The Reluctant Berserker by Alex Beecroft
Dark Ages England. Among the Saxons, a warrior is the highest form of human life. He dominates all, he yields to none, and if ever this mastery is taken away, his honour is taken with it. Reluctant berserker, Wulfstan, a noble and fearsome warrior, has spent most of his life trying to hide the fact that he would love to be cherished and taken care of by someone stronger than himself. Slight and beautiful harper, Leofgar, has the opposite problem – how can he keep the trained killers off him long enough to get them to acknowledge he’s as much of a man as any of them? When, in a panic, Wulfstan accidentally kills a friend who is about to blurt out his secret, and Leofgar flees rather than submit to his lord’s lust, they meet on the road to the pilgrims’ shrine at Ely. Pursued by a mother’s curse and Leofgar’s vengeful lord, they must battle guilt, outlaws, and the powers of the underworld with the aid of only music and a female saint. And if they fall in love on the way, there’s still that murderous shame to overcome.
Review
This is not the first Beecroft book I’ve read, but I wanted to integrate something in that wasn’t Victorian or Regency, as most m/m historical romances are. The description of this novel does it no justice, because Beecroft’s world-building and ability to craft with words is first-rate.
“I know all the songs tell us how terrible it is to be alone, without place or protector, a wanderer in the wilderness. I can recite the lament of the lordless with every syllable dripping with woe. It isn’t to be alone that I fear, it is to be caged. Bound to some man who thinks that because he feeds you he thus owns you.That his are the words that come out of your mouth, and his are your thoughts— that you exist only to praise and serve him. How can a man of pride bear that? How can any real man be content as another’s servant?”
Yes, the entire book is written with this level of skill.
“The day’s voices had fallen silent, and now the town was filled with the whispering of the sea. The turf was soft beneath them and smelled of ancient heather and dust—long-ago vanished summers in a time of giants. The grave was a black stroke on a green page behind him, as though God had drawn a line to end the tale of Anna. The jangle of Fealo’s harness was like a dropped plate on a flagged floor as he tossed his head up and snorted, the only sound in a world struck dumb.“
Also, this is a world caught between the old gods and the Christian ways that being integrated in. Beecroft manages to blend them in, along with philosophy, in a way that is seamless and not at all heavy-handed. There is a clever and redemptive revenge arc threaded through the story, and the lessons from both the old religion and Christian are integrated into this, helping to create a balance for the main characters. Wulfstan is concerned with being seeing as womanly for wanting to be submissive to a man, while Leofgar is seen as such due to his appearance, and despises it. Both will have to come to understand that yielding is not weakness, and that it’s their own truth between them, that matters.
