| + | R. of Rs. 36: 125. Jl. ’07. 260w. |
Gull, Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger (Guy Thorne, pseud.). [The serf.] *$1. Fenno.
The author has chosen the rough and wicked England of the twelfth century as the setting for his story of Hyla, the serf, whom he has made typical of serfdom, and within whose misshapen body burned the first spark of freedom which was to enkindle the world. The coarse times are well depicted from the lewd life of the barons in their castles to the hopeless routine of the serfs in their shacks. The personality of Hyla who rises from the herd about him and becomes a man and a murderer to avenge his daughters and his wrongs, is strongly brought out and the reader follows breathless until he has paid the awful price exacted from such as he.
“If the reader can bear the smell of the sewerage of the twelfth century, and the feel of the big eels slipping thru his toes as he reads, he will find in this book the most gorgeous descriptions of water scenes that have appeared in years. The whole meaning of the marches and fens of the twelfth century, their menace and their beauty, as distinct from the civilized waterways of modern times in England is well portrayed.”
| − + | Ind. 63: 453. Ag. 22, ’07. 730w. |
“He frequently leaves the straight path of this narrative in order to preach a modern doctrine of brotherhood. Apart from its didactic quality the story has a good deal of force; Hyla the serf and his fortunes are worth following for their own sake.”
| − + | Nation. 85: 235. S. 12, ’07. 380w. |
“It is an exciting and interesting tale and it presents a fairly truthful picture of English life in the early middle ages.”
| + | N. Y. Times. 12: 500. Ag. 17, ’07. 140w. |