Michael J. Allen: Wyrm's Warning

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Michael J. Allen: Wyrm's Warning

Dear Mr. Allen,

Thanks for the free copy of Wyrm's Warning. Here's a review.

The setting intrigued me. A darker version of feudal Europe, where men will constantly grope at women. The nobility makes a sport of raping young girls for fun. And if the poor things make it to their bridal bed as virgins, the king will have them carried off to his castle for a prolonged "first night". Sometimes for a month. Must be a lot of work if his kingdom is any decent size. But how can such a king stay on his throne? How does he keep his serfs in line? "I have soldiers" doesn't explain it. Those soldiers are someone's children, aren't they? Each of them must have a mother, a sister or a daughter who got raped. Those soldiers wouldn't obey their king if the fight was against their own neighbours. How long until the people either walked away - if they had anywhere to go - or rose up in revolution? In real feudal Europe, nobles who abused their privilege too much would last a few years at most. How has your society been like this for at least a generation? Throughout the book, I was waiting for an explanation. Does the king have access to some ancient and powerful magic, that he can keep his subjects in line with fear? No. Then how, Mr. Allen?

The town's priest is a sadistic rapist, too. Has been for years, and everybody knows. How come no father or brother ever snapped and took an axe to the man? Does the priest have secret powers? No. Does he have an army? No. Then how, Mr. Allen?

And how do people live in such a society? Do they keep their daughters at home? Do women cut their hair and smear their faces with dirt to make themselves look ugly? No. Tara's mother sends her daughter - her beautiful teenage daughter - on an errand alone in the late afternoon. The smallest delay will force the girl to walk home through the woods after dark. In fact, that's what happens. Would a mother really be this careless in such a world?

The holes in the setting kept me thinking all book long. I couldn't pay any attention to the story.

Yours sincerely
Christina Widmann de Fran