Flight of the Falcon by Susan Geason

SUMMARY (from Goodreads): Set in eleventh-century Normandy, this adventure novel is an intriguing glimpse of the life of a young noblewoman in the early Middle Ages. Sybilla St-Valery, the daughter of a nobleman and soldier, has been staying with relatives in the Duke of Normandy’s castle. When news of an imminent English attack reaches them, Sybilla must undertake a dangerous journey home to her mother and the family estate. But these are treacherous times to be on the road. En route, she is kidnapped by her father’s enemies, who demand that Sybilla’s mother hand over the deeds to the St-Valery estate in exchange for her daughter’s safe return. With only her faithful hound, Hannibal, and falcon, Merlin, to help her, can Sybilla escape her captors and reach St-Valery before her home is lost?

MY OPINION:

This is the kind of book I would read when I was ten or eleven. All right, obviously I would read it now too (since I did), but you know what I mean.

Flight of the Falcon is a short historical adventure novel, which I read in an hour. It is a gripping read with some unforeseeable twists. I liked the heroine, Sybilla. She is a smart girl on the verge of womanhood. She is a little rebellious, but good-natured, and self-reliant.

Moreover, this book is also educational, especially for children and teenagers who come across it as the first representative of the genre. It provides some historical facts about France and England in the eleventh century as well as an insight into the life of people and of what was expected of aristocrat girls at the time.

I think children and teenagers would find this book a suspenseful and rich read both for the plot and the characters. Since I have read lots of historical fiction, this book seemed very simplified to me, but I still enjoyed it as a relaxation read.

RECOMMENDATION: Flight of the Falcon is an entreating book for readers of all ages who like reading about history and adventure.