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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5 stars
This is one of those books where, at least I feel, cannot be given a one or two star review. Very little is known about the history of the Stonehenge, and what it was truly used for.
At about a hundred pages or so into it, I was really kind of getting frustrated because, well... it was quite boring. I guess I went into the book expecting STONEHENGE. It didn't happen until the very end of the book. The rest of it read like a bronze-aged soap opera of sorts.
And then I realized something. For the very same reason I mentioned in my beginning statement, very little is known about this wonder. When I took this into account, and being that Bernard Cornwell is such an amazing writer, I began to really enjoy it. The characters are simple, but yet extremely complex. I really think he captured the essence of what a typical people from this age would live like and how they would behave or believe. There was of course much poetic license involved, which one would really need to practice with a system of which we have very little knowledge of. I think the concept of touching one's groin to protect themselves from evil was kind of a neat... touch. It's funny, if that really was the practice back then, today, in some parts of this country (USA), it would practically ATTRACT evil
This is one of those books where, at least I feel, cannot be given a one or two star review. Very little is known about the history of the Stonehenge, and what it was truly used for.
At about a hundred pages or so into it, I was really kind of getting frustrated because, well... it was quite boring. I guess I went into the book expecting STONEHENGE. It didn't happen until the very end of the book. The rest of it read like a bronze-aged soap opera of sorts.
And then I realized something. For the very same reason I mentioned in my beginning statement, very little is known about this wonder. When I took this into account, and being that Bernard Cornwell is such an amazing writer, I began to really enjoy it. The characters are simple, but yet extremely complex. I really think he captured the essence of what a typical people from this age would live like and how they would behave or believe. There was of course much poetic license involved, which one would really need to practice with a system of which we have very little knowledge of. I think the concept of touching one's groin to protect themselves from evil was kind of a neat... touch. It's funny, if that really was the practice back then, today, in some parts of this country (USA), it would practically ATTRACT evil
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is different from the books I normally read and i liked it. This author managed to pull me into the story and imagine i was there. Its exactly as i imagined life to be then (right or wrong). Enjoyable
My only minor complaint is the length if the book.
My only minor complaint is the length if the book.
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
This started well but I really disliked 2 of the main characters which made it hard to enjoy. Camaban was so overly hysterical, nasty and dramatic that it just detracted from the story. I nearly gave this 2 stars but the afterword was interesting enough to make it 3.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Not Cromwell's greatest work. The book was too long and hard to get in to. His characters were some of the most wooden I've seen from him and the plot questionable at times. Perhaps he strayed too far from historical fiction that he could extensively research and ground his story in (much about Stonehenge is speculative). At any rate, it wasn't a total loss and picked up as the story progressed. If you like Cromwell then go ahead and bend the spine on this one, otherwise please start out with a different novel by this author.