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Andrew Ashling

Andrew Ashling

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I write gay fiction.

The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls

The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls

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<p>Emerging from the long shadow cast by his formidable father, Harold Godwineson showed himself to be a worthy successor to the Earldom of Wessex. In the following twelve years, he became the King's most trusted advisor, practically taking the reins of government into his own hands. And on Edward the Confessor's death, Harold Godwineson mounted the throne—the first king of England not of royal blood. Yet Harold was only a man, and his rise in fortune was not blameless. Like any person aspiring to power, he made choices he wasn't particularly proud of. Unfortunately, those closest to him sometimes paid the price of his fame.<br /><br />This is a story of Godwine's family as told from the viewpoint of Harold and his younger brothers. Queen Editha, known for her Vita Ædwardi Regis, originally commissioned a work to memorialize the deeds of her family, but after the Conquest historians tell us she abandoned this project and concentrated on her husband, the less dangerous subject. In THE SONS OF GODWINE and FATAL RIVALRY, I am telling the story as it might have survived had she collected and passed on the memoirs of her tragic brothers.<br /><br />This book is part two of The Last Great Saxon Earls series. Book one, GODWINE KINGMAKER, depicted the rise and fall of the first Earl of Wessex who came to power under Canute and rose to preeminence at the beginning of Edward the Confessor's reign. Unfortunately, Godwine's misguided efforts to champion his eldest son Swegn recoiled on the whole family, contributing to their outlawry and Queen Editha's disgrace. Their exile only lasted one year and they returned victorious to London, though it was obvious that Harold's career was just beginning as his father's journey was coming to an end.<br /><br />Harold's siblings were all overshadowed by their famous brother; in their memoirs we see remarks tinged sometimes with admiration, sometimes with skepticism, and in Tostig's case, with jealousy. We see a Harold who is ambitious, self-assured, sometimes egocentric, imperfect, yet heroic. His own story is all about Harold, but his brothers see things a little differently. Throughout, their observations are purely subjective, and witnessing events through their eyes gives us an insider’s perspective.<br /><br />Harold was his mother's favorite, confident enough to rise above petty sibling rivalry but Tostig, next in line, was not so lucky. Harold would have been surprised by Tostig's vindictiveness, if he had ever given his brother a second thought. And that was the problem. Tostig's love/hate relationship with Harold would eventually destroy everything they worked for, leaving the country open to foreign conquest. This subplot comes to a crisis in book three of the series, FATAL RIVALRY.</p>

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<strong>Review:</strong><br /><br /><em>&quot;Once I accepted that not everything in this story was going to be easy to read I became immersed in the events told mainly thru Andrew's eyes. The highs and lows, the good and bad, the beautiful moments and the ugly truths he learns all combined to make this an entertaining and thought provoking story. I liked the author's writing style although I did feel at times that Andrew was perhaps too mature for his age. It was a bit hard sometimes to believe he was so young from the way he comes through in the book however that didn't take away too much from my enjoyment. I did waffle a bit on the rating because of my reservations with parts of the story but when I realized I was thinking about the story long after I'd finished it and wishing there had been more to it I felt it deserved a five star rating. Highly recommended.&quot;</em><br /><a href="http://lily-ilovebooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/dish-served-cold-by-andrew-ashling.html">♥♥ I Love Books ♥♥</a><br /><br />I have to warn you that there are some very graphic and sometimes cruel scenes. <em>&quot;I actually have sympathetic pains in my chest over this poor boy!&quot;</em>, one reader wrote in a comment on a site where I tested it out. <em>&quot;Some of the scenes were brutal and a little hard to read, and some of the 'history lessons' were quite long. However, every single one of those scenes was necessary in my opinion, it helped me really understand the world I was reading about.&quot;</em> another wrote. More recently, on my own site, where you can find the complete review, someone said <em>&quot;There was so much detail and finesse to the story. I would have liked to have known if he was able to track down that poor kid from the airport. I cried at that point and at the parts involving Eric. What a cruel world.&quot;</em> But a little bit further down, the same person says <em>&quot;It is such a beautiful tale of redemption as well.&quot;</em> and <em>&quot;The epilogue was amazing also, though very bitter-sweet.&quot;</em><br />There is romance too. I promise.