The Burning Stone by Jack Whyte
Despite being a fan of both historical fiction and fantasy, somehow I’ve made it through my prolific reading “career” without ever having read any Jack Whyte. When this popped up on Netgalley, I didn’t need much persuading to take it on for review. So what is the appeal that has made him such a popular author, and is this a worthy piece of his impressive portfolio?
Well, yes and no.
Whyte is definitely an author at the top of his game. This book is well written, with interesting, fleshed out characters and he appears to have done his homework on the historical period, which is set in roughly 380 AD/CE Britain, still under Roman occupation.
However, I have something of a problem with this one. It’s a prequel, and I haven’t read any of the other books, so it feels like an info dump at times, and at others I feel like it would have made more sense if I had read the books,which is probably true. There is a lot of dialogue in the book. A hell of a lot. It starts nicely with an exciting scene where a robbery is foiled, and sets the scene for the rest of the book.
The main character Quintus Varrus is a good one, the kind of guy most guys would like to be. Despite being born with a leg deformity that denies him entry to the legions, Varrus lets nothing get in his way as he strives to succeed in life. A chance encounter in London sees him meet the love of his life, but also sees him go into hiding in exotic Colchester, where he becomes a smith.
While living undercover, his smarts and drive bring him to the attention of what amounts to a Roman secret military policy, the Mithratic Order, whose purpose is to combat corruption in the legions, and they sign him up. There is way more to the story, so I won’t spoil it for you, but this is the gist.
As I said before, there’s a ton of dialogue, and at times you’ll feel like some of this could be cut out to push the story forward a bit faster. The action scenes are good and seem realistic, and the author brings the world his characters inhabit to life in an impressive fashion.
I found the best bits were whenever Cato was the focus. He’s an ex-soldier and member of the Order, and he has his own agendas, which add a bit of spice to the occasion. Whenever he’s around, expect to clean some fecal matter off your fan.
All told, I liked the book. Despite the amount of “exposition”, the story isn’t necessarily dull, but mostly engaging. I’ll definitely check out more of the author’s books, now that I’ve had a taste, so watch this space (if I ever get through my TBR).
3.5/5
