- non-stop action story set in the days of King Alfred & the Viking Invasion
- battles, journeys, sea voyages, military training & courageous heroes
- convo: many deaths mentioned, brief talk of Christians being tortured for information, a romance (kept minimal and age-appropriate), one kiss (between engaged), mentions false gods and pagan sacrifices to them, mentions praying to Mary and other dead saints
- language: stupid x1, faggots (bundle of wood for fires or military tactics)
Type: historical fiction novel
Ages: 9+
Author: G.A. Henty
From the prolific writer best known for his historical fiction novels, our generation has the privilege of reading one of his most popular. The Dragon and the Raven is readily available, compared to many of Henty’s books, but the nicest copy I’ve seen currently being published is by Generations. (They also have an audiobook version.)
By the way, did you think this might be fantasy because of its name? Well, it’s not. 🙂 The Dragon is the name of the good guys’ (the Saxons’) ship while the Raven is their enemies’ (the Danes/Vikings).
The Danes keep attacking various towns, destroying all religious buildings and killing Christians. The Saxons are doing their best to defend their people but, though they are stronger fighters than the Danes, their lack of organization is their temporary downfall. Our main character plays a big part in reversing this by the end.
One more conversation point parents might want to be ready for is regarding biblical marriage and God’s command against an unequal yoke. A young Christian man and pagan woman become engaged and then he asks her to forsake her gods and follow the true One. Small spoiler: she does indeed become a believer afterwards.
As I mentioned in my review of The Cat of Bubastes, Henty loves his descriptions. So, when I said “non-stop” above, it is non-stop at “Henty Speed” and not, say “Wilson speed” in a fantasy time-travel novel. Ha! I think if you keep that in mind, you can enjoy learning about the 800s in England in a unique way.
The end of the book ties things up nicely and also mentions actual people in history this overlapped with. Definitely consider adding this living book to your history studies.