Genre
A novel
Setting and Context
The events of the story take place in England. The time period is medieval, to be more precise, after Arthurian England.
Narrator and Point of View
The story is written from the third-person point of view and told by an omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
Tone is often ironic and humorous but then it becomes worried and sad. Mood is mysterious.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Axl and Beatrice are protagonists of the story. Lord Brennus is the antagonist of the story.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is man vs. man. As soon as Axl gets his recollections back, he remembers all his mistakes and it takes him a lot of courage to admit them. Beatrice has to step over her hard feelings to forgive Axl for not letting her visit her son’s grave. Master Wistan tries to learn how to hate all Britons for the injustice they did, although he knows a lot of good Britons and loves them dearly. The list could be continued, for every character has an inner conflict.
Climax
The dragon’s slaughter is the climax of the novel.
Foreshadowing
All the scenes in which Master Wistan states at Axl foreshadow the further development of the story. The scenes in which Axl admires Wistan’s or other warriors’ fighting techniques also foreshadow the events of the story, for it becomes clear that Axl is not an ordinary man.
Understatement
The sentence which states that people learned to be “philosophical about” kidnapping of children by ogres are underestimation.
Allusions
The novel alludes to the legends about Kings Arthur, his knights and Merlin.
Imagery
Imagery is used to describe Saxons’ and Britons’ villages, monsters, the mist and many other things, so that readers could imagine how after Arthurian England looked like.
Paradox
I’ve no doubt he’ll be received with kindness at my son’s village, for my son himself is a respected figure there, practically an elder in all but his years.
Although neither Beatrice nor Axl remember a single thing about their son, they are convinced that he is a respected and successful person in his village. As it turns out to be, their son is dead.
Parallelism
It’s nothing, Edwin. Nothing at all.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
He’ll see to it we have a safe roof tonight. (A safe roof is synecdoche that stands for the whole house in which Axl and Beatrice can stay for a night).
If you and your good wife were to consent to lend a hand. (A hand is metonymy that stands for help).
Personification
This house has witnessed days of war.
This personification is supposed to show that the house wasn’t destroyed during the war and is still quite solid.
