Britain, AD 631.Nine-year-old Essa has spent his entire life travelling the roads of Britain with his father, Cai. Until the night the pair arrive in a small Wolf Folk village, and Essa wakes up alone the following morning. When he sees that Cai has left his sword, the Silver Serpent, behind, Essa knows his father isn't coming back.
Five years later, Essa has become a part of the village his father abandoned him in. Until the day he is forced to defend himself, and his best friend Lark, by killing a stranger who attacks him, unprovoked, in the meadow near the village. A stranger who recognizes Essa's face.
Not long after, Egric the Aethling, heir to the throne of the Wolf Folk, arrives in the village and binds Essa to his service. He sends Essa on a midnight mission to spy on the Mercian camp nearby, where King Penda is gathering his men to attack the Wolf Folk. When Essa encounters his long-vanished father in the enemy camp, he finds himself on an epic journey, with only the son of his enemy for company, that will lead him to unexpected truths about who he, and Cai, really are.
If you're a fan of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, tales of King Arthur, the Crusades, or Christopher Paolini's Eragon books, you've got to read Bloodline. Chock full of action, mystery, political intrigue, battles, and heart-pounding midnight gallops through the forests and marshland of Dark Ages Britain, you don't want to miss Essa's journey of discovery @ the library!
Megan
(who is planning on finally getting around to The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, so I can read the sequel, The Ask and the Answer, when it comes out next Tuesday!)