Publisher’s Weekly, September 17, 2018 (Book Life Prize) This exciting historical work explores the adventures of an aspiring master archer as he discovers the horror of war and the ugliness of xenophobia. The author powerfully conveys the protagonist’s moral dilemma as he grapples with the decision to either show obedience to the kingdom or pursue justice, an act that would brand him a traitor. Burdick’s prose is elaborately descriptive and evocative. The author draws upon historical and medieval fiction tropes and familiar themes of aching romance, loyalty, and warring kingdoms. However, Burdick excels at creating a full and vivid world that readers of the genre will ultimately find captivating. Characters are developed with care and compassion, made to reflect their historical era, while offering relatable characteristics and emotional resonance. Protectors of the Black Prince is the first book in an epic trilogy about the heretofore unknown teenager, Michael Cotswain, England’s greatest long-bowman, the heroic focus of an original, unflinchingly realistic and action-packed novel series about an astounding, four-thousand-mile overland journey from Damascus into the unknown, unexplored jungles of Central Africa, the dark continent of Africana, as it was known in 1191. Michael, his lord and knight, Godfrey of Hamstead, and Baints, the sergeant of their company of champion longbowmen, all fall victim to royal intrigue in the Holy Land and are betrayed, captured, sentenced to death, and taken to Muslim held Damascus for execution. A brilliant African prince, Mantuka, a pigmy and interpreter for his people, enslaved twenty years before - who managed to rise to a position of physician to the Muslim elite - secretly offers them escape if they vow to help him return to his distant jungle kingdom and claim his throne. He offers the added reward if they succeed of The Relics of the True Cross , stolen by him from Saladin’s personal treasury, captured from the Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin four years earlier.