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The author tells a great story, but really doesn't have a grasp of the mechanics of storytelling. For instance, normally a paragraph change is used to signal a change in locale, time, or some other event that would be confusing if it suddenly occurred without a paragraph change. But Cornwell will suddenly change the scene or time in the middle of a paragraph, which is confusing. Another thing he does is shift point of view abruptly to an omniscient point of view. At one point, we are in a character's head, seeing what that character is seeing and hearing their thoughts, then suddenly the author will comment that "on the other side of the woods, unseen, the enemy was assembling an army. How could the character possibly know that? This is the author talking, not the character. The problem with authorial intrusion and abrupt scene shifts is that it snaps the reader out of the reverie of the story and reminds them that they are just reading a book. This stuff is taught in creative writing 101 and I'm surprised the author doesn't know how to keep the reader fully engaged in the story.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
No matter how you slice it, the book is about how to build a stone temple in ancient times. There is a story behind this, an interesting and complex tale of people from all over present-day England, surrounding three brothers, sons of a chieftan, and their aspirations, plottings, dreams and failures. There is travel throughout the ancient island with Cornwell's requisite description of place and people, but it still comes back to building the stone temple; so the title suggests, so the book goes... This is not, in my humble opinion (and I am a big fan of Cornwell), Bernard's best work. It is interesting enough. There is treachery, murder, rivalry, betrayal, lust, insanity, god-worship, slavery, battle, bravery, courage and cowardice, but all offered in less heaping helpings than usually offered from Cornwell. Surely, it was no small task for our neolithic ancestors to collect the stones, shape them, move them and stand them so precisely, but the description of such consumes probably 75-80% of the book. Cornwell does his best to make this description interesting, but I believe that where this book really falls short is in its length. The tale could have been told in fewer pages with fewer people and less outside storylines. The back-story is sufficient, but nothing outstanding. To be honest, I'm a bit surprised by the praise offered by the "experts"; people that get paid to review. I think the experts failed us on this one. This is an average read with Cornwell's exceptional ability to lay out the scene bringing the rating up slightly. This is certainly an interesting read for anyone that is interested in ancient history, but I don't think that the average historical fiction reader will find much to be excited about here. The battles are weak in comparison to Cornwell's usual epic warfare storytelling. There is no real mystery, though the book does not promise this; I have just come to expect this from Cornwell so I offer it as an aside. I am very interested in anything prehistoric/ancient and I did enjoy reading about the tools, processes, people and lifestyles of our forefathers, but I realize that some may not take so much enjoyment from the tale. ***I give 4 stars, my personal rating, understanding full well that some may disagree and so also offer the reasons why I believe some may not be quite so interested. Overall, I would rate this a 3+, rounding up to 4 because Cornwell can make even the grinding and standing of stones sound interesting. But some may want to skip this one and move on to a more involving tale.***Read full review
I enjoyed the trip to the ancient past. Letting the imagination of one inspiring author (Bernard Cornwell)guide you through a tale of love, rejection, revenge, and honor. I very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone. I decide to buy this book because I am a big fan of the Author, and there is no where he can not take you.
I love this book! I found it at the library one day and have since read everything by this author I can find! He writes the best characters; you really want them to have lived!
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