Official Review: Year of the Sheep by James Y. Bartlett

[MeganDJ]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Year of the Sheep" by James Y. Bartlett.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Year of the Sheep is a vivid account of the forced relocation of thousands of people from their native lands in Scotland to the perceived “greener pastures” of European coastal regions. James Y. Bartlett does a riveting job of intermingling the emotional perspective of the reigning chief of the Scottish clans and the native people of the region. Each side of this tale believes that their cause is just, and the actions that they take throughout the narrative are warranted by their beliefs and convictions. This brilliant 3-part book series takes you on a journey that thoroughly explains why the events played out the way that they did, and how there is no perceived evil villain in this story.

The book follows three main protagonists in their different time zones and locations. The first is Lady Stafford, who is the acting Chief of Sutherland and is responsible for the relocation plans of her people. Her motive behind this drastic step is to relieve them of their supposed squalor, providing them with stable jobs that don’t force them to farm inhospitable lands. There were obvious financial benefits from this venture, which leads her to believe that this is the right course of action for everyone.

The second protagonist in the book series is Anna Kenton who is tied closely with our third protagonist, Billy Hanks. She is presented as an aristocratic authority and the cousin of Lady Stafford who moves into the Scottish Highlands to teach the children reading and writing. Once there, she discovers the charms of the region and understands why the people want to stay in their history-rich lands for aeons to come. The dynamic between Anna and Billy quickly becomes physical, and she becomes invested in the people’s plight way more than she bargained for.

What will they do to change the course of Lady Stafford’s plans? Is there anything that the native people can do? Find out more by reading this tale based on history. Although there wasn’t a defined antagonist of the tale, you can’t help but side with the native people while sympathizing with the actions of the reigning chief. The author played this dynamic extremely well and by the end of the book, you feel like you have both a sense of closure and the feeling of disappointment with the outcome. To have this sense of neutrality and differing emotional perspective that doesn’t lean too heavily on one side is rare in a book and was a breath of fresh air.

The most noticeable negative I had was that it could be slow at times which hurt the pacing of the narrative. The second was the many errors I found during my read. From incorrect spellings of predefined names to numbers instead of question marks, this book had it all. Despite all that, I do believe that it is worth the read and it pains me to give it 3 out of 4 stars. The amount of research that was done warrants the 4 stars and if you are a lover of European historical events, it would probably be worth 5 stars.

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Year of the Sheep
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[Zaeda Amrin]

That sounds really interesting! I love when there is no real villain because we learn about why they do what they do and what their motivations are. It’s too bad the pace is slow. Thank you for the excellent review!

[Kirsi Cultrera]

I am pretty sure I would enjoy reading this series. I love the stories of natives and these protagonists sound interesting. Too bad that this book had so many mistakes, I truly hope that they take your advice and correct them. Thanks for your great review!