A random, impulse buy led me to check out this book on Amazon. I was not looking for anything in particular but I thought this covered a topic I did not know much about: The period of Post-Roman Spain.
This book is historical fiction in that it takes elements of the story we know and adds just enough to it to make it into something plausible.
Here, we have the story of Pelayo, bastard son of the Duke of Asturias. The plot weaves itself in a realistic way. One part that really felt forced was the women's escape from the Muslims, but it did not detract from the overall. It felt a little Hollywood-y, but fine.
I must say that I enjoyed this as what I see it: a gateway into doing some more research. The characters are interesting and realistic, with everyone seeing themselves as "the good guy."
The battle scenes are described well, from the perspective of a person who is present - so it is chaotic and unclear.
Now, having done some extra research, the events presented in the good as though they would happen within a few months-to-a-year took a decade. Small notch as a history nerd. However, not knowing that going in, I won't ding it.
How do I rate this? A 4 seems high but a three is definitely low. So I will settle on 3.5, which rounds out to 4/5. Generous but I can live with that.
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