Talion
A Medieval Mystery

Karen Stokes

Darkness and Brightness are twins born around 1400 to Lord Edwrd Caverton in England. His beloved wife died in childbirth after the second child, Darkness, was born. He blamed her and banished her from his home. He first ordered the infant be drowned, but his mother was able to save the child's life and had her raised by peasants on the Lord's land. She was to be kept away from him and kept unacknowledged.

Seventeen years later, Darkness discovers the truth on her birthday. She has hated her "parents" for years, and is amazed and relieved they aren't her real parents. But now her hatred has a new focus. How could she have been denied her true birthright and fortune all these years? Her grandmother is able to bring her to the castle through the servants' entrance. Darkness is able to use a secret passage to spy on her father and sister for the first time in her life. The more she sees, the more the anger builds. She determines she will have her birthright and her revenge.

I have mixed emotions about Talion. I don't care for stories that have the antagonist as the protagonist as well. I find it hard to sympathize with the character. Yet Stokes' writing kept me wondering what was going to happen. I had to keep reading to the end. I needed to know what finally happens to the characters.

I enjoyed reading Talion for Stokes' words. I didn't like reading it for the characters. Darkness is the most alive character - the rest remain flat. But there is enough intricacy in Darkness that I kept going.

Notice: Suggestive dialogue or situations

Author provided for review