Book Review of "The Shining Company" by Rosemary Sutcliff

Book Review of “The Shining Company” by Rosemary Sutcliff 

Set in seventh-century medieval Britain, this book is based on a true account about the company of 300 soldiers and 600 shield bearers who fought against the invading Saxons. It is related through the eyes of a young man named Prosper. Though he is fictional, Sutcliff made me feel as if  Prosper was a young man who lived in reality. This is an important skill that not all authors posses.

Prosper desires to be a shield bearer to the prince Gorthyn, who in a short time he has come to admire with that allegiance that would cause him to follow Gorthyn to the death in battle. At age sixteen, his desire to be the prince’s shield bearer is granted. He accompanies Gorthyn when he and 300 other brave and noble men are called upon by king Mynyddog to train for battle against the ferocious Saxon invaders.
Grueling training strengthens not only the company of soldier’s skills in warfare, but the camaraderie they feel for each other. They develop into a fighting brotherhood that comes to be known as “The Shining Company.”
At last, the company is set loose against the Saxons. They find themselves greatly outnumbered. Prosper begins to believe that none of them will escape this war alive.

Using her incredible art of making characters spring to life from the pages of her book, Rosemary Sutcliff caused me to become increasingly attached to the brave young men of the Shining Company. She made me feel the emotions of Prosper as he also becomes attached to these men, and the desolation that is aroused when close friends are killed in battle. She made me see the soldiers and shield bearers of the Shining Company not as a nameless mass of men who fought long ago, but as individuals, men with names and lives and loved ones.

I feel that Sutcliff captures both the ugliness and the honor of war. War is a grim necessity at times. It is often horrible. But disregarding themselves, many soldiers both of the Shining Company and in today’s time go into battle, sacrificing their very lives to protect the lives of their countrymen.
Profoundly penetrating, moving, and at times deeply tragic, “The Shining Company” is one of those books I don’t think I will ever forget. I recommend this book for teens and adults.

Story Starter Ideas

• Is there a significant moment of history that enthralls you? Research it further and then write a story about a person involved in this moment. Imagine you are that person. Try to make history come alive. Be accurate and be detailed. Cause your readers to feel as if they have just stepped into a time machine and were transported to that historical event.
• Is there a group of people in history you feel have been viewed by some in the past or in the present as a nameless mass? Write the story of individual members of this group. Make your readers see them as who they are: human beings.  Perhaps you can write about a group of  people being persecuted for their beliefs, or other people who are being treated wrongly because of their nationality. Christians in communist Russia? Jews being sent to concentration camps during WWII? African Americans in slavery? The German residents of the U.S. during WWII who were sent to camps?  Or you could write about individual soldiers who fought in a war that has occurred in history.  There are so many opportunities to make people from the past come to life as real individuals.