by Edoardo Albert

The book begins with lists of difficult names I'll never remember, but clarifies pronunciation and historic context. It also explains the importance of names to Anglo-Saxons and why no two will have exactly the same name, although descendants might get an adaptation of an ancestor's name.

After the cast of characters, we get an overview of what happened in the previous book, Edwin. This is very useful for people like myself who haven't read the first one, and also starts to give us the feel for the historic period.

Then we get to the story for this book. I want to describe it as good, but it doesn't have the flow of really great writing. Too many sentences starting with ing verbs can put me off easily. It works in moderation but the beginning overdid it somewhat.

Once I got past that, I was able to get into the story more and appreciate the historic period and events as well as getting to know the characters. Oswald is a reasonably likeable character who would actually like to be a monk, but duty requires that he take up kingship. The pace was a little slow, but ultimately it did take me to the Historical period and the characters were well defined. I felt sympathy for Oswald's changing fortunes and the expectations put upon him just for being born in a line of kings.

One of the strong themes in the story is the changing face of religion, as Christianity begins to take hold in a country with Pagan roots. Different factions even within the same families might worship the old gods or embrace the new faith. The latter tend to be very forceful with their opinions, rather like some modern factions.

I would recommend this story for anyone who wants to get a strong feel for Anglo-Saxon history. It is atmospheric and realistic about some of the nasty things that happen in battles without becoming overwhelmingly gory.

by J.D. Oswald

The book starts out with rather flowery language (but done well) in the Prologue and soon sets up an almost cliché fantasy story; There's a priest, a dying princess and the birth of a prince who must be hidden among common people in true Arthurian fashion. It is very atmospheric and the Welsh basis for names of both people and places as well as for some story elements, including Grym lines and the story of Gog and Magog from Welsh folklore.

However, on the same day is the birth of a dragon. Some of the characters in the story are talking dragons who have a magical secret village. One of them is a healer whom the human characters go to. Oh and let's not forget that there was an eclipse on the day of these two births.

So having set up a human-dragon symbiosis, the story goes on with the death of an old dragon and a brilliant quote about the meaning of death, which you'll have to read to find out. There is slow world building and a little confusion in the early chapters where it isn't entirely clear about the relationship between the humans and the dragons, but this is soon rectified and fully explained. I did have the constant feeling that I'd missed something or should know who someone is when I didn't.

From there the story bounces between the exploits of Errol, the secret prince, and Benfro, the young dragon that men must not know about because it is forbidden for dragons to breed. Young dragons actually have games to practice learning how to avoid detection by humans, much of it based in magic.

We also get warrior priests and a little info dumping at the beginning of chapters. Overall I didn't think the flow was very good, yet the story held my interest anyway. My review copy still had a few typos jumping out, but presumably these will be corrected before the final release as well as some over use of commas that made some of the prose jerky.

In some ways the story line seemed contrived, yet there were some original elements like the dragons' spiritual essence being retained in their jewels. I had mixed feelings about the story. In some ways it was child-like with anthropomorphic dragons who hunt with bows and arrows and eat bread and cheese for lunch, in other ways it was a good fantasy story that an older fantasy fan could enjoy with a lot of magic and a set up that, well, could have led to an interesting connection between the prince and the young dragon had the story gone that far.

There were a few niggles; a country accent that wasn't quite right and a lack of mystery about who poisoned the princess, which is suddenly revealed in the story with no preliminary build up. The biggest one though is that it stops suddenly with the story unfinished. Obviously we are meant to buy the next book to continue.

I much prefer series stories to have resolution at the end of each story, but the writing was good for the most part and despite the niggles, I did enjoy it.

Interesting take on how being kind is cool. 

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons presents a history of the origins of the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio and the hit they had in 1927 with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, whose history has, surprisingly, been 'lost' until now.

Basically, if it weren't for Oswald, Disney may not have evolved to become the powerhouse it is today - but that journey was anything but linear. It involved Oswald's initial rejection, his eventual acceptance, and how Disney lost the contract to their first major character; only regaining the twenty-six Walt Disney created Oswald cartoons (and returning Oswald to his proper place in Disney history) six decades later.

Oswald's happy-go-lucky demeanor and his clever ability to come out on top of any situation predated Mickey's evolution and reflected creator Walt Disney's approach to life itself.

So how did Walt's first major animated success result not only in losing the contract, but in Oswald's journey into animation obscurity for so many years? Disney fans will quickly come to realize this story isn't just about Oswald's evolutionary process, but about Walt Disney's own evolution as he furthered his animation efforts and created the foundations of what was to become his more famous Mickey Mouse character.

From legends and realities to common animation practices of the day and how cartoons are 'lost' over time, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit packs in visual embellishments, from animation frames to vintage photos, in its efforts to trace Oswald's history through copyright synopsis, surviving film documents, and episode reviews.

Packed with illustration as it is, readers almost don't need the rare vintage Oswald film in order to enjoy this recreation of historical record that offers such in-depth discussion about Oswald's adventures and evolution.

Recommended for Disney fans, prior Oswald enthusiasts, and animation history readers alike, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons fills in many blanks and offers specifics about animation processes, legalese, and the process of researching and recapturing lost cartoons, and is a 'must' for any collection strong in Disney characters and history.