This Scepter'd Isle

✍ Scribed by Lackey, Mercedes

• Book ID: 106882013
• Publisher: Paw Prints
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: en-GB
• Weight: 309 KB
• Series: This Scepter'd Isle 1
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781439565667

✦ Synopsis

From Publishers Weekly

In this exciting historical fantasy from veterans Lackey (Exile's Valor) and Gellis (Bull God), Rhoslyn and Pasgen Silverhair, elven twins kidnapped by Vidal Dhu and raised as Unseleighe Sidhe, receive alternative visions of the future. In one, a red-headed child born to Henry VIII ascends to the throne after the king's death, leading Britain into a prosperous and joyous future. In the other, another child rules, and with her coronation opens Britain to the fires of the Inquisition. Unbeknownst to Rhoslyn and Pasgen, however, the same double vision comes to their half-siblings among the Bright Court elves, Denoriel and Aleneil. Thus inspired, the two sets of twins set out to force the future they each desire. Denoriel attaches himself to Henry FitzRoy, the bastard son of Henry VIII, who may be the key to ensuring the red-headed child's rule, while Rhoslyn assumes a place in Princess Mary's household. FitzRoy, who grows from a sweet, innocent child into a sweet, innocent young adult, and Denoriel, who goes from reluctant nursemaid to dedicated almost father, get most of the attention, but it's the dark twins who provide the most interest. The mental, magical and eventually physical battle between the two sets of twins speeds the entertaining plot along, and knowledgeable readers—hey, that Anne Boleyn is going to lose her head—will enjoy the interplay between elven intervention and historical fact.
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From

Lackey and Gellis' account of elvish intervention in the intrigues of the court of King Henry VIII of England is quite competently written, but then one expects no less from these authors, either separately or in collaboration. The human protagonist is Harry Fitzroy, Henry's illegitimate son. About the time Henry started thinking of divorcing Catherine of Aragon, there was a fair amount of speculation in the courts of Europe as to whether he would declare his only son--Harry Fitzroy--his heir. In the world conjured by Lackey and Gellis, both the bright and the dark elvish court seek to control the "red-haired babe" who will bring England to greatness. Since at least three of Henry's children were red-haired as infants, confusion and intrigue--the latter initiated by the elves, directly and through their human servants--abound, making for an entertainingly convoluted complex of plots and subplots. This magical Tudor court makes for a fun read, without doing violence to anything known about any historical character involved. Frieda Murray
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