make mistakes, but some typos can change the meaning of a sentence and convey the wrong message to a reader. I found the high number of errors to be distracting.I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.