I was unaware of the history of Slaine when I bought this novel. Slaine is a series and character of the 2000AD British comic company.
I was hoping for lots of Celtic bloody head-bashing. What I read was a very disjointed tale with not nearly enough action to make up for the faults. I have gathered from another review that this novel pulls in years worth of Slaine comic tidbits, characters and plots. I believe the aim was an episodic novel, but it just didn't seem to pull together. Subplots and side characters came and went. The entire second act left me scratching my head as Slaine went from bloodthirsty berserker to a rover, including time as a mercenary caravan guard (ok) to a farmer (say what?) completely dropping his desire for vengeance until well into the third act.
The third act perked up a bit, with the arrival of Ukko, the untrustworthy dwarf sidekick. The plot threads started to gel and the story found direction.. and then the novel just ended!
So, I am curious to read the sequel novel, because of the cliffhanger and growing potential, but I won't rush to read it.
This one has popped up on my radar a bit but I so far haven't given it a try. I may wait until I hear from you about the sequel.
ReplyDeleteI won't rush to read it, either, lol !
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