Young, Robyn 1975-

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Young, Robyn 1975-

PERSONAL:

Born September, 1975, in Oxford, England; father a civil engineer, mother a singer and artist. Education: Attended Exeter College; Sussex University, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Brighton, England.

CAREER:

Writer and creative writing instructor.

WRITINGS:

Brethren (first novel in a trilogy), Dutton (New York, NY), 2006.

Crusade (second novel in a trilogy), Dutton (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robyn Young had an interest in writing from an early age. Her father taught her to read by age three, and a little over a decade later she was winning awards for her school newspaper stories. Young continued her education in communication studies and creative writing through the master's level and published her first novel in 2006. In an interview on the author's Web site, Young described her writing process this way: "You start with an idea and you set the words to the page until months, or maybe decades later, you have a novel. I've found that I cannot start writing until I have the plot entirely worked out, with detailed notes for each chapter, and I work through from the first word to the last in the exact order."

Brethren, the first novel in a proposed trilogy of crusade-centered novels, tells the story from the perspective of both the European and Arabic sides. Will Campbell, a knight-in-training with the Templars, is charged with obtaining a secret holy book at great peril to himself. The other half of the novel follows Baybars, the Mameluk leader of Egypt and Syria, as he attempts to consolidate his power to protect his land and purge it from Christian invaders. Stephen Hubbard, writing in Bookreporter.com, pondered: "That Young can so easily maneuver readers from one army and one view to the next without pulling them out of the story is a great testament to her ability as a storyteller." David Keymer was less impressed in a Library Journal review, noting that "the ending is unconvincing and flat." A contributor to Publishers Weekly, however, felt that the book contains "rich historical detail, clever plotting and engaging characters."