Love Reading review: "Insurrection" by Robyn Young

I love a good solid, weighty book, with a story that is sweeping and has depth and the scope for you to get lost in. And, if it is part of a longer tale, especially a trilogy, then what could be better?

This is a weighty novel, coming in at over 600 pages and is the first in a trilogy telling the story of Robert The Bruce as he grows from a young boy into a young man.  I enjoy historical novels of this nature and have read a few by Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory and the likes and was very excited to dive into the pages.

It is very well written with exquisite attention to detail and a host of interesting characters; I am not familiar enough with this period of British history to know which were the authors’ creations to add flavour and plot to the real people. The battle scenes were vivid showing the brutality of combat in stark detail and the descriptions of weapons and armour were detailed.

I liked the authors’ portrayal of Robert and wanted to enjoy the story. However, I am still unsure how, but I got very lost in this story. The sheer size of the cast was daunting and the story appeared, to me, to leap backwards and forwards, suddenly jumping years at a time. I simply got lost. I couldn’t follow which Lord was which or what clan was aligned to which family. Having to go back over the previous pages became a nuisance.

Despite putting in the time and effort, I only managed to get as far as page 234 before I had to, regrettably, call time on this book and consign it to my own personal book history.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 2.5* out of 5.0*

PUBLICATION DATE: "Kingdom" the third in the "Insurrectio Trilogy" will be published in June 2014 (anticipated)

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