Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart by Chuck Black - a review

Sir Dalton is a young knight in the service of an unknown King and his Prince. Like all knights Sir Dalton has trained and spent many hours studying the codes by which he swears to live by including pledging allegiance to the King and his son. Chuck Black has created a world that is new to me in this third book of The Knights of Arrethtrae series, but it is not a world with which I am entirely unfamiliar. I have not read the first two books, but my own voracious reading reminds me that Knights live by a code and swear allegiance to a King. These codes go to the very heart of the Knight and he (or in Black's case occasionally she) must believe with all their hearts that the King they serve is truly King of the land of themselves. That moment of doubt is where Sir Dalton falls prey to those that seek to do harm to the Kingdom of Arrethtrae, the Shadow Warriors.

There is something in Sir Dalton that even those who do not know the ways of Chivalry will be able to follow. Sir Dalton is young, but he knows what he wants in life. He has plans and desires that are good and right to have, but he finds himself questioning whether he truly believes in the King. This questioning leads to the fight for Sir Dalton's life in more than one way.

I enjoyed this book on many levels. I think for young readers it is the perfect mixture of peril and hope. There are moments for those of us who are older readers where we could roll our eyes and think how obvious, but Black does a good job of asking the reader to come with him and trust him to lead us back to the path of remembering the King. In one scene (I promise I'm not giving too much away) Black describes a prison with no doors, no bars, and only guarded by a few guards and wild dogs. It seems like a strange thing to think of a prison that way, but when you stop and think about it we place ourselves in those very prisons every time we let fear, doubt, and numerous other thoughts invade the place in our hearts where the King should rule without rival. Chuck Black does not make Sir Dalton's trials over the top or so simple that you cannot root for him. You want Sir Dalton to overcome because as a reader it is good to be reminded that there is evidence of the King all around, we just have to believe.