Seeing as the literary market is now beyond saturation with the subject of ancient Rome, I thought I would give another era a bash, and overall, I was not disappointed. Let's get the one or two irritations out of the way first. The style in which the book is written does take some getting used to - and the fictional Edward Morton is an unecessary convolution. I'm not sure I agree also with the use of modern parlance - the phrase "sort of" seems entirely out of context - and does get rather tiresome after continuous use. My biggest bugbear, though, is an English author using an atrocious Americanism by substituting "s" for "z" - apoligize, realize, etc. Ggggrrrrrr!!
Those things aside, the substance of the book - ie - the story - and the superb characterisation - are what makes this worth reading. The reader really does get a sense of the brutality of war and enemy occupation - and the hand-to-mouth existence of the protagonists is striking and relentless. Andre is a character born out of pure idealism (at one point I was sure he would sprout a pair of wings and fly to the rescue), however, it is Jacques and Stefan who are the heart and soul of this book.
Despite the one or two little glitches, I give this book five stars for a rivetting story, and very much look forward to the second book in the series.
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