THE WICKED AND THE JUST, by J. Anderson Coats

OK, time for a guilty pleasure, or so I thought.  As Liz has previously pointed out, the audience for historical fiction among teens is pretty small, but I could not resist taking a look at this title set on the Welsh frontier in the late 13^th century.  While I found it serviceable, the heroine is so tiresome that there were times I had difficulty reading it.  Actually, both heroines are tiresome.  Told from a dual perspective—one spoiled and entitled English girl, the other a downtrodden but not yet ready to throw in the towel Welsh girl, the author was trying to give the reader an idea of what life was like during the 13^th Century.  As an adult who studied history and reads historical fiction regularly, even I had a little trouble adjusting to the diction employed by Coats to convey the speech of the time--this also became tiresome.  Perhaps you sense a theme here.  The characters were not really likeable and they were very inconsistent in their actions, for example Cecily (entitled Miss) first tortures the Welsh lad who is working at her townhouse, that is until she finds out he is related to her maid Gwynny (Welsh revolutionary)—whom by the way, she doesn’t even like very well.  Then suddenly, Cecily is looking for ways to help the boy find work.  I think the author meant to show a change in the characters over time, but Cecily’s “change of heart” is not believable and really, the reader doesn’t care, because Cecily is so obnoxious to begin with.  Call me old fashioned, but even Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair) had some endearing qualities—we don’t completely hate her.  The problem is that Gwynny is not sympathetic either, and as a reader of Sharon Kay Penman’s novels about LLewelyn Fawr (last great Welsh king), I was ready to root for the Welsh.  Gwynny is so angry and hateful, the reader never has a chance to like her.  Then at the end, she does an about face similar to Cecily’s.  Lazy writing, in my opinion.

June Cleaver’s Rating:  Language— PG, some mild swearing, but it was in medieval speak, so most people won’t realize it; Nudity—G;  Sexual Content— G hey, it was the middle ages, so there are many comments of a sexual nature, but there was no real action;  GLBT content—G; Violence—R, again, it is the middle ages and the sack of the town is described in great detail, including guts, blood, etc.;  Substance Use and Abuse—G;  Overall—PG (mostly for violence).  

Robin's Comments:   This novel points up what I think the main problem with much of YA is—the writers have no respect for their teen readers.  Many (I know not all) writers of YA are condescending and don’t give us a really good story with meaty characters.  They use stereotypes and shorthand to push a mediocre story with a heavy message—in this case, “can’t we all just get along”  and something to do with justice or revenge, but it was so worn out by the end, I blocked it from my psyche.