Sharrukin's Palace

House Aretoli by K. M. Butler

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

House Aretoli is an historical novel which paints a vivid picture of the early Italian Renaissance. Our scene is the Venetian Republic, a city where merchant families rather than warrior-aristocrats rule, yet the schemes for power and influence are no less deadly.

In the summer of 1363, Niccolo Aretoli is a young man serving on the military staff of Leonardo Dandolo, the Venetian governor of Crete. When a sudden rebellion takes place among the native population, Niccolo soon earns a reputation as a military hero. He saves the governor’s life, and assists in the evolution of Venetian citizens from the island.

Alas, when the Venetian exiles return home, Niccolo soon finds his new reputation small consolation. His beloved fiancé has married in his absence – to his own brother, no less – and the family soon suffers a terrible loss at the hands of a rival house’s schemes. Niccolo is forced to plot and struggle for his rights, opposing even members of his own family. In the process, he uncovers a plot against the Venetian state itself.

In Mr. Butler’s previous historical novels, he’s shown a gift for writing stories that fit into the interstices of what little is known today about a given period. House Aretoli is a particularly good example. The titular family and its struggles are fictional, but utterly plausible for the late medieval world. Documented events from the period are woven into the narrative. On the other hand, the resolution of the story is tied up in one of the era’s minor mysteries; the events of the climax aren’t documented, but are surprisingly credible given what little we do know.

Once again, Mr. Butler brings history to vivid life, including the differences between the cultural values of the past era and our own. Character motivations make sense, even when they feel very alien to a modern audience.

The flow of the narrative here is smooth and easy to follow. The story occasionally leaves Niccolo’s viewpoint, but sections told from other perspectives are cleanly labeled and never confusing. Necessary exposition is delivered through character dialogue or internal reflection, and it’s never a distraction. The story’s political intrigues are easy to grasp, even when they become a little convoluted.

The only serious complaint I had about House Aretoli was in the mechanics of prose style. Mr. Butler’s past novels have been quite clean, but this one had enough copy- and line-editing stumbles that I found myself distracted more than once. This was never quite enough to overcome my commitment to Niccolo’s tale, but a less engaging story might have lost me.

As with Mr. Butler’s previous efforts, I thoroughly enjoyed House Aretoli, and I’m certainly looking forward to his further work. Very highly recommended.

The Welsh Dragon by K. M. Butler

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

The Welsh Dragon is a historical novel with a dash of romance, telling the tale of one of England’s most remarkable monarchs in the days before he came to rule.

When our tale begins, Henry Tudor is a very young man, still in his teens, in the midst of that English civil conflict that we call the Wars of the Roses. His uncle – King Henry VI of England – has just been deposed and imprisoned by the House of York. The Lancastrian cause seems all but lost, and Henry is forced to flee England or face arrest and possible execution. He sails with his protector, his uncle Jasper Tudor, hoping to reach France. Unfortunately, an untimely storm washes the Tudors up in independent Brittany, where Henry is forced to live in exile.

At first, Henry has little ambition for his own sake. He has lost lands and title in England, but he is safe under the protection of the powerful Duke of Brittany, and he finds happiness in the arms of a wealthy widow. His tenuous claim to the English throne seems almost irrelevant. The House of York is firmly in command back home, and there are several other men with better claims. Yet Henry’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, is striving to regain a position in England for her son. Meanwhile, the Yorkists refuse to let him live quietly in exile, constantly scheming to seize him or have him killed.

In the end, Henry is forced to give up the woman and the peaceful life he has come to love, and contend for the English throne in his own right.

Unlike Mr. Butler’s previous novel, The Raven and the Dove, this one is set in a much better-documented period. It’s a foregone conclusion that Henry Tudor will return to England, establish one of the most brilliant royal dynasties that country ever knew, and begin leading his kingdom into the modern era.

Mr. Butler’s gift is bringing historical figures to vivid life while he tells the well-known story. Henry himself is a conflicted man, torn between his happy life in Brittany and the ambition he feels compelled to pursue. He matures considerably in the course of the story, growing from an awkward youth to an admirable contender for the crown. Some of Mr. Butler’s more speculative elements – especially Henry’s fictional love interest, the Breton merchant Jehana de Rousson – offer an interesting perspective into how one of England’s more unusual kings might have been shaped.

Mr. Butler has a very clean prose style, and the editing here is very good; I saw only a few copy- or line-editing issues, and these never pulled me out of the story. Action scenes are easy to follow and very exciting. The story alternates among several viewpoint characters, but each section is labeled, and the story is strict in its close third-person perspective.

Mr. Butler is deft in the art of dropping needed exposition into character dialogue or internal reflection, and that’s very useful here. The reader gets to watch characters as they engage in very sophisticated political intrigue, but it’s always clear why they act as they do. The mindset of late-medieval English aristocracy is often alien to us, but the author makes it very compelling.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Welsh Dragon, and I’m definitely looking forward to Mr. Butler’s next venture into historical fiction. Very highly recommended.

The Raven and the Dove by K. M. Butler

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

The Raven and the Dove is a historical romance, telling the story of an unlikely couple amid turbulent times in the early medieval period. The story covers a little less than two years in the late ninth century, in the northern lands of the Frankish empire, a region that will one day be called Normandy.

At the beginning of the story, the Norse chieftain Rollo has established himself as the jarl of Rouen, wealthy from years of raiding deep into Frankish territory. Rollo’s raids, and those of his fellow Norsemen, have driven many of the region’s Frankish nobles into exile. Rollo sees the resulting power vacuum as an opportunity, which might enable him to create a new kingdom of his own. For now, he is still working to establish and defend his power.

One of Rollo’s officers is a shield-maiden named Halla: a fiercely independent woman, who lives by the Norse code of courage and honor. When we first meet her, she has just taken part in a raid, and fights to defend her people against a Frankish counterattack. Rollo soon sets Halla to lead an expedition toward the Frankish town of Lillebonne, which he hopes to integrate into his growing demesne.

When she reaches her destination, Halla meets Taurin, a Frankish landowner who is one of the leaders of the community. Lillebonne has been abandoned by the Frankish nobility, and Taurin fears that the town is doomed if it doesn’t make an agreement with Rollo and his Norsemen. He therefore accepts an invitation to return to Rouen with Halla, to meet Rollo and negotiate for the town’s fate. When Halla is made a chieftain in her own right, and the jarl’s representative in Lillebonne, she makes the fateful decision to marry Taurin and work with him to govern the town.

Halla and Taurin marry for pragmatic reasons rather than for love. Although they have a frank and vigorous sexual relationship, it takes a lot of time and work for them to become true partners. The obstacles in their path are considerable. Halla is a pagan, a warrior whose fortune was built on raiding and violence. Taurin is a Christian who inherited his wealth and station, a man of peace. Halla takes a pragmatic view of the world, whereas Taurin is an idealist. Norse and Frankish customs are starkly different; the two peoples regard each other as heathens and barbarians, and there is little love or trust between them. Halla and Taurin have a difficult time learning to understand one another. Yet somehow, despite external threats and the constant risk of violent rebellion, they need to find a way for two peoples to live together.

If you know the history of this period, you know the result is a foregone conclusion. In the following generations, the blended folk of Normandy will become one of the most dynamic and powerful peoples of medieval Europe. Yet here we’re seeing the very beginning of that process, at a time when Halla and Taurin could not count on success. The two of them will have to think fast, take risks, and learn to trust each other despite all the obstacles they face. The story that follows is a deeply engrossing visit to a historical period few modern readers will find familiar.

K. M. Butler has a very clean prose style, and the editing here is superb; I noticed one or two copy- or line-editing problems, but they never posed any risk of fatally distracting me. The story alternates between two viewpoint characters, but each section is labeled, and viewpoint discipline is otherwise strict. The story sometimes risks falling too deep into expository passages, but these are usually placed in the voice of one of the viewpoint characters, avoiding pulling the reader out of the story. In all, a very workmanlike novel.

The historical elements of the story are well researched. Early medieval and Norse history are not my specialties, but I found the setting and the behavior of characters quite plausible. The only quibble I had was the prominent role of “shield-maidens” in the Norse forces. The archeological evidence for Norse women warriors is patchy at best. Still, shield-maidens are prominent in the Norse sagas, and they have captured the modern imagination in creations like the Vikings TV show. It’s a perfectly viable move to center this story around one of them, especially if the objective is to tell the tale of the foundation of Normandy through a love story. In the end, I had no quarrel with the result!

I thoroughly enjoyed The Raven and the Dove, and it left me wanting more. Very highly recommended if you enjoy well-done historical fiction with a strong dash of earthy romance.