Review: What I loved about this story may seem kind of obtuse. The author was telling a story, to be sure, but they wrote it in such as way that it wasn’t storytelling: it was a story happening. For me, it’s an important component to utilize dialogue and narrative portions strategically, especially in this kind of tale, and I felt the author did so. There is historical fact, but also incorporated fiction.
Descriptions are good to place the reader in a period in time, but too many details may seem tedious. But if a reader isn’t a Scottish or British history aficionado, then too few may seem vague, failing to create a visual. The author got the right balance for me. I began to read, and though it was a bit stuttered at first, it hit a noticeable stride and flowed along thereafter.
Although there were some scenes and wording I thought awkward, in the whole, they didn’t detract from “A Kingdom’s Cost” but in some ways, historical fiction, is a “safe” medium. Schooled readers might be knowledgeable and comment negatively on aspects that don’t meet what is generally known or recorded in textbooks and the like, telling a contemporary story based on an important personage I think would receive more questions or objections regarding interpretation as people tried to compare to their personal experiences.
If you’re a fan of sweeping historical fiction with romantic side adventures and descriptions, “A Kingdom’s Cost” a great book as a beginning to what should be a grand series.
Description: “Eighteen-year-old James Douglas can only watch, helpless, as the Scottish freedom fighter, William Wallace, is hanged, drawn, and quartered. Even under the heel of a brutal English conqueror, James’s blood-drenched homeland may still have one hope for freedom, the rightful king of the Scots, Robert the Bruce. James swears fealty to the man he believes can lead the fight against English tyranny.
The Bruce is soon a fugitive, king in name and nothing more. Scotland is occupied, the Scottish resistance crushed. The woman James loves is captured and imprisoned. Yet James believes their cause is not lost. With driving determination, he blazes a path in blood and violence, in cunning and ruthlessness as he wages a guerrilla war to restore Scotland’s freedom. James knows he risks sharing Wallace’s fate, but what he truly fears is that he has become as merciless as the conqueror he fights.”
- Kindle Edition
- Available at Amazon and Smashwords
- Published April 28th 2011
- ASIN: B004YKVXR6
- Source: Author
Author Bio
Born in the US to a Scottish father and American mother, J. R. grew up in both the US and Scotland, attended university at the University of Texas at Austin and now lives in the US Pacific North West.
She writes both Scottish historical fiction and (non-Scottish) fantasy.Website: http://jeannetomlin.blogspot.com
Red Haircrow Review 
Thanks for the review! I do appreciate reading what someone thinks of this story.
No problem, thank you for the opportunity.