What is - or was - a bard, in Dark Ages Britain? What did the people of that time and place mean when they said that? "Bard" is one of those archetypal words which are often misused - but not in this case. Meticulously researched, engagingly written, the book does not fit easily into a usual category. There is adventure - but it is not only an adventure story. The protagonist is young - but the book is by no means intended for a juvenile audience. Like the late, great Rosemary Sutcliff, G.R. Grove has the knack of dropping the reader into the location and time - sight and scent, sound and sense - and making them aware of the concerns of a person of that era, rather than merely those of a modern individual in different clothing. Some things, however, are fairly universal: wariness of the enemy in the night, the seeking for deserved esteem from those one admires, the ability to make a total fool of oneself and to recover from it - all these are familiar to intelligent humans in any century. I think that most folk interested in Dark Ages British cultures would enjoy this book. I said above that most folk interested in Dark Ages cultures would enjoy this - ? True, but so would folk who simply like a good tale - or series of them - set in a world that's almost far enough away to be fantasy, but as real and immediate as our own. So why is this book called "Storyteller" and not "Bard?" Ah, I will let Gwernin tell you that for himself.