Bloodline

A smooth , compelling read set in Dark Ages England, one of my favourite periods and settings. Traces the stroy of Essa, a half Briton, half Saxon boy abandoned by his travelling bar/spy/father in a Wixna village without explanation when he is nineHe grows up in the village, struggles to find his place in the world until his village is attacked by Mercian marauders. He not has a mission to fulfill, while preventing war between the various kingdoms and tribal federations, and has a psychic talent for astral travel and communication with animals, even with entering their bodies.He makes friends and enemies, and his strong bonds with his animals and his love for his childhood sweetheart blond Saxon beauty Lark, are both beautiful to read. his ultimate task is to stop the savage and bloodthirsty Mercian king Penda, after having gone with Penda's son, Wulfehre, on a journey to Powys to fetch Wulfhere's young bride.The author shows great understanding and research of the Britain of this time , and we get a feel fro the characters and places.She definitely shows a feel for Britain and it's history.

Essa's father brings him to a camp one day and leaves him there without any explanation. Essa's forced to grow up in the village without any sense of home. Years pass peacefully until the village's rival threatens war. Essa must do his duty and spy on the neighboring village.He's expected back in two days, but he's gone for much longer. He's caught while spying on the camp. The father he thought was dead is alive in the village. Essa's forced to swear another oath - to his enemies - and join their side.He doesn't understand why his father is there and his reasons for not returning. Essa figures he'll have plenty of time to ask these questions, but the next day he's sent on a mission with the King's son to fetch back his bride.The two boys form a friendship and gradually realize the pending war isn't best for both sides. They attempt to stop it with knowledge they've gained. But are they too late?Katy Morgan makes the Dark Ages come alive with her tale of war and courage, friendship and loyalty, and family and belonging.Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

hey! i got this book over a couple months ago, and i LOOOOVE it. i already read it at the library ages ago, but it is just too good to put down so i had to buy it lol. i am reading the next book, Bloodline Rising, and i can't wait til Katy Moran writes another book for this series. thanks so much!

The story is set mostly in England in the Dark Ages, where war is about to break out between two tribes. The central character is a boy named Essa, whose travelling father (sometimes a bard, sometimes a spy) has abandoned him to be brought up by one of those tribes. Essa has a role to play in trying to prevent war, alongside discovering the true identity of his mother, and in turn his place in the world.I didn't initially have high expectations of this book. The Dark Ages is one of my favourite periods of British history, but so often historical novels are ruined for the reader if the details of the period are inaccurate. The Dark Ages are particularly hard to get right, as so much is unknown, even to historians, that authors must often extrapolate likely situations and customs, without losing the authentic feel of the period. Katy Moran does this beautifully and subtly, without allowing the history to slow down the plot. There is a real sense of what it was like to live in the period, helping the reader to understand the choices facing Essa, in the context in which he faced them.From the first page, the plot doesn't slow, and the characters are rounded - even Essa's enemies have some redeeming features. If the book had a flaw, it was that it seemed to end too soon. Essa's journey, and his efforts to secure peace, were incomplete. Although the author does pull the ending together, it still has the feel of the first half of a larger novel, rather than the first book in a series. I wondered if the author had originally written a longer book, that had been split into two to make each book a more realistic length for a teenage audience?It isn't a major flaw though, as when a debut novel is this good, it suggests the sequel will be worth waiting for!

Historical fantasy set in Dark Age Britain gives this book a feel of something new and exciting. Essa is left in a village caught between two feuding kingdoms. His father, Cai, is a roving trader with a secret history only hinted at in front of his son. Essa is concerned with understanding his own family history, for he feels no pull of real allegiance to any of the lords in the surrounding countryside.After his apparent abandonment by his father, and with no mother to care for him, Essa ends up shifting his loyalties around, trying to ascertain where he fits into the puzzle of power-hungry lords and feuding factions. Caught up in a power struggle between two kingdoms on the brink of war, Essa realises that he can only be true to himself if he is to weather the coming storm. He is helped by his maturing ability to enter the minds of animals and perceive what they can see.The book is aimed at young adults, but is definitely a good read for adults who enjoy this genre also. It is a story of ancestry and of war, and ultimately our young hero can only achieve what he must by realising that his unique differences, that he is neither wholly Northumbrian, Wixma, nor Wolf Folk, give him the chance to slip between the cracks and fulfill his own destiny.Very well researched by Moran, and the beginning of a whole new series of historical fantasy that will undoubtedly rise to high levels of success.

Katy Moran is a great storyteller.It's not easy to write books for children - too many of them (even the well-known and over-praised ones) try to teach as well as tell a story - almost as if the text were saying, "Look! This is a good piece of descriptive writing!" or "Use this word, it's long and complicated!"You get none of that in this book - and yet it's beautifully descriptive and makes good use of language and literary techniques. The difference here is that all techniques are unobtrusive and totally subservient to the story. This book is entirely story driven.Set in 630-640, the story is about a boy, Essa, whose father is Celtic British and whose mother (dead) is Anglish. At the beginning of the book he is left by his father in a village of Angles, the Wixna. He grows up there and discovers that he has the power to enter the spirit of animals, partly to influence them, partly to see through their eyes. He also discovers that someone is out to kill him. Very soon the Wixna are caught up in the politics of the warring Mercians and East Anglians. Essa sets out to stop the inevitable war breaking out. The journey leads him from the Mercians to the Welsh to the High King in Northumbria until he rejoins the East Anglians. He forges various alliances on his way - alliances that prove fragile in the growing atmosphere of conflict. Essa learns to trust no-one, as he finds out who he really is, and seeks to save, if not the tribes, then at least the girl he loves.What makes this book such a compelling read is not only the plot, which is taut throughout, but the historical background, which is excellent and feels 100% right. Different people are in this Britain and there are no clear-cut boundaries between them. Both Christians and Norse Pagans (for want of a better term) live side by side, religion not being as important yet. Also, Moran doesn't explain much about the background, but just lets it seep into the story where appropriate.A definite recommendation for anybody above 11 (though probably aimed more at boys) who has an interest in Saxons, Vikings or ancient Britain. Buy.

My daughter [age 13] asked me to get this book from Amazon. Bloodline is Essa's story. He was born in the dark ages around the time of the epic saga Beowulf. Essa was 'nine summers old' in 631 AD. My daughter is an avid book reader and reads up to a book a day. After an hour into Bloodline, she told me 'it's really good'. Two days later she had finished it. I asked her to say what it was like in a sentence or two to help people decide if they should buy it for their kids. She said "It was a well written book. You get a surprise and a new twist all the time. Some people seem to be traitors, then they don't, but you never know. It's sad in places, and the ending is what you would expect, but you have to read it to understand what I mean. It's about being a young warrior in the violent Wolf Clan feud and being faithful to people [and they give you a ring as a symbol of their trust and your loyalty]. Lots of people die - naturally mostly the male warriors - and you just know it must lead up to a great battle, but you never know who, if any, will survive".I asked her if it was the best book she has ever read, and she said no, that would have to be Michael Morpurgo's books ['My Friend Walter' being a particular favourite] - these even top her Harry Potter and Princess Diaries books she has re-read many times. But Bloodline still comes very highly recommended. Despite the apparent boy friendly nature of the storyline, it was certainly was a hit with my daughter who is the target age for this book. On the back of the book it states 'For readers aged 12+' and 'Bloodline continues in 2009', so the books themes and writing style are not aimed at adults. The book's sequel 'Bloodline Rising' has arrived, which my daughter also bought and really enjoyed - this second book follows the life of Essa's son [hence the series running title 'Bloodline' I suppose]. Both books are pretty standalone, there's no cliff-hanger not to be resolved until the next book, which my daughter also liked.

I am way past the target reading age for this book, but I still remember with great fondness the Rosemary Sutcliffe, Geoffrey Trease, Roger Lancelyn Green (etc.) books that I read as a child. That was really why I wanted to read "Bloodline", to see whether any new authors could capture the brilliance of those old stories.I probably wouldn't say "Bloodline" is "brilliant", because I'm older and more cynical; but I could well imagine that a 9-11 year old might. The story is set during the early Anglo-Saxon period, when England was divided into warring kingdoms populated by diverse ethnic groups. As the story is told from the viewpoint of a boy (just entering manhood) at the time, it doesn't matter that the overall political scene is a bit simplified - but that isn't to say that there aren't some complex politics at work in the book, which the author deals with in a comprehensible way. She certainly isn't talking down to her readers.It would give too much away to say too much about the plot. Suffice it to say that "Bloodline" contains a good number of surprising friendships, and surprising enmities, and a couple of other subtly signposted surprises, too. This helps to keep a fairly simple story jogging along nicely.I had a couple of little niggles with the book. Calling a female dog "Fenrir" would be unlikely, as Fenrir was a distinctly male name. The first couple of chapters contained flashbacks that weren't too well defined, leading to a bit of confusion - the publisher could probably do something about this by italicising sections. Also, the copy I read was a proof, and did not contain a map. Although I am fairly familiar with the geography of early Medieval England, I did find the lack of a map a problem. When the final version hits the shelves that will, I hope, be rectified.Overall, I would be suggesting "Bloodline" to any early teenage child as a very good historical novel.