Review: A Page-Turner
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 13, 2012
The unusual spelling of the title had me a bit worried at first, but once I started reading, I was hooked.I've read a good bit of historical fiction, especially pre-Christian Britain, but this was different than most.  The writing was overall solid, the characters were vivid, and the story moved at a brisk pace.  I was absorbed and could not put it down, and when I was done, I felt disappointed.There were some areas where a good bit of suspension of disbelief was called for, and while that can sometimes be a struggle for me...with this book, I didn't care.  The story overall was just that good - my eyebrow might have twitched a bit, but I wasn't about to stop reading.  I was completely willing to go along with whatever I was told because I was having such a good time.  The architectural explanation was very plausible, at least as plausible as other theories I've read about.There were several passages I particularly enjoyed.  There were beautiful descriptions of the countryside and the weather.  Chapter 2 starts with a massive thunderstorm and the reader moves inside the castle with a family whose house has been unroofed by the storm, and the transition from wind and rain to warmth and light was just really well done.  Coel's final speech of the book gave me goosebumps because I was so deeply into the story at that point.I did have a few quibbles.  The formatting in some sections for the Kindle was a bit odd, with sections suddenly indented.  Quotation marks are not always placed appropriately (sometimes the end quote is missing, sometimes a beginning quote).  I would recommend having someone go through the book looking for punctuation and capitalization issues, and to catch things like "(she) looked at him expectedly" (expectantly) and "enjoying the reverie and celebration" (revelry).  I don't mind dialect, but the spelling of "you" bothered me a lot, possibly because I can't figure out a difference in pronunciation and it just looked odd.  I also can't figure out how the word "are" would be rendered as "ar'" in a dialect.I received this book as a free download for the Kindle.  I would not have been disappointed had I purchased it, and certainly at the current price of 99 cents, it's a heck of a bargain in my opinion.  I will be purchasing the next book in the series, even though I have a giant pile of free books in my Kindle to read.  I hope I will be able to say nice things about that one, as well.