themes resonate with my own imagination so closely that I feel that it is a book I would re-read many times over. My initial reaction was that "The Acts of the Servant" was a superior variety of a "Sword and Sorcery" type of epic, but as I read on I realised it was much more than that, from its experiments in style and execution, through to its exploration of social issues such as the morality of the Highland Clearances. Although magic exists, it is nicely treated in a matter-of-fact way so that it doesn't distract from the realism. I particularly like the little touches that add to the atmosphere and help draw the reader in, such as the child (I assume it was a child; I'm not so sure now) asking for a light in "Prologue the First" or Sir David saying goodnight to his children in "Chapter 3: Kinship". The scene where the peregrine chases the pigeon out of the kirk in "Chapter 2: Noblesse Oblige" is particularly memorable. If I read any other novel in which the point-of-view character changed with each chapter, I would be tempted to mark it down as a fault, but I think here it is necessary simply because of the huge canvas you are trying to fill. (I've only just noticed the word count!) However, it does mean that the reader is never quite sure who is the central protagonist--or even if there is a central protagonist. To the modern reader this could