The Shining Company (Sunburst Book)

by Rosemary Sutcliff

Hardcover, 1992

Call number

JF SUT

Collection

Children's/YA Fiction

Genres

Young Adult

Children's Books

Publication

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (1992), Edition: Sunburst ed., 304 pages

Description

In 600 A.D. in northern Britain, Prosper becomes a shield bearer with the Companions, an army made up of three hundred younger sons of minor kings and trained to act as one fighting brotherhood against the invading Saxons.

Subjects

Cattraeth, Battle of, Catterick, England, ca. 600 Fiction

Cattraeth, Battle of, Catterick, England, ca. 600 Juvenile fiction

Great Britain History Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066 Fiction

Great Britain History Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066 Juvenile fiction

User reviews

LibraryThing member gwernin

This is the story of Y Gododdin - of the three hundred British warriors who rode from Dun Eidyn (modern Edinburgh) to Catraeth (possibly Catterick in Yorkshire) in order to fight the Saxon incomers there, perhaps a hundred years after King Arthur. Their tale survives only in the long poem, or

rather collection of poems, written by Aneirin their bard. The story is told here by one of the shield-bearers - secondary fighters who supported the warriors, rather like squires to a knight. Long may they all be remembered!

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LibraryThing member SChant

She writes wonderfully about Dark Ages Britain.

LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

One of my favourite Sutcliff's. Though not part of the Dolphin cycle, this redacton of "the Poem of Goddoddyn" remains a good tight story with fleshy characters. Someday I mean to gety to Catterick just to pace it all out. One of her last books, I think.

LibraryThing member amanda4242

I read Y Gododdin a few years ago and mostly just took away that it's elegies for a band of warriors who feasted for a long time and then promptly got themselves slaughtered. Sutcliff's retelling of the story really fleshes out character and the logic behind the forming of the company, as well

showing off her masterful ability to evoke historical periods.

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LibraryThing member mutantpudding

I liked this style of historical fiction, though the writing does feel dated (in a decades old way, not centuries old). Epic battles and heroes mix with more everyday stories. Its a war story really so it is somewhat gruesome but not overly so. I had a hard time remembering who the heck everyone

was but I got the main plot points ok.

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