Saturday 24 August 2013

FANTASY REVIEW: The Legend of Broken - Caleb Carr

Release Date: 25/07/13
Publisher:  Sphere

SYNOPSIS:

Some years ago, a remarkable manuscript long rumoured to exist was discovered: The Legend of Broken. It tells of a prosperous fortress city, Broken, where order reigns at the point of a sword - even as scheming factions secretly vie for control of the surrounding kingdom. Meanwhile, outside the city's granite walls, an industrious tribe of exiles known as the Bane forages for sustenance in the wilds of Davon Wood. At every turn, the lives of Broken's defenders and its would-be destroyers intertwine until secretly, and under pressure from their people, four leaders unite. Together, they hope to exact a ruinous revenge on Broken, ushering in a day of reckoning when the mighty walls will be breached forever in a triumph of science over superstition. Breathtakingly profound and compulsively readable, Caleb Carr's long-awaited new book is an action-packed and enthralling masterpiece.


REVIEW:

I love a story that has solid research, wonderfully woven historical context to give it a fuller flavour but the real danger here is information overload which detracts from the pace and readers are left wondering what happened to the tale as huge pauses are hacked out to explain a lot of details that could have been glossed over to keep the tale on track.

The tale suffers greatly for this and for me the pace is too slow, the characters people I didn’t really form attachments to and all round left me feeling greatly saddened as the book blurb was so much better than the tale within. A great shame.

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