Description: Aelfwyn has always considered herself drab and bookish next to her heroic mother, the Lady of Mercia, but she didn't mind too much. Then her mother dies suddenly and Wyn is thrown headfirst into the world of politics as her uncle, King Edward, struggles to retain control of Mercia after her mother's death and strangers begin asking for Wyn's support against him in a rebellion taking place to the north. When Edward tries to marry her to an old man as a reward for service, she runs away, cutting her hair and disguising herself as a young traveling musician/poet. It is in her disguise as the scop Wilfrid (meaning "far traveler") that she meets Wil, displaced king and leader of the rebellion, courting support in Mercia. Wil becomes Aelfwyn's friend, teaching her to become a better scop, never guessing that she is the very lady whose mysterious disappearance he is using as a reason for others to join him in fighting King Edward. When Wil is ready to move against the king, Wyn will play a major role in the fight's outcome.
Review: "Far Traveler" is very much a "what if" of history: Aelfwyn really did exist, and disappeared from all records after her mother's death. Tingle then took the events of the time and wove a story of what may have happened to the missing girl. Therefore the plot had to stick to historic possibilities and, in this case, that was a disadvantage to the book. The part that the writer was able to make up all on her own was good, but in the end, she couldn't make the hero win the day, because that's not how it actually turned out, and the fact that the book ends with a whimper rather than a bang made me, as a reader, feel very unsatisfied. Despite that, however, the middle section of the book is well-done and worth the read. Aelfwyn was a good character, though a little too passive. Wil was marvelous; I fell in love with him myself, though his and Wyn's romance didn't exactly make sense to me. "Far Traveler" could have been a medieval gem, but fell just short of greatness.
This is a fantastic novel. Tingle has taken historical events, and turned them into a great read.
Posted by: ben at January 18, 2006 10:07 AM