Theresa Tomlinson

While this book might not be for everyone, it checked off many of the boxes that define books that I personally love: historical fiction set in the Dark Ages of northern Europe, the interaction between paganism and Christianity, political intrigue, and a cast of likable but not perfect characters. Sprinkle in some herbal lore, a bit of chemistry, bees and bards, some mystery, a plague, and a rural setting and it makes it a 5-star book for me. I loved that the main character was a woman of show more about my age. This was a fast, pleasant relatively light, well-researched, and satisfying story. show less

This is a follow up to the author's historical murder mystery A Swarming of Bees, featuring Fridgyth the herb-wife gently sleuthing in the monastic community of both monks and nuns presided over by the historical Abbess Hild in 7th century Whitby. Like its predecessor, it is well written and engaging, though quite slow to get going, with the drama mostly packed into the last quarter or so, centring around murders committed for revenge as part of a blood feud, one of many such vendettas that show more scarred the lives of generations of many Anglo Saxons. Interestingly, I found out recently that this author has written several series of books for young adults, some set in the same time period, and this explains her fairly detailed descriptions of Anglo Saxon customs and life, that add educational colour to the plots. show less

I'm not sure why I first picked up The Forestwife in elementary school, but I loved it from the first reading. One of the first truly good chapter books I remember reading (also, a book I had constantly checked out from the school library), The Forestwife has stuck with me. All the other Robin Hood stories I had read or heard about were all about Robin and how he rescues Maid Marian. It is nice to see that in this rendition Marian learns how to be her own person and does some rescuing of her show more own. I really like the portrayal of the characters in this book (not just Marian) and the way it talks about more adult issues like relationships, sex, birth, and death but not in an incredibly juvenile manner. I loved this book so much that in high school my mother bought be a hardcover copy for me at christmas time. It will forever be one of my favorites. show less

The Moon Riders is an excellently written story about a young woman warrior, Myrina and her involvement in the historic Trojan Battle. I thought the plot of the book was exciting as the tragic events from Homer's Iliad slowly unraveled. Cassandra, Paris, Helen and other characters from the Iliad were seamlessly interwoven with the fictional characters of the novel. Myrina and her friends and family felt real in both their behaviors and emotions.

After reading this book I did a little show more research on Cassandra -- a character from the Iliad I knew almost nothing about. After reading various stories about her, I felt that author Theresa Tomlinson did an excellent job of merging a mythic two-dimensional character into a believable three-dimensional person.

I also appreciated the Cast of Characters listed at the back of the book. Some of them were obviously fiction, some were obviously from the Iliad, but some were from other Greek writings. For example I had never heard of Penthisilea from the heroic poem by Quintus of Smyrna. I'm glad Tomlinson used other ancient Greek sources for her characters. After reading the reading the author's note -- it was very apparent how much she enjoyed the research and writing of this story.

A compelling novel, the Moon Riders will make readers feel like they are getting a glimpse inside the world of the ancient Greeks.

The next book in this two-part series is the Voyage of the Snake Lady. show less