Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands, #1)

Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands #1)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79  ·  rating details  ·  108 ratings  ·  41 reviews

The debut novel of a young American writer creates a world of fantasy, where the land is divided into two-- the Northlands and the Southlands.

Ellin, a girl from the Southland, is forced to go with her physician father to heal the Northland king, even though Southlanders are despised and feared throughout the cold country. Ellin must find a way to battle both the people fro

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Paperback, 252 pages
Published January 1st 2007 by Brown Barn Books
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Angie
First off this book has actually been in my possession for an embarrassing almost two years and I don't know what kept me from it, given that I originally purchased it based on Leila's review over at Bookshelves of Doom. And she never steers me wrong. But I did undergo a pregnancy in between buying NORTHLANDER and reading it and so maybe that had something to do with it. Those pregnancies. They can wreak havoc on your mental state. In any event, I was pleased to see it pop up as the selection fo...more
Karen Healey
First in a series, this is a neato fantasy adventure about the tension between two nations narrated by a very strong voice. WITH PSYCHIC POWERS! I love me some good first-person, yes I do! And Ellin is a delight.

- It is a book FULL of crushworthy dudes, most of whom are brothers. Kudos, Meg Burden!

- I am such a sucker for "OH NO! THIS HORSE WILL DIE WITHOUT DANGEROUS HEALING!" that I cannot even tell you. The only thing I am MORE of a sucker for is:

- RED-HAIRED TELEPATHS AHAHAHA AWESOME.

- It's a...more
Kathy
I've been super busy this past week and was only able to read a few chapters at a time. It has been a while since I've spent so much time on just one book. Overall I enjoyed the story; it was unique in some ways, and a bit predictable in others. The story starts with our heroine, the young healer Ellin, getting locked out of the city for being out after curfew. Through a series of events she is eventually let into the castle to attempt to help heal the ailing King. In the Northlands it is illega...more
Michelle
Having traveled with her father, a master healer, hastily and in secret from the Southlands, Ellin Fisher quickly learns she is neither liked nor wanted in the cold Northlands. Both of which are made perfectly clear one night when she is locked outside the city gates -- during a blizzard -- simply for having the red hair of a Southling. Fuming and in danger of freezing to death, Ellin takes refuge in a guard cottage only to be intruded upon by the same guard who earlier denied her entrance. Only...more
Jeffield
From the first paragraph I was hooked. This is a tale of a girl who, with her da are taken to a neighboring land to heal the king. They are not welcome in this land and look forward to when they can go back home. While they are in this Northland the girl learns things about herself that are life changing. The king is healed and for various reasons the father and daughter are imprisoned. They do escape and return home but things are not safe for them there either. She ends up returning to Northla...more
Arya
This was a great story! Kings, princes, war, subterfuge, romance, healers . . . I loved it! I will certainly finish this series!!

Addendum:

I would recommend The Shifter to anyone who likes this book (though probably not to be read immediately following). It has similar aspects to it - such as "racial" divides, royalty, healers, a main character that has a power she does not understand and lots of action and "potential love interests".

After reading Northlander I was thinking it reminded me of some...more
Laura
This little gem of a book was actually mentioned, and if I recall, only in passing, by Angie @ Angieville in a post about various goodies that she read last year. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm old and forgetful. Anyway, I found a copy and for some reason I stuck it away on the shelf and forgot about it. It wasn't until I was craving a bit of traditional fantasy fiction that I went looking for it again. I'm oh so glad that I did.

Ellin and her father find themselves in the precarious p...more
Beth
A fantasy set in a land divided between North and South. In the North, Southlanders and their characteristic red hair are ridiculed and unwelcome. Ellin and her father are healers from the south who have been requested to travel North to help heal their dying King. Ellin's special healing powers earn her the friendship and admiration of the five Northlander princes. I loved the princes and her friendship with them. I loved Ellin's relationship with her father. An engaging story that left me want...more
Anna
I got this book for 50 cents at the local library bok sale. As such i wasn't super hyped about it, but didn't have a bias against it either. I also had absolutely no idea what it was about. In the very first chapter the poor writing and Elementary-esk feel of the book are established, except that every once in a while someone will swear. If the author hoped to raise her writing style by adding swearing to the dialogue she was mistaken.

Half-way through the book i seriously considered stopping. I...more
Jennifer Wardrip
Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

The Southling Ellin has been summoned with her father to the Northland kingdom. In a land where they are despised for their red hair and feared for their magic, their hand in the healing of the Northland king is a secret. However, the healing powers that have been banned by law may be the only thing that can save the ailing king.

On a crucial night, Ellin must fight against the prejudice that threatens to keep her from fulfilling the oaths that he...more
Abby Johnson
Ellin is a Southling. She knows she's not welcome in the Northlands, yet there she is, helping her father heal a king who has forbidden the Southling healer to touch him. Abused and unwanted, Ellin has no idea why her father would bother to heal a king that hates them... but when she's unexpectedly thrust into the healer role, she knows that she can't let the king die. She can't not heal him if it's in her power to try. So she breaks the law. She touches the king and saves his life. And that act...more
Jess
The set-up reminded me of classic Robin McKinley - a girl in a strange place, plenty of intriguing characters, a hint of magic. There's an unexpected (to me) shift halfway through the book, and I found myself missing the first half and wondering what on earth was going on, but soon enough the plot revealed itself, and a few more dimensions were added to the story. It's not super fast paced, but I think it's pretty accessible for middle school/teen readers (and grownups) who like that slight fant...more
Liz
I liked this first book, but I have high hopes that lots more will be explained in the 2nd book (which I am reading right now). The thing I liked about this book is that the characters and storyline were so strong that I didn't really miss the fact that there wasn't much of a love story. That said, I think the author tried to start a love story, but there just wasn't much there.....that's why I'm hoping more is to come in book 2.
Monae
This story was fairly interesting, but too short. There is no real plot development leading up to the climax, and then the author alludes to a love interest that doesn't really make any sense. The characters however, are very interesting and she spends a lot of the book developing them (at the expense of the plot). I will read the rest if there are more to come...maybe they will explain the 'sort of' love story!
Michelle
I think this is an excellent first book in the Tales of the Borderlands series by Meg Burden. It's geared towards tweens/teens but if you like stories about people with magical ability I think you'll like this one regardless of your age. The characters are well done and the book moves along at a quick pace. I hope the next book in the series isn't too far off!
Alex
Although I enjoyed it, I felt that the story had a lot of unrealized potential. The author created some great characters and a very intersting world, but the story never fleshed out. It seemed more like the outline to what could have been a really great epic fantasy....

Amy Beth
I enjoyed the relationships between Ellin and the princes which develops despite the heavier issues between them. I have to admit I also liked the fact that it wasn't years and a ton of plot between when she leaves the North and seeing them again.
Miss Clark
2.5 stars

A fantasy tale complete with magical/ supernatural abilities, royalty, plenty of danger and intrigue. Good, solid writing and characters. Aspects of bias and prejudice explored.

I just felt emotionally disconnected from everyone, which may well have been a case of simply reading this at the wrong time.
Gayle
I heard about this on a book blog and loved it! Great characters and a fast-moving plot. I enjoyed the writing style and also the fact that it wasn't a super-lengthy book (which fantasies have a tendency to be sometimes).
Mandy
Wasn't bad, but, for some reason, it took me FOREVER to read. Once I hit about page 100, it seemed to get very "dense" and more difficult to read. I also really noticed the present tense writing and started paying more attention to the wording in the POV than the story.
Heather
Ellin, a girl from the Southland, is forced to go with her physician father to heal the Northland king, even though Southlanders are despised and feared throughout the cold country. Ellin must find a way to battle both the people from the North and then her own people, the Southlanders, to survive in a icy and hostile land.

I really liked the first part of this book. The plot was exciting, the characters real and believable. Then it seemed like in the middle there was a shift. It went from great...more
Rosemary Oliver
An interesting fantasy novel with a strong female lead in Ellin, a Southlander, who is forced up to the Northlands for her healing abilities. I can't wait for the next one!
Claire Scott
Apr 20, 2008 Claire Scott rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Claire by: Cybils shortlist
Stilted and preachy. I actually bought this one, since it was on the Cybils SF/F shortlist but not at any of our consortium libraries, and I was awfully disappointed. A heavy-handed allegory of two diametrically-opposed regions -- the Northlands and the Southlands -- and a girl who bridges them thanks to her psychic and healing powers. Eh. It lacked thoughtfulness and contextual realism: I'll suspend disbelief any way you want as long as characters are fully drawn, and this really fell short. Lu...more
Tanja
The world Burden has created in Northlander is a very interesting world. I like the characters she created and even the conflict between them. When Burden talks about how cold it is in the north, I could sympathize because it has been so dang cold here. I liked the use of magic and that the main character is a healer. But, I really got tired of the descriptions she would use. For instance, "he was interupted by a jaw-cracking yawn." I must have read the sentance 5 times or more. Repetition is no...more
Sheila Ruth
Northlander is a moving, layered fantasy with many unexpected plot twists, rich world building, and deft character development. Northlander is a book that continues to surprise the reader. At first it seems a standard, cliched us vs. them: the evil Northlanders are prejudiced against the good Southlanders. But it turns out to be so much more than that. I can't say too much without giving away some of the surprises, but this is a book painted in a rich palette of many shades of gray, not just bla...more
Chris
I loved the setting (though I'm pretty much guaranteed to love anything with quasi-Vikings), and there were a lot of interesting ethnic politics, with a neat undercutting of the initial hat-colour allocation halfway through. I CAN HAS SEQUELZ NAO PLZ? My only problems were that the princes were a little uncomplicated and that she'd plumped for present-tense narration, which I find difficult in a novel-length story because I keep *noticing* it. Also, I don't think phobias work like that. But over...more
Jacinta
fun read, reminiscent of Obernewtyn. If I see them I will read the sequels.
Katie
I loved this book and can't wait for the next one to come out!
Julie
This was enjoyable while reading but not the sort of novel that sticks with me long after I finish. It's a morality tale about the dangers of segregation, set in fantasy. I liked Ellin and the princes; I wish I could have seen Ellin and her father's relationship develop more maturity. The romance-the-wasn't-quite-a-romance distinctly gave the impression of More To Come (there is a sequel.) I saw most of the major plot points coming before they arrived, but that made the read easy, rather than bo...more
Kristen
This was an exellent book, I loved it!!!
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Northlander
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Meg Burden is the award-winning author of Northlander, Book One of the Tales of the Borderlands series, which she began writing when she was twenty-two years old. She's currently twenty-seven and has lived in rural Nebraska for most of her life.

At fourteen, she went to college via Mary Baldwin College's Program for the Exceptionally Gifted in Virginia. She graduated with a degree in music in May 2...more
More about Meg Burden...
The King Commands (Tales of the Borderlands, #2)

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