tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12256458.post-81381326915714369662007-11-01T15:54:00.000Z2007-11-01T14:02:00.971Z<div class="title" lang="en">Go for good writing -<br />Children </div>Another of Blyton's traits I dislike is her laziness. I don't believe she ever researched anything - unlike her contemporary <b>Rosemary</b> <b>Sutcliff</b>, whose posthumously published Dark Ages saga Sword Song (Bodley Head, Pounds 12.99, ISBN 0 370 323 94 7) is packed with precisely described Viking sea battles and sacrifices in a linguistic smorgasbord of thongs, thralls and fiery-bearded men.<br /><br />I was never a <b>Sutcliff</b> fan as a child, tiring too quickly of the sun glinting off the halberds of people with names that sound like Haggis Bogtrotterson, but the opening of Sword Song is a stunner: a 16-year-old boy is exiled from his settlement for the manslaughter of a monk who had kicked his dog. Beat that, Melvin Burgess.<br /><br />Regrettably, the story quavers thereafter, meandering around the coast of Britain as young Bjarni sells his fighting skills to one fiery-beardy after another, but the dense historical detail and rich colours are all still there.<br /><br /><div class="title" lang="en">Go for good writing -<br />Children </div> <div class="info">Times, The (London, England)<br />August 23, 1997<br />Author: Sarah Johnson </div>Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16885693119390463576noreply@blogger.com