Review: Hugely impressed
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 22, 2013
...yes, I was hugely impressed by this book! It's perfectly edited, deceptively simple, charming, and (oh joy!) without any grammar or punctuation errors. Aside from that, though, it's just really, really good.I know absolutely nothing about this period of history, but I know that Ms Saadia is something of an authority on it, and this comes across. Although the book is fiction based on historical fact (a genre I love), it could also be read purely as a work of fiction, an adventure story; it's interesting from a historical point of view, but the main strength of it is in the story telling. The writing is smooth and easily readable, with no superfluous or overly detailed passages, and I read it in only about four sittings. Ms Saadia has created the story from the young men's point of view so cleverly; in some ways it seemed like a young adult's novel. She is obviously a natural story teller, and a gifted writer - there was absolutely nothing forced about it. At no point was I aware of any studied technique, which was lovely; one of the drawbacks with reading when you write yourself is that you tend to read like an editor, but I forgot all about that while I was reading this. I just enjoyed it. I'm a great lover of the GRR Martin 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series - this reminded me of those books, in parts.I've read a couple of reviews that say the language is wrong, because the people of that time wouldn't have used words like 'kid' - but the dialogue is stylised, so well; after all, they wouldn't have used any of the words we use, would they? It's obvious that the author has researched the terms of speech that the people of that time and place would have used.I have another of Ms Saadia's books to read (At Road's End), but I look forward to reading the others in this series, the Rise of the Aztecs, too. Highly recommended, even if it's not your usual genre.