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Review: Protector of Mercia by MJ Porter

I'm so thrilled to share my review of Protector of Mercia, the latest adventure of a young Mercian called Icel, by MJ Porter. I've been waiting for this one impatiently after the cliffhanger in Eagle of Mercia.

Protector of Mercia is currently on blog tour with Rachel's Random Resources. Make sure to check out all the other fabulous tour stops.




Protector of Mercia

The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles

MJ Porter
 

Yay! Icel is back! 

I was thrilled to catch up with my favourite Mercian healer-turned-warrior again, especially after the cliffhanger in Eagle of Mercia. And what an exciting – if often painful – ride it is! 

MJ Porter is fast turning into my favourite historical fiction writer. The research and knowledge of the era, and the setting, is impeccable, adding a strong sense of time and place to the novels. 

After discovering who his father was, Icel is attacked by mixed emotions. But during the revelation from the dying Lady Cynehild, he also had to give her his oath to protect her young sons. And that oath is the focus in this novel.


Protector of Mercia begins with Icel visiting his mentor and healer, Wynflæd. And while she insists he follow his newly-discovered fate, Icel himself has no intention to. Following their disagreement, he heads to Kingsholm, where the young boys’ father, Lord Coenwulf, is slowly recovering from wounds received when he tried to reach the king of the West Saxons, Ecgberht – an act regarded as treason by Mercians. 

But King Wiglaf is dithering, reluctant to punish the errant lord, though his wife and son are hell-bent on banishment at least, if not worse.

The young boys, Coelwulf and Coenwulf, are being cared for by Eadburg and her mother, and he is certain the women wouldn't harm them. But there are others who regard their tenuous claim to the Mercian throne as a threat – and who would stop at nothing to extinguish their flame – and their young lives.

His oath also prevents Icel from joining his fellow warriors and friends under the command of Ealdorman Ælfstan. He tells them about his oath, but not about the secret he learnt from the dying lady. That one he keeps close to his heart, and it causes him much unhappiness.

After Wiglaf's departure, his son and heir, Lord Wigmund and his wife Ælflæd are in charge. But with Ælflæd's own sun so small and weak, she shows her disdain for her brother's children. But Icel must not only watch her – he is also the victim of bullying by Wigmund's men, and nearly ends up dead at their hands. 

When he is called away from Kingsholm, he doesn't stop fretting, and when his works nightmare comes true – the children disappear during their supposed journey to the king's court at Tamworth – he sets out on finding them. But the search takes him into unknown territory such as the Welsh borderlands and then the far, sparsely populated north-west of Northumbria. Will he find the boys and take them to safety? Find out in this gripping novel!


I love Icel. He's the perfect anti-hero. A seasoned warrior by now, yes, but at heart still a young man looking for his own path in life. The secret of his birth adds to his confusion. He wants to heal, not kill – but kill he must, if necessary.

In Protector of Mercia, Icel meets many challenges, he barely survives, but those make him even more determined. It's not only his oath that keeps him looking after the boys, he has developed a close bond to them. After all, with their mother dead and their father banished from Mercia, probably fled to Frankia, they are all alone, just as he was. This parallel is emotional and makes him a believable and caring character who would do anything – and who does do everything – in his power to protect them.

Protector of Mercia is a really fast-paced tale, one to read in as few sittings as you can, as it pulls you firmly into Icel's (mis-)adventures. The poor lad ends up close to death more than once, and often it's his trusted stallion, Brute, who is there to save him. Brute is a stubborn horse, not allowing anyone else to handle him, and that is just as well as he is taken from Icel more than once. The tales surrounding the horse raised a few smiles in an otherwise serious, death-defying plot.

Easily the best book in this excellent series, I can highly recommend Protector of Mercia to readers of historical adventures who love a slightly different type of hero.
~~~


Blurb: 

A deathbed oath leaves the lives of two infants hanging in the balance.

Tamworth AD833

After successfully rescuing her husband from the Island of Sheppey, Icel hears the deathbed confession of Lady Cynehild which leaves him questioning what he knows about his past, as well as his future.

In the unenviable position of being oath sworn to protect their two atheling sons when Lord Coenwulf is punished and banished for his treason against the Mercian ruler, King Wiglaf, Icel is once more torn between his oaths and the secret he knows.

When the two children are kidnapped, Icel, good to his word, and fearing for their safety, pursues their abductors into the dangerous Northern lands, fearing to discover who is behind the audacious attempt on their lives: the queen, the king’s son, or even Lady Ælflæd, a friend to him in the past, but now wed to the king’s son and aunt to the two abandoned children.Alone in the Northern lands, Icel finds himself facing his worse fears. Can he rescue the children from their captor, or will he fail and lose his life in the process?


International Buy Link: https://mybook.to/protectormerciasocial

~~~

About the Author:

MJ Porter

MJ Porter is the author of many historical novels set predominantly in Seventh to Eleventh-Century England, and in Viking Age Denmark. They were raised in the shadow of a building that they believed housed the bones of long-dead Kings of Mercia – so their writing destiny was set. 



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