The Amber Treasure by Richard Denning

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: Northern Britain, 597 AD

First sentence: Looking back from old age, when the faith of Christ has replaced the old religions of my fathers, I can recall many times when my friends and I appeared to be at the whim of powers beyond our understanding.

This book is the first novel in Denning's Northern Crown series. This series currently runs to three novels.

It is almost two hundred years since the Romans have left Britain.  The Angles and the Welsh are battling for control of a corner of the land that would one day be united into the Kingdom of England.

Our main character, Cerdic, is the son of a local Angle lord.  As the story begins, Cerdic is a youth.  He dreams of a day when he is a warrior.  He listens to the stories of great warriors and epic battles.  He hopes that, one day, there would be songs about him.

Then when the men of the village are at a boar hunt, the Welsh attack.  They take prisoners and hostages.  They also steal an extremely valuable set of amber jewelry.  When the men return, they decide to follow the Welsh to regain the kidnapped villagers, and the amber treasure.

Soon, Cerdic and the rest of the Angle warriors are embroiled in a great battle to stop the Welsh invasion.

Will Cerdic discover the glory that he dreamed of as a youth?

This book was a good start to a historical fiction series.  We are introduced to the main characters, and to the main character's nemesis.  Although, I felt that the plot moved a little slowly,  I did enjoy the battle scenes.

For me, this was an enjoyable read.