Rating: 
Summary: Great premise - Fails in execution
Review: As an avid reader of alternate history (especially recent novels of S.M.Stirling) and a Roman History buff, I bought this book on impulse after reading the flyleaf notes and anticipated a great few days of reading. Unfortunately, the book reminds me of a role playing game where the events and characters are created by a random number generator. The motivation of the characters, especially Maxian, is murky at best. Also, there was not enough description of how the empire in its 600CE form had come about and how it changed in organization and bureaucracy. I was disappointed. A somewhat similar set of books but, in my opinion, a more successful one, was the 'Krispos of Videssos' series by Harry Turtledove.
Rating: 
Summary: A noble attempt--
Review: as one of Harlan's characters might say, as they seem incapable of realistic speech. Seriously, a good try for a first novel--nothing to be ashamed of--but I hope Mr. Harlan works on his characters and forbears from pushing the plot around just to get from point A to point B in his next book. We have a character introduced in a manner that suggests he's a fairly young boy, no older than 11 or 12, then we suddenly find out in the middle of the book that he's 16. 16, dammit! We have a character wondering time and again why the men under her command accept her as a leader, but golly, they just do. We have a character who gives no hint of his ability to stand up to the major supreme meanie on the block, but he almost does, not once, but twice. His attempts seem to cause more harm than good by the way--and just how does his body end up back within city walls when he falls outside them in single combat, surrounded by the enemy? A few other things that happened off-stage took me quite by surprise. Oh, I also hope he eases up on the fashion show. I was getting to the point where one more description of a plain tunic with stitching at the collar and cuffs would have had me hurling the book across the room. And it's a library book. That wouldn't have been nice.
Rating: 
Summary: Good start
Review: Being the latest in a long line of reviews I only want to add that the complex mix of history and mythology made for a wonderful read. Although a little slow at the begining, the story soon picks up to an exciting pace. I found myself turning page after page excited to see what would happen next.
Rating: 
Summary: An impressive effort--too bad it doesn't work
Review: Even if it weren't a debut novel, the sheer prodigious immensity of The Shadow of Ararat would be stupefying. And I'm not just talking about length, either; jillion-word fantasy epics are ten-a-penny these days. First-time novelist Harlan has brought nearly two decades of experience creating historical war games, as well as an obvious lifetime of love for ancient history and archaeology, to this sweeping story set in an alternate ancient Rome, which, in Harlan's milieu, still exists well into the 7th century C.E., and where magic plays a prominent role. If awards were handed out solely on the basis of excellence in astonishingly detailed and researched world-building, we could just hand Harlan his lifetime achievement award now and save time. But there are other elements to fantasy novel writing just as important, and it's in these areas Harlan shows he could use serious improvement. Although the scenes of military conflict--that is, any of the scenes in which Harlan brings his prodigious knowledge of military history to bear--are rousing, the fantasy elements fall flat on their collective faces, as Harlan simply does not make them make much sense for the reader. Harlan is a fabulous historian, but a dreary storyteller. There are many things about his story that Harlan fails to make clear, and this flaw literally suffuses the book from beginning to end, despite the obvious hard work that Harlan put into realizing his alternate ancient world for us. At no time did I ever have a clear grasp of the nature of the magic in Harlan's milieu. There is an "unseen world," apparently, from which forces both good and evil called be called forth. Necromancy plays a big part; both the bad guys and Maxian raise men from the dead to assist them (Maxian raises no less a personage than Julius Caesar, here called Gaius Julius, a potentially staggering plot element that Harlan does a dazzling job of nothing with). But none of the rituals or methods that mages employ in Harlan's world make much sense; I never had a clear understanding of what Maxian was up to throughout the whole book. At one point in the novel we are suddenly treated to Maxian and his cohorts in an iron foundry in Constantinople, building an enormous mechanical flying machine for no apparent reason other than it will get him to the front lines of battle quickly! Whoa! Where did Maxian's knowledge to build this come from? If the technology to do this exists at all, why aren't the skies of Harlan's Empire chock full of these things? That is just one example of Harlan's slipshod plotting. The book is filled with intriguing ideas that Harlan introduces early on only to seem to have forgotten hundreds of pages later. For example, this curse on Rome. Where did it come from? So many questions that Harlan leaves unanswered. For instance, a potentially suspenseful plot element in which Maxian tries to figure out the deaths of several well-to-do merchant families that may be a clue as to the nature of the curse (one of the families has invented movable type) literally disappears from the story. We never learn why these particular families were killed, nor what they had to do with anything at all that transpires later in the novel! Still, it's true that Harlan's deeply sloppy plotting may go unnoticed by fans of alternate history and historical fantasy who will rightfully be impressed by Harlan's research and skills at world-building. No doubt about it, the man knows his stuff. But then, even here, I found a much more prosaic problem with this book. To be blunt, it's just plain boring. Only in the book's last 200 pages or so (out of the paperback's 793) does the story offer up some of its most stirring sequences, particularly in its battle scenes. This kind of sweeping, epic storytelling would be insanely ambitious even for veteran authors the likes of James Clavell or Wilbur Smith; for a debut novel, well, Jeez...you have to admire Harlan's cojones, but that the whole thing is crushed under its own weight ultimately doesn't come as much of a surprise. A guy can't reasonably expect to write his very first novel and have it turn out to be War and Peace, any more than a first-time film director can expect to make Lawrence of Arabia.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: Harlan brings alive the brutal and majestic sights and experience of life during the Roman Empire. Harlan's ability of DESCRIPTION are awesome! Whether he's bringing to life the earth-shaking charge of the Roman heavy horse, or the mysterious way thaumaturges summon power from the earth itself to unleash hell, Lovecraftian ways of necromancy, to the true image-invoking scenes of confetti-laden victory parades, forboding mountain fortresses, beautiful island sanctuaries, etc... Again, his description skills are up there with the best!And the other thing that Harlan does exceptional is his PACING of the story. I am always wanting to keep reading! His chapters are broken up by sections, some longer some shorter, and by doing that, it truly is hard to put the book down. His story is very complex, and with small print you would think that is a turn-off, but Harlan writes so well that it is a definite plus! My ONLY complaint is some of the characterizations and character motivations. Not that he doesn't write well-done believeable dialogue between his characters - he does! It's just that one of his characters in particular, Thyatis, a gung-ho amazon, annoys ... me - I guess for a woman, she's a bit too much .... She is the the 'characterization' I mentioned. In the 'character motivation' department, Prince Maxian would be the guilty party. early in the book, he is described as a healer and a priest, but before long, he is resurrecting heroes out of Rome's past and getting involved in quite grisly situations and keeping company with a motley crew of truly bizarre companions - quite unexpected of a healer and a priest. Oh well. Maxian is still a good guy. These are mostly superficial complaints. And I do agree with some other reviewers about his Deus Ex Machina-like revival of some characters thought dead - just kill 'em off like George RR Martin does! If you would like to read a thouroughly engaging and entertaining story that will also make you want to learn more about the true history of ancient Rome, you definitely will pat yourself on the back for tackling this in-depth and wonderfully well-conceived story that combines the best of our own fascinating history with the elements of true fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Characters and brisk plot
Review: Harlan is able to weave a believable version of Rome in a world of magic. The Dahak character intrigues and the battles are fresh and lively. Harlan is able to bring suspense to Thyatis' commando style raids as well as Galen's politicing. An excellent debut to what becomes a decent series. The author does well to describe scenes from many views without getting bogged in repetion.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious, sweeping and boring
Review: I am interested in Rome and Byzantium, which is why I bought this book. I respect this author's technical knowledge, and he excels at description...but about 1/3 of the way through I ran into problems. First of all... my understanding is that 'alternate history" should provide some kind of 'branching point in history" which caused this world to evolve differently from our own. In this case, there was no Christianity and no split between the Eastern and Western Empires. That's 2 branching points already. In addition, the empires seem to have been spared the massive migrations of people which caused the real Rome to be swamped by 'barbarian' invasions. So I guess the Huns, etc. were simply Nice Guys in this book and never bothered Rome? OK. Moving on to the real problems of this novel: though I tried very hard, I felt no identification with the protagonists. The author does a wonderful job of describing what they wear, what they look like and the landscapes through which they pass. But as for what makes the people tick--nothing. No word of their pasts, their griefs, joys, thoughts, beliefs. Nobody falls in love or even really has sex. One character encounters the Queen of Palmyra; the next time we see them they are apparently lovers, though we never see how they interact and reach this state. To me, that's a fatal error. An author can get away with blah characters in a short novel, but in a book of this length it quickly becomes deadly--especially since I really didn't care that much about the Roman Empire's victory over the Persians. In fact, I found myself rooting for the underdog Persians. In addition: I quickly lost track of what the characters were doing and why. Scenes seemed to be thrown together at random. I realize that this book is part of a series--nevertheless I regard it as a critical weakness when one book of a series can't 'stand alone". Tolkien got away with it--but since I did not feel satisfied at the end of this book, there's no way I'm going to read the next one. Two stars for technical excellence.
Rating:
Summary: Good, imaganitive, a little far-fetched
Review: I enjoyed the book. Things that bothered me: Prince Maxian, trained as a healer (so he just happens to be a necromancer and powerful sorcerer...) Woman that kicks everybodies butt...this woman is not trained in martial arts, so why is she high kicking everybody, back flipping and using pressure points. And it seems that the women around are always more powerful than the men. My favorite character was Dwyrin. Unfortunately, he was powerful, then he wasn't, then he was...just like the book. Good at times, makes you say "huh" or "why" outloud at others. I'd still recommend it, I just hope #2 is better.
Rating:
Summary: Good, imaganitive, a little far-fetched
Review: I enjoyed the book. Things that bothered me: Prince Maxian, trained as a healer (so he just happens to be a necromancer and powerful sorcerer...) Woman that kicks everybodies butt...this woman is not trained in martial arts, so why is she high kicking everybody, back flipping and using pressure points. And it seems that the women around are always more powerful than the men. My favorite character was Dwyrin. Unfortunately, he was powerful, then he wasn't, then he was...just like the book. Good at times, makes you say "huh" or "why" outloud at others. I'd still recommend it, I just hope #2 is better.
Rating:
Summary: Very good, especially for 1st book. Expect better to come!
Review: I found myself quickly absorbed in this book. The author's descriptive prose really drew me into the scenes he was portraying, and added a sense of realism to the entire novel. It's apparent the author did a great deal of research to attempt to bring the setting and the period across to the reader. I agree with a previous reviewer that the motivations driving the major characters were not made apparent. On the other hand, the next time I read a fantasy novel to find out more about the 600 years of bureaucracy behind the setting will be the FIRST time I read a fantasy novel to find out more about the 600 years of bureaucracy behind the setting. :) This is the author's debut novel, and he'll likely only get better with experience. All in all an enjoyable read, and I'll pick up book two quickly when it comes out. If you like alternate history/fantasy, military history/fantasy (or both), this is a good book for you to purchase.
|
