I enjoyed this. Was it amazing? No. However, it was surprisingly lighthearted and somewhat fun, but most importantly about a time period that you basically never see anyone try to write speculative historical fiction about (375AD Britain, from the perspective of Romans). Perhaps the biggest minuses are that it (1) paints this time period in an overly happy/tech forward light, when the reality is that it probably was a lot closer to the dark ages that followed it, and (2) the book doesn't teach you all that much about the historical context, even though it probably could. I can sort of forgive these though - it's hard to write about a world and a time we can barely fathom, when a seemingly timeless political and military power was on the decline, and years of regression on the horizon. Interested to see where the series goes from here ( )

Historical Fiction

I believe I first got tipped off about this series by reading a rave on Orson Scott Card's blog. I'm glad I followed up on it.

The Skystone is the first volume of many in a retelling of the legend of King Arthur and Camelot (according to the reviews and the cover blurb). You wouldn't know it from reading the story (until you start getting clues in the latter half of the book). This story is set years before Arthur, when Britain was still under the rule of Rome and the Roman legions. It follows Plublius Varrus, one of those Roman soldiers, through well-staged bloody battles, intriguing political feuds and troubling personal demons. This is quite an adventure.

I found the writing and plotting to be first-rate overall. I read the book straight through in a week (it helped to be sitting in airports and on planes). A few things keep me from giving it a full four stars: (1) Secondary characters seem to be either fully trustworthy and noble or not. It's way too easy to identify allies and enemies. Where are the turncoats? (2) Life in ancient Britain comes across as a bit too idyllic. Although some difficulties are described, the author glosses over many of the harsh realities of everyday life in this period. (3) Typical of most secular books, the Christian themes are very muted and easily confused with simple morality.

I will definitely find and read the rest of the books in this series. ( )

Epic. I loved this book so much that I'm sad it's finished. Luckily, there are 8 more! ( )

hb