Amazon CA $13.21
YA / Alternative
15th Century
Ottoman Empire
Book One of a series
This young adult novel is
of a quality that it is a great read for adults as well, and one that will not
disappoint. It does not feel particularly ‘young’ and is gritty enough to keep
an older, more experienced reader entertained.
The novel traces the early
life of Lada, a Romanian noble, daughter of Vlad Dracul (no, not that one) who
is sent into the heart of the Ottoman Empire with her brother Radu as surety
for the behaviour of their father. There they both meet Mehmet, son of Murad,
the Ottoman Emperor and find an unlikely friend in a world where they are for
the most part ignored, and are only alive as long as their father does as he is
told.
Throughout the book there
is a tension built from the precarious situation of the two main characters,
their real fear that they could at any time be executed and that beyond keeping
their father in check, they are worthless. Their status is equivocal, and their
survival relies at times solely on their friendship with Mehmet. Where Lada
kicks and struggles and fights her captors at every step, wishing to join the
ranks of the palace guard despite being a girl, her brother Radu is quiet and
perfect. But he is not stupid, and uses his apparent acquiescence to their
overlords to gather intelligence and inveigle himself into the higher levels of
court, something that Lada cannot understand.
Strictly speaking this novel
is alternative history. Anyone who knows this era will have picked up on this
by now – the character ‘Lada’ was not a girl, and when she rides back to
Romania to take her father’s place, she is in fact Vlad Dracul, better known to
history as Vlad the Impaler, a method of execution he learned from the Ottomans
and made very much his own. For all that it is not a faithful re-telling of the
history, altering the gender of the main character explains the Ottoman’s hold
on Vlad, something that has confused historians.
This is a tale of two
people, two very different characters – one who accepts a new reality and
strives to make the most of it, and one who refuses to give in. Which is
correct, well, that is for the reader to decide.
© Nicky Galliers
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