In One Person

I don't know what caused John Irving to choose this subject matter, but coming from him you know it's not drivel. Does this novel have latent content that the reader is not aware of? This novel digresses from his usual course, though some of his normal settings and themes are intact. No, it doesn't occur in New Hampshire, but very close - it's Vermont. There aren't any actual bears, but the word is used in the book to describe some men. Wrestling plays a big part in this novel (Irving is a Hall of Famer), and many loved ones pass away. While not completely atypical, this novel is very enjoyable and comical. In some chapters, I actually found myself laughing out loud even though this is not a lighthearted book. You know what? Meh, it doesn't matter! It's a wordsmith's look at fifty years of a bisexual's journey through life.

The narrator and main sexual deviant is Billy Abbott, nee William Francis Dean, Jr, son of an homosexual father who departs his family early on for a relationship with a fellow sailor and sodomite. I might be too harsh on these two gentlemen, but they didn't offer much guidance to young Billy. Billy grows up with his divorced mother in the small town of First Sister in Vermont where he eventually attends the all boys school Favorite River Academy and meets many remarkable people. One of the characters is the public librarian, Miss Frost. What he learns from her (or him) is an education to say the least! The wrestler Kittredge and his mom pose a unique challenge to Billy's maturity during his four years at the academy. Only his friendship with Elaine Hadley and Grandpa Harry keep Billy on a compos mentis path. He experiences "wrong" crushes on other males during his school years while trying to find the ripened way to adulthood. His talks with his stepfather, Richard Abbott are familiar and comical at times. John Irving's character development is so good that I felt sympathy for every person in this tale.

The real melancholy part of the novel is Billy life during the 1980s when he meets that lethal disease AIDS! Obviously, many of his homosexual friends are infected. Since this novel takes Billy's life from boyhood through his late sixties, the reader kind of figures out who is going to be affected by this disease, although there are some surprises in this phase of the novel. Who else did I like in this story? How about Aunt Muriel, Uncle Bob, and Billy's European tour companion, Tom Atkins. This novel might not be Irving's best, but it's the most desolate that I have read by him. I think the theme of the book is summed up when Miss Frost says to Billy: "My dear boy, please don't put a label on me - don't make me a category before you get to know me."

One small criticism I have for this novel is the monotonous fact that the main character always becomes a successful writer. It's the reason I don't read John Grisham anymore; how many of The Summons  or The Brethren can you read before your mind spazzes out! John, this was a palatable read, but next time drop the wrestling, the New England setting, the writers, and  Da Bears, as Mike Ditka would say. Overall, I liked the book, but it was not your very best. Lets try a sci-fi or fantasy book next. Can you write one? Of course, I'm jesting. I know you will not write a book of that kind. That's okay because I'll read your next tale of New England anyway. John Irving is still the number one artsy writer of our time as far as I'm concerned.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Irving's leanings towards sex, wrestling, and writers probably started with his famous The World According to Garp . In this book, if I remember correctly, a nurse takes care of a brain damaged Technical Sergeant Garp dying from combat. She becomes pregnant and delivers to the world: T.S. Garp! What an imagination and story! Mr. Irving is currently working on his fourteenth novel due out in 2015.  

11/22/63

Stephen King touched on horror with It, tickled us with fantasy in Lisey's Story , emotionally stirred us with the apocalyptic The Stand, dealt with science fiction in Under the Dome, and now he challenges the great Harry Turtledove with this alternate history epic novel! Wow, is there any author more versatile than Stephen King? Maybe his next project is a Broadway play or musical! This man can write, and I'm a big fan. I could have read this 849 page novel in two or three days, but I wanted to savor it like a fine wine. Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this novel also contains a little of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine .

Everybody my age remembers where they were when JFK was assassinated. I recall being in the back of a pickup as a young Marine in Camp Lejeune returning from some minor detail when a sergeant came out of headquarters and to paraphrase said, "The President has been shot, and we are all on alert". If you had the opportunity to go back in time to save JFK's life, would you? What would you have to sacrifice to accomplish this paradoxical feat? If you achieved your goal and returned to the present time, what would have changed? Did he win reelection, and because of it, change politics as we know it? Is the world safer or in chaos? This is the premise of the story: what would happen if you stopped or killed Lee Harvey Oswald before he had the chance to assassinate JFK? This time travel theory is better known as the Butterfly effect, where a minor change in the past can cause major changes in the future.

The narrator of this novel is Jake Epping, a teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine. How strange is it for a Stephen King book to be set in Maine? Just Kidding. Anyway, he is called to Al Templeton's Diner, Jake's favorite eatery. Having recently seen Al, Jake is stunned to find the cook older and sick with lung cancer. He learns that Al has a mysterious time travel portal in his pantry! The year is 2011, but he discovers that Al has been in the past as long as four years although only two minutes have gone by in current time. Al tells Jake that when you go through the time portal, you come out in 9/9/1958! Al had the idea to stay there till 11/22/63 and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK, but he got cancer and had to return to the present time. Now Al wants Jake to take his mission and go back in time and find out if Oswald acted alone and if he did, eliminate him.

As you would assume, Jake does go back to 9/9/1958 and starts a new life in the past. Jake finds new friends and surly enemies in his quest to track Oswald and his family. The characters he meets for the most part are lovable and memorable, such as, Deke Simmons, Ellen Dockerty, and the love of his life, Sadie Dunhill. Since he makes most of his money betting on sporting events that he already knows the results of, he meets menacing bookies and perilous New Orleans mobsters. The main problem he faces is the past itself. The past opposes Jake in his effort to stop Oswald because it is unfavorable for the future: the Butterfly effect in action. What happens as 11/22/63 approaches is stunning and sorrowful. Well done, Stephen King. I didn't see this ending coming! This was a highly delectable novel with a felicitous conclusion. I highly recommend this alternate history epic.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Stephen King states that the author of   Invasion of the Body Snatchers , Jack Finney, wrote the best time travel novel, Time and Again . Stephen King has written 49 novels and has sold over 350 million copies. While walking on the shoulder of Route five in Maine, King was struck from behind by a minivan on 6/19/99. During the frustration of recovering from his severe injuries, he almost gave up writing. Luckily for his many fans, he reconsidered.

Thunderstruck

Erik Larson juxtaposes a murderer and an inventor and makes it work! This author will never run out of ideas as witnessed by this historical non-fiction book, an exemplar of this likable genre. I'm a big fan of this kind of book because I get a good dose of history while thinking I'm reading a novel. Erik Larson is the foremost author of this genre as far as I'm concerned.

The book begins slowly as Larson builds up the backgrounds of Gulielmo Marconi, the father of wireless telegraphy, and London's famous murderer, Dr. Hawley Crippen, who becomes as notorious as Jack the Ripper. ( By the way, if you are having trouble with Marconi's first name, it's phonetically pronounced (Goo-yee-ail-mo.) The reader finds out about Marconi's struggles to obtain dominance in wireless communication while fighting numerous competitors, such as Oliver Lodge and William Preece of England and the powerful Telefunken Company of Germany. The trials and tribulations of Marconi starts out as somewhat of a cognitive challenge but becomes absorbing later in the book, especially when women enter his life.

On the other hand, the life of 5' 4" meek Dr. Crippen was a delight from the start. Here we have a homeopathic doctor who switches medical fields as often he needs to better his station. His second wife Belle, who desires to be a opera diva, spends his money faster than he can make it. She dominates his life, consumes his assets, ridicules him and constantly threatens to leave him. One day she does leave him, or does she? Enter Ethel Le Neve, erstwhile his employee, now his future wife. Dr. Crippen can't explain Belle's disappearance well enough for her stage friends. They don't believe that Belle went to America to help a sick relative. Enter Chief Inspector Walter Dew of Scotland Yard to investigate. This is the cusp of the book where the reader gets a sense of how the stories of Marconi and Crippen will intersect. And believe it or not, they do!

I enjoyed how Erik Larson told both stories in different years (basically 1894 to 1910), alternating chapters between the doctor and the inventor, then climaxing in the year 1910. This is a well written original idea that only Larson could come up with. Every time I read a Larson book I come away with historical knowledge along with literary gratification. It is noteworthy to mention that Larson states in a note to readers that: "This is a work of nonfiction. Anything appearing between quotation marks comes from a letter, memoir, or other written document." That is a bold and confident statement that makes this reader a big fan.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Dr. Crippen's murder case has been the subject of many plays, books and movies. Two movies that included elements of the case are Rope and Rear Window. Also very interesting is that the White Star Line invited the Marconies to be their guests on the Titanic! Luckily, Marconi canceled a few days before the voyage because he wanted to sail on the Lusitania to take advantage of that ship's public stenographer. Beatrice Marconi canceled on the eve of departure because her son Giulio became ill with fever. One wonders what would have happened to wireless telegraphy so early in it's development had Marconi died at sea.

THE BATTLE of the CRATER

Gingrich and Forstchen have written one of the most meaningful Civil War novels to date. It reveals the Union generals' blunders and also reports hereto unknown information about the brave United States Colored Troops (USCT). After reading this historical novel, I wondered how the Union won the war? The missteps and bobbles by General Meade and General Burnside are mind boggling! Sending thousands of troops to their meaningless death is unconscionable if not criminal. Why would leadership send wave after wave of Union soldiers against entrenched Confederate troops only to be slaughtered like sheep?

The novel is narrated by a Harper's Weekly artist and illustrator James Reilly. He is also a friend of and spy for Abraham Lincoln. Reilly's job at the front lines is to sketch what he sees and listen for officer and troop reactions towards the war. Shortly after the Union debacle at Cold Harbor, Virginia, Reilly meets up with the 28th USCT of the 4th Division, 9th Corps. They are led by Sergeant Major Garland White under white Colonel Russell and Colonel Pleasants. After laboring as a burying detail at Arlington, Virginia, the black unit is finally going to see action near Petersburg, Virginia. Once there, battle hardened sergeants train them daily. The plan by Col. Pleasants is to tunnel beneath the Confederate lines to their fort and blow it up while the colored troops charge the shocked Johnny Rebs and continue their attack all the way to Richmond, thus ending the war. The plan is approved by an enthused but shaky Gen.Burnside and begrudgingly by his disobliging superior Gen. Meade. Just before the operation, Gen. Meade changes everything! You will have to read all 364 pages to learn the unpleasurable results of his decision.

This is the third novel I have read from authors' Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, and it is by far their best. The empathy I felt for all the characters is a direct result of the authors excellent prose and character development. The black Sergeant Major Garland White was a real person and had actively recruited blacks for the famous 54th Regiment of Massachusetts as seen in the movie Glory . Do I recommend this novel? Does a one legged duck swim in a circle? You betcha!

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Robert E. Lee died five years after the war at age 63. He was not arrested or tried and remained a respected West Point graduate. Ulysses S. Grant also died at age 63 in 1885 after serving two terms as President of the United States. He lost all his wealth in a 1884 swindle, but had his memoirs published by Mark Twain after he died and was able to give his family some financial security. If you are interested in these men read: Lee: The Last Years and Grant's Final Victory.

DEATH on the NILE

Eh bien,I figured it out! I actually came up with the correct killer, or killers, shortly after the millionaire heiress, Linnet Doyle, was found shot in the head on page 148. I didn't need all the clues used by our beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. I got lucky and guessed based upon Agatha Christie's past tendencies. Mais oui it will never happen again. If you notice, I'm using all of Hercule's favorite French exclamations. This 1937 detective/mystery novel is first class, as usual. Our pyknic, mustached, French speaking gumshoe once again sifts through many suspects and clues to nail his man, or woman (I'm not giving you the killer!). This time he has a Colonel Race to use as his sounding board and a German Doctor Bessner as his medical advisor. What a' merveille entertaining novel this is.

Hercule is on vacation in Egypt awaiting a cruise down the Nile when he meets twenty year old Linnet Ridgeway and her husband, Simon Doyle. It seems Simon recently detached himself from Linnet's best friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort, to marry the very rich Linnet. Now the jeune fille Jacqueline is stalking the newlyweds and the Doyles want Hercule's help. Hercule refuses the commission but says he will talk to Jacqueline. Hercule is unable to calm the rejected Jacqueline, and in fact she threatens to kill Linnet. Later, on the steamer Karnak, Linnet turns up dead, shot in the head. Zut! Now our portly Hercule is on the case. The race is on to find the killer before someone else turns up dead. Most of the characters in this story are very exotic, and the clues are portentous and numerous. The ensuing chapters are all cliffhangers with fresh clues resulting in new suspects.

Agatha's ability to develop characters is amazing, and consistent in all her books. Can't you picture Peter Lorre or Sydney Greenstreet in one of her novels? One of her few rivals during the 1930's was Dashiell Hammett, author of one of my favorites, The Maltese Falcon. Another astonishing trait Agatha commands is that all her suspects come to full closure at the novel's end. I hate when I finish a book and most of characters have disappeared without a proper arrestment. Anyway mon ami and mon amie, I give this mystery a high five! Do yourself a favor and read a Agatha Christie novel soon - you will love it.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: The first actor to portray Hercule Poirot was Charles Laughton in a 1928 play called Alibi. The character, Hercule Poirot, was killed off in the 1975 novel Curtain. It was such a big deal that the N.Y. Times ran an obit in their newspaper stating "Hercule Poirot is dead; famed Belgian detective". Is that incredible or what?

1Q84

Japan's Haruki Murakami writes a surreal novel for the intellectual reader with a touch of fantasy. The story is neither completely lucid nor byzantine, so I would say it's semiabstract. Haruki may be the leader of a new genre. It's almost like he didn't write the novel for the hoi polloi, but for the artsy reader. (Not that I'm an artsy reader.) The story is basically strong; but after 900 pages, the ending leaves many unanswered questions. That was disappointing, since I became very interested in many of the characters and wanted closure. Maybe, there will be a second book to answer my linguistic inquiries. But overall, I found the novel uniquely absorbing with strong character development.

The story is set in Japan, mostly in the Tokyo area during the year 1984. Our heroine, Aomame (Ah-oh-mah-meh), who has the strange vocation of a sports trainer and a part time assassin, is dropped off by a taxi on a traffic jammed expressway. She climbs down the elevated expressway via a strange stairway to a lower level. Once on the ground, her world is about to change. On her way to an assassination, she notices slight differences in policemen's uniforms and pistols. Later Aomame notices that she missed news events and the big one: Our moon suddenly has a companion! It's a smaller green moon. She realizes that she has entered a somewhat altered world. Our heroine calls it 1Q84 (the Q for question).

Our hero in the novel is Tengo Kawana, a teacher and a nascent author, who as a ten year old went to school with Aomame. He rewrites a novel for a mysterious seventeen year old named Fuka-Eri. The book, Air Chrysalis, becomes a bestseller, and causes major problems with the religious group Sakigake. The group hires a Mr. Ushikawa (a vile, but enjoyable character) to dissuade Tengo from further involvement in the book. He refuses, and this sets off a strife between Sakigake, Tengo and Fuka-Eri. Aomame gets embroiled in this trouble with Sakigake via an assignment from an arcane dowager and her bodyguard Mr. Tamaru. How all this comes together is a monumental accomplishment by the author. Other characters worth mentioning are Leader, Buzzcut, Ponytail and Professor Ebisuno. Character creation seems to be a strong suit of Haruki Murakami. I can't remember when I liked so many characters in a novel; I would probably have to go back to Charles Dickens's David Copperfield.

So as you can tell, I liked the novel a lot, but was disappointed with the closure of some of the characters. Do I think this novel deserves a exsibilation or a standing ovation? I think somewhere in between. I'm taking into consideration that this book was translated from Japanese to English by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, whom I'm sure did a yeoman's job. Also a big factor is that in Japan this book was a trilogy. I think if you are a literary geek, you must read at least one Haruki Murakami novel, and this one is a good option.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Murakami's most famous novel is Norwegian Wood. He is a former winner of the Franz Kafka, Jerusalem and Kiriyama Prizes. He has written twelve novels and numerous short stories and essays. The British daily newspaper The Guardian calls him "among the world's greatest living novelists".

FDR'S FUNERAL TRAIN

Warning: The woebegoneness level of this non-fiction book is very high. It's also a fact filled historical recreation of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral train journey of April 13-15, 1945. Robert Klara writes an interesting and perceptive volume of what happened on the trip that history has forgotten. The facts of the book are backed-up by 45 pages of notes. This is another one of those books that I call a "non-fiction thriller". It compares well with other recent books written about past presidents such as The President Is a Sick Man . Lately, I can't get enough of this genre of writing, especially about previous Presidents or historical events.

In the book, FDR has just come back from The Yalta Conference attended by Churchill and Stalin and departs via his special train to Warm Springs, Georgia for a long needed rest. This is not a ordinary train - his car is an armored Pullman Car known as the Ferdinand Magellan. He has recently been diagnosed by Dr.Howard G. Bruenn as having hypertensive heart disease, for which, as the doctor noted, "No medications existed to reduce extreme blood pressure on the body's arterial walls" at the time. His blood pressure was 260/150! Yet his other doctor said he was just suffering the effects of flu, bronchitis, and overwork. I guess it didn't matter either way since today's cures were not available in 1945.

In Warm Springs, while working at a portable card table and having his portrait painted by Elizabeth Shoumatoff, FDR suddenly waves his hands around his head and says to his favorite cousin, Daisy Suckley, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head", and he slumps forward. There is no reason to have a "spoiler-warning", since this incident happens on page seven. His wife Eleanor, a fifth cousin once removed to FDR and niece to Teddy Roosevelt, is in Washington, D.C., while FDR's ex-romantic liaison, Lucy Mercer Rutherford, is in Warm Springs. Fireworks follow after Eleanor learns of this.

After the first 22 pages, the story gets to the heart of the matter. I found that the train trip from Georgia to D.C, and from D.C.(post-funeral) to Hyde Park, N.Y. was most interesting. In today's world, would you have all of the important people in the U.S.A on the same train? What about an accident or terrorist attack? On the train was the President's Cabinet, all of the Supreme Court Justices, all of the important senators and representatives, and the new President Truman with his staff! And,WWII was far from over. What happened on this train ride is quite remarkable. You'll  have to read this book to find out what happens. I'm not telling, but it is very engrossing and eye-opening.

Robert Klara must be a train buff because his descriptions of trains (especially the Pullmans), the overall railroad system, and the various companies are outstanding. The other amazing fact is how little Harry Truman knew about the war. FDR told him nothing! He didn't know what was said at the Yalta Conference and didn't know about The Manhattan Project. His discovery of these critical omissions are another absorbing phase of the book. If you love history, you will love this book!

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Eleanor Roosevelt was not loved by FDR's mother, Sara, who thought Eleanor homely. Even though Eleanor became an author, lecturer, columnist and our delegate to the newly formed United Nations, she couldn't afford to keep the Hyde Park estate and instead moved to N.Y.C. The special train used by FDR and later by Truman was called the POTUS (President Of The United States). History shows that Truman surrounded himself with country bumpkins from Missouri, but did retain some brilliant people, such as James F. Byrnes, FDR's "assistant president".

Rambling Comment's #1

Literature seems to be developing new genres that I like and dislike. Conventional fiction or non-fiction books aren't so routine anymore. I mean writers like James Patterson, Nelson DeMille, and John Grisham are still out there publishing one book after another, but isn't it just commercial fodder? Let's face it, this type of writing just doesn't get it done anymore. I'm not including John Irving in that group, because I think he's kind of an artistic writer that's not so common. (By the way, his new novel In One Person comes out in May 2012.) I think there are writers that are using new techniques that I find refreshing and enjoyable. There are some authors that are also using old methods, such as the epistolary novel, that I still like a lot. Some examples of this methodology are Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian  and Max Brooks's World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. These are still enjoyable because of their creativity.

Now for the new style that I like. I call it the Non-fiction Thriller! Here we have the best of two worlds: history and excitement. I'm talking about authors like Erik Larson, Candice Millard, Robert Klara, and Scott Miller. Read Millard's The River of Doubt and tell me it wasn't thrilling! You learn some history of Theodore Roosevelt that you will never forget because the story was exhilarating. History teachers, pay attention! Read Larson's The Devil in the White City and you will learn about the World's Columbian Expo of 1893 in Chicago and a real serial killer, who haunted the fair at the same time. Read the sad tale of FDR's Funeral Train by Robert Klara and tell me that you aren't moved. All of these books are non-fiction, but read like a Flash Gordon serial. I have read a lot of these types of books recently, and I have to say that they are highly satisfying and educational.

Now for the style that I don't like. I call it Historical Fantasy Horror! The leading candidate for this genre is Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This is plain comic book ridiculous! What's next - George Washington and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy? Why not? We already have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Max Brooks's The Zombie Survival Guide. While these books are fun and entertaining, I don't consider this literature. I would rather read some vintage Batman or Superman  comic books.

Now for the style that I'm not sure about. China Mieville calls it Weird Fiction. It's his coined phrase, and I agree that's exactly how his novels seem to me. I've had my criticism's of this loquacious author in my three reviews of his novels, mostly because of his diction and his use of neologisms. Even though I admit that Mieville is a semi-genius, I have to wonder why I usually get a migraine headache after reading one of his books. Another author in this category is Jeff Vandermeer of City of Saints and Madmen, but since I haven't read his works, I can't opine. I think the biggest problem that I have with this type of writing is the lack of disambiguation of the general story. In another words, I normally don't understand what's going on!

Okay, that's the end of rambling for now. Thanks, Rick O.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

I haven't read a mystery of this ilk in a long time. What a breath of fresh air! Agatha Christie wrote this book in 1934, and it's a beaut. It stars her famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. It seems to me many books and movies like After The Thin Man have stolen Agatha's idea of gathering all the suspects for one final interrogation to solve the case. Can anybody do it better than Agatha, who has out-sold every published work except the Bible and Shakespeare? Maybe the only character that can challenge Hercule Poirot is Agatha's other famous sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Since this book was written so long ago, it gives the reader the flavor of the times, such as the European attitude towards America, the style of clothing, and the reminiscence of long train trips.

The story starts with our hero boarding the Orient Express in Aleppo, Syria, after a successful investigation for the French Army. He meets one of the directors of the company that runs the Orient train, M.Bouc. Hercule Poirot joins the other thirteen passengers, M. Bouc, a Dr. Constantine, and one conductor in the Athens-Paris Coach. And folks we are off to the races! One of the passengers, a Mr. Ratchett, who is of vile and dubious character turns up dead on the first night of the trip. He's been stabbed twelve times in his bunk. To make matters worse, the train is now at a standstill, snowed-in by a blizzard. That means the killer is stranded on the train and poses a threat to the remaining twelve passengers on the Athens-Paris car. As you've probably guessed, the director of the train, M. Bouc, engages our lovable and pyknic detective, Hercule Poirot. Let the Lumosity exercises begin! The rest of the novel is a cat-and-mouse game between the twelve passengers and Hercule. I tried to figure out who the killer was, and I didn't even come close!

It's amazing to me how Agatha Christie can make the reader visualize all seventeen people on the train in only 265 pages. I liked the way Agatha has Hercule use the director, M. Bouc, and Dr. Constantine as a sounding board to test his theories. He actually makes them think that they are helping him solve the mystery. This is a very sound novel and completely enjoyable. I am totally drawn into this series and hope to read Death on The Nile in the very near future. Do yourself a favor and read a Hercule Poirot novel right now, especially this one.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Agatha Christie wrote eighty crime novels, nineteen plays, two memoirs, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her play The Mousetrap opened in 1952 and is the longest running play in history. Agatha's 120th anniversary was celebrated in 2010.

THE LAST KINGDOM

The first novel in Cornwell's The Saxon Tales is an overwhelming success! This is a series that you don't have to read in order. I read the fifth novel first and the first novel second, if that makes any sense, and I didn't miss any background information. That's how well written these books are. How Cornwell can juggle all these serial novels at the same time is remarkable. I keep flip-flopping between Bernard Cornwell and Sharon Kay Penman as to who is the best medieval historical fiction writer. I guess it depends on whose book I read last.

The period of the novel is between the years 866 and 877 in what is now known as England, but at the time was divided into four parts. The Danes had conquered three parts and were getting ready to take Wessex, the last bastion of the United Kingdom. The protagonist is a ten year old boy named Uhtred, son of Uhtred, Earl of Bebbanburg in Northumbria. Uhtred is captured by Danish Earl Ragnar in a battle that kills Uhtred's father. Ragnar takes Uhtred under his wing and rears him as a pagan and a warrior. Uhtred loves his "new" father, but has mixed loyalty between his adopted Viking friends and the King of Wessex, Alfred The Great. When the unimaginable happens, the young christian/pagan warrior is out on his own to discover who he really is. I think this is the main theme of this series, and it leads the reader to a disambiguation of Uhtred's thoughts and motives throughout the six novel series.

The characterization in this novel is terrific, even making some of the Vikings lovable. The author notes that most of people in this novel are real, as are most of the major battles. The main character, Uhtred, and his adopted father, Ragnar, are fictitious, but very believable. I also enjoyed the Priest Beocca and the rascality of Uhtred's friend, Brida. Cornwell lets us hang for the next book to find out what happens with Ragnar's son, who is searching for his sister and planing revenge on the despicable Kjartan and his one-eyed son. You will have to read the second book in this series, The Pale Horseman to find out! That's what makes this series so much fun.

If you haven't read a Cornwell novel, you don't know what you are missing. There are many chronicles, series, and standalone novels to choose from. I give this novel my highest rating.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: For the 30th anniversary of Sharpe's Rifles , Harper Collins UK is reissuing all the Sharpe books with new covers. If you want to read how Cornwell began the series and how it evolved over the last 30 years, you can read his Sharpe's Story .