![]() Character development, and realistic dialogue, is needed to make us care about the characters we’re reading about and elevate the book into the realms of great historical fiction.Īnd as far as historical fiction goes, this is pretty staggering: it’s clear how much effort Holloway has put into researching this and making sure the plot flows smoothly. William the Conqueror, for instance, comes across as an angry child, and several plot beats for other characters, which would have been fine had they been built up to and explained, feel odd when they’re suddenly introduced into the story without prior explanation: for instance, Lady Edith marries the King at the start and pops up again suddenly as a villain in the middle of the story. However, gripping though the plot is, I do feel that Holloway missed out on a chance to do some good, old-fashioned character work. Indeed, the ending is painful because we do care about Harold, and about what happens to him. ![]() Nothing like a battle for some dramatic tension! The result is a huge portrait of the country that will leave you much better informed than when you started, and though the vastness of the plot means that the middle sags slightly- weighed down by details and interchangeable secondary characters- the ending is genuinely gripping, and I raced through the final battle scene to the book’s inevitable conclusion. The story is seamlessly plotted and jam-packed with action: everything that happens is relevant to the plot, and the intricate events that led up to the invasion are laid out and explained clearly and concisely. The entire novel has something of an epic feel to it, as Holloway skilfully draws several narrative threads together and weaves a Bayeux Tapestry (!!) of events, following everybody from the weak King Edward and the powerful Godwin family to William the Conqueror as he plots to invade England. Starting years before the invasion, Holloway charts the internal politics of England as the kingdoms within, and the powerful families owning them, strive for power, backstab each other and ultimately end up bringing about their own destruction. 1066: What Fates Imposepromised to deliver a unique new take on a little-discussed era- the story of the Saxons, before the arrival of William the Conqueror. I’m always a sucker for a good history book: I love reading about times that have long since passed, and finding a fresh new take on a familiar story. Getting a book in the post never gets old! ![]() A quick thank you before we start to G.K Holloway, who sent me a copy of his book to review.
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