To be honest I picked this title and expected something completely to what was present. What this story offers the reader is a tale that takes the reader through a journey of warfare, intrigue, politics and of course survivability in a world where there’s a dagger at everyone’s back with no telling when it might suddenly be thrust forward. The prose is reasonable, the characters solid but sadly one of my bugbears raises it head as the principle character is never in any real danger as the story is told by him in his elderly age.

That for me eliminates a huge part of the thrill of an adventure with so many perils and as such left me feeling cheated. All in it is a reasonable offering but had it been told from the time it was happening rather than looked at from the future, it would have added a better twist to keep the adrenaline flowing.

Published in Falcata Times,
June 2012

Tags: Historical Fiction