For his latest novel --- and first venture into historical fantasy --- British journalist Mark Barrowcliffe has assumed the moniker of Mark Alder. His SON OF THE MORNING tells the story of the Hundred Years War between the kings of England and France from a plethora of points of view, but with an intriguing twist: angels and devils exist and can take sides in the conflict. In this first volume of a trilogy, Alder manages to reinvent the historical wheel, yet adds unnecessary secondary and tertiary characters to create an ultimately weighty story redeemed by its fascinating mythology.

SON OF THE MORNING rivals George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire for a story with seemingly endless character perspectives. We meet Edward III, the young king of England whose precarious place on the throne is threatened by the dubious way he came to power. As a monarch, he should have angels on his side, but his celestial pals have been mysteriously absent in his fight against the French.

"SON OF THE MORNING lacks the traditional single hero...but its strength lies in the interesting elements of the mythology that Alder has constructed..."

Then there’s Edward’s BFF, Montagu, an English noble who’s determined to track down Edward’s angels --- and comes across some royal secrets his master tried to bury forever. The French royal family is splintered: there's King Philip and Queen Joan of France, as well as their identically named relatives and rivals, the ambitious Queen Joan of Navarre and her foppish husband, King Philip. To top off this muddled cast list, meet Dow, a young Cornish boy who has the power to open Hell and talk to demons...or he might just save --- or destroy --- the world.

In order for a historical fantasy to seem plausible and draw the reader in completely, the fantastical elements --- in this case, the angelic and demonic mythologies --- need to be interwoven flawlessly into the narrative. Alder does an excellent job of showing how important angels and demons are to success in this alt-medieval world, but the semantics of how they function are always confusing. Add to that the whiplash-quick change of perspective, and this reviewer was often left reeling.

SON OF THE MORNING lacks the traditional single hero (Dow is likable at best), but its strength lies in the interesting elements of the mythology that Alder has constructed, if you ignore its semantics. Somehow, though, the author kept me curious about the mysteries behind the heavenly and hell-based beings, which made this weighty tome move along at a rapid pace.