Devoted

Gut-roiling battle scenes are the strength of this first novel set in ninth-century France, but they come too late and too infrequently to inspire most readers to forgive the overwrought prose that surrounds them. Owen, Bishop of Chantalon, risks his life to save Elin, a forest girl of sorceresslike powers who has escaped the Viking camp where she was enslaved. Undying love develops between the two--instantly, with no setbacks and little tension--and is expressed often and graphically. Viking raiders are terrorizing the region; their menace is exacerbated by Count Anton and his bastard son Gerlos, who collect tributes from the people for the Vikings but keep part of the confiscated riches for themselves. Betrayed by his friend Reynald, Owen is captured by the ``Northmen'' but quickly saved by his Saxon henchman Enar and a band of Elin's ``forest people.'' Later, Elin's mystical powers curse Reynald to his death and bring on a storm to defeat the northern invaders. Borchardt effectively conjures life in a far-flung era, but more action and less romance might have made this tale of an odd alliance between early Christians and European pagans a fresher read. (Sept.)