3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Silver Horn Echoes: A Song of Roland is a historical novel by Michael Eging and Steve Arnold. The story takes place in Medieval Europe during the time of Charlemagne. While King Charles is busy fighting the Saxons, Marsilion, Emir of Saragossa, takes his opportunity and launches an attack from the south.
Roland is a young, hotheaded nobleman. The ghost of his father William appears to Roland and tells him to take on his old role as the king’s champion. He must help King Charles fight not just against foreign enemies, but against his own family members who are trying to seize the throne.
The Silver Horn Echoes is based on the 11th century epic poem The Song of Roland. Due to its source material, it often felt like an old fairytale. It’s a book where historical fact and historical literature mix together. There are some historical inaccuracies, but they didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story.
What I liked best was how easy it was to read this book. I never felt like I didn’t understand something because the time period and the setting was always clearly explained. The book is full of vivid descriptions about the places we visit and the people that live in them. It paints a world of courtly intrigues and where glory is won on the battlefield.
It’s a book that tries to fairly portray both sides of the conflict. The villains aren’t merely bad guys that do what they do because they’re evil. They have reasons that you can understand and sometimes even empathize with.
This is a book that is focused on action and it often felt like a movie. The shortest way to describe it is that it’s a medieval war story. Most of the attention is devoted to the many battles that take place in the book. If you’re not a fan of those things then I wouldn’t recommend this book. Rather, I would recommend it to those who are looking for an action story set in medieval times, or maybe are just curious about another spin on the classic poem.
Also, there are no lengthy narratives that focus on the character’s thoughts and feelings, but it is through their actions that you learn what kind of people they are. However, while not a bad thing in and of itself, that is also one of the biggest flaws of the book. The story moves quickly and doesn’t spend enough time with its characters to truly get to know them. They end up feeling flat and lacking depth. Therefore I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. There was only one spelling error that I noticed. Other than that the book was well edited.
******
The Silver Horn Echoes: A Song of Roland
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like AliceofX's review? Post a comment saying so!
