Oh dear, I was looking forward to reading this book, but very soon after starting it I started to look forward to finishing it. The story was very well developed, but I just wasn't drawn in to it at all. I even made comments in my kindle as I read it to identify my feelings on it as I went along, these are those comments:
- So far dull and plodding. I'm not sure where the book is going or even if I care enough to be interested . 9%
- It's really tedious reading now :( 27%
- 45% still plodding through it. Still finding it a plough.
- It drags on and on. Only at 75% still. Blood and sand, there are other books I want to read!
In my opinion, this is Definitely NOT a Ken Follett type of book, it drags on and on. Compare this, the donkey plodding along, to the thoroughbred racehorse that a Ken Follett would be in the writing style.
The tale switches character viewpoints as it moves through time, so that the story moves along at more or less matching moments. I don't mind this way of writing, but I've read reviews in the past where readers have complained about it, so just a heads up if that's you.
Oh look, I'm sure that a lot of readers will be totally engrossed in the story, but it just wasn't for me
Thank you to NetGalley
and Little, Brown Book Group UK / Sphere for approving me to read this book.
2/5 Stars
Official description:
Rome
Father Asser is waiting to die.
His idealism has landed him in a papal prison on trumped-up charges of heresy, until salvation arrives in an unexpected form. Cardinal Balotelli also dreams of a better world, free from the ravages of the Norlanders. He has a vital job for Asser, one that could shape the future of Europe.
Wessex
King Aethelwolf's power is fading, but none of his feckless children are fit to rule.
His eldest sons would rather fight each other than the blood-thirsty Norland invaders. His daughter, Swift, is clever and cunning, but often blinded by her ambition. Finally there's Alfred, his once-promising younger son, whom nobody has seen in years.
Then Wolf meets a young priest with a proposition from Rome that could change everything.
Lindisfarne
Rhiannon is a slave with a profound hatred for her Saxon captors. When she meets Guthrum, a Norlander hell-bent on wiping Wessex from the map, they set out on a journey of destruction.
So begins an epic struggle between greed and idealism, ambition and betrayal, freedom and tyranny. Because change always meets with resistance and, on the path to power, nobody can be trusted.
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Star Ratings - what they mean:
https://crowtreelane.blogspot.com/2019/03/five-stars-applied-carefully.html
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