It took me a little while to get into this title, but it was definitely worth the listen. The first part was a bit confusing as the lead character experiences some pretty weird stuff. At first, I didn’t know where it was going. But all that stuff ended up getting explained later in the book. It turned out to be important setup material.
I’m no expert on medieval Scottish history, but the material seemed pretty authentic. A lot of Celtic mythology was woven throughout the plot. I particularly liked how that played off of what was going on in the British lands to the south of the wall.
From the description, I almost expected this to be a novel about the big raid on Hadrian’s Wall. It turns out, that is really more of the historical backdrop. This book deals with things going on in the spiritual background in preparation for the military campaign.
The narrator is absolutely delightful. The base narration is in an English accent, with a lot of Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents thrown in for different characters.
The language seems sort of modern in some places. I suppose I expected something that sounded a little more medieval. But then, I have read the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English, and no one would be able to listen to something like that. And, of course, the original language would have been some form of Gaelic, I suppose. So I suppose it is easier to listen to in some form of modern vernacular (even if it did tend more toward American English than Scottish or British).
IN the end, this novel dealt with some really compelling themes, like spiritual faith, personal identity, and cultural compulsion. I definitely need to go back and re-read it to catch the symbolism that was expertly woven throughout the story. I picked up on some of it, but expect there was much more that I missed the first time through. Having gotten to the end, I would also like to go back through and see if everything holds together correctly or if the author forced things to fit.
The book definitely didn’t end the way I expected it to. I won’t throw in a spoiler and ruin it for you. Let’s just say that initially, I was a bit put off. But even after I finished listening, I could not get the ideas out of my head. I kept mulling over what happened. Then I guessed that this was what the author was trying to get me to do. If so, it worked out brilliantly. I am definitely hoping for a sequel!
I received a free copy of the audiobook and was asked to provide an honest review. These comments reflect my honest opinion of the book and audio production.