Aldric & Anneliese

Harry E. Gilleland, Jr.
4RV Publishing (2011)
ISBN 9780982659403
Reviewed by Tyler Tichelaar for Reader Views (3/11)


It was hard to know what to expect from “Aldric & Anneliese” before reading it, and almost as hard to know what to think after I finished, and for several reasons. The book’s back cover gives very little information, simply providing a fairly vague description: ‘“Aldric & Anneliese’ is a tale of nation building, kings, knights, fair ladies, battles won and lost, triumph, betrayal, tragedy, redemption, and great loves. It is a story for the ages.” That description tells us nothing about the characters or plot. Nor is there any designation of the book’s genre, although we can assume it is fantasy or historical fiction. It turns out not to have any fantasy elements. It’s slim book of 152 pages, and the style, sentence structure, especially of the first 50 or so pages is often simple enough to make it read like a children’s book, but the sexual innuendos, although few, make it clearly not a children’s book.

The story takes place in the sixth century in a kingdom in Eastern Europe where King Edmund has united all but one of several warring countries and established himself as king over them. He then marries Ursula, daughter of the last chieftain whose country he has not yet conquered—an arranged marriage to bring that country into the fold without violence. Peace should now be established, but treachery is afoot. I won’t go into all the details, but despite what appears to be somewhat of a lack of direction in this book, I did find myself captivated enough to keep reading to find out what would happen next. The plot has several twists and turns and I did not see the final twist coming at the end, which is always a good thing.

The title character Aldric is Edmund’s right-hand warrior who ends up with a bigger role than Edmund in the book. Anneliese is the woman Aldric loves, although she is not in the book long enough to deserve top billing with him—there’s another woman who deserves that, but perhaps using her name would have given away the story. I like the title for its alliteration but it doesn’t quite fit the book.

This book is far from a perfect one, yet it has its moments. After King Edmund dies, Aldric has a great scene where he mourns the death of his lord and asks what purpose he has to continue living. His lament is worthy of a Gothic novel or one of the great old epics—something Beowulf or Gilgamesh would have uttered. While I like better plotted novels, and more character development, the movement of the story reminded me of Arthurian legends and epics like “Beowulf” where the storylines are not tight and the book just keeps going on from one adventure to another. In some cases, it felt like I was reading a true historical epic, one discovered and translated into modern English, perhaps with some bits of the manuscript missing, or taken from an earlier version where parts or meanings of the story have been lost to the ages.

“Aldric & Anneliese” might be considered a sui generis and I am sure it will find readers. I would guess its audience is high-school age students especially, as well as anyone who loves a medieval story and is willing just to go with the flow.

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