Mark Saxton (1914–1988)

I wasn't sure that it was going to be possible for anyone to write a good followup to Islandia, but Saxton did manage it here, at least to some degree. There were hints and moments of the wonder of the original, anyway.

After the king dies, only his daughter is left to succeed him. But Islandia has never had a queen rule over it before. The new, young, willful queen has quite a job ahead of her. The territory of Winder has officially seceded from the country and enemies threaten to invade from all sides, not to mention the assassination attempts. And the only way to survive is with Winder's, and it's king Tor's, help...

This is the second book about Islandia Mark Saxton wrote after helping edit and publish show more Islandia. The first book was The Islar and the final book is Havoc in Islandia.

I liked this one much better than The Islar. It's still not as good as Islandia, of course!

Experiments in Reading show less

In his third and final Islandia novel, Mark Saxton once again delves into the history of Islandia.

The novel occurs in the late twelfth-century, when the Catholic Church makes a final power grab to gain control over the monarchy and therefore control over Islandia. What follows is a dramatic tale of civil conflict that eventually leads to civil war.

I think I liked this book even better than the previous two novels The Islar and The Two Kingdoms. Still, nowhere near Islandia though!

show more target="_top">Experiments in Reading show less

Mark Saxton's attempts to continue the story of Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia are only partially successful, in my opinion. As much as I wished for it, the magic just wasn't there.