Aldric & Anneliese

Not your ordinary chivalric tale!

Men and women might well approach this book from different vantage points. It can be so many different types of story, depending on the mind-set of the reader. I think men would be more likely to appreciate the battle scenes — of which there are a good many, but not of the prolonged variety, thank goodness. Blood and gore and lopped off heads are all over the place, but that was life in the sixth century. Life was cheap, then. Or so I’ve been told. On the other hand, there is a love story in there, too. In fact, there are several of them, but this is by no means a romance novel, either.

The author points out that it is a tale of nation building, kings, knights, fair ladies, battles won and lost, triumph, betrayal, tragedy, revenge, redemption, and great loves. From that description, it’s rather clear that the book doesn’t quite know which is the most important element. It’s a mixture of so many things; the reader could end up rather confused when trying to figure out the intent. Mostly, it’s referred to as historical fiction, but in my opinion, it’s really more of a fable – a sometimes ribald fable – with copious amounts of blood and gore spilled here and there. Unfortunately, the exact locale is not identified, so you have nothing to anchor your inner vision of place.

One of the major faults, which might in fact, be a virtue, is the lack of one strong character leading the tale. There are three stories here, one blending into the next, in which one character does move along through all three, but with different characters in each one.

While Aldric is present in all three tales, Annaliese appears only in the shorter central tale. Granted, she makes a major impression on Aldric, but it’s a mystery as to why her name is included in the title.

It’s a rather short read (152 pages) with no glaring errors, and written in an engaging, sometimes witty style that will encourage you to keep turning the pages.