The Shadow of Ararat (Oath of Empire) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This should not diminish that this book is entertaining. It's just something of a usual brand of literature that just quite didn't grap my attention strong enough.

Mainly we follow 4 characters (Maxian, Dwyrin, Thyatis and Ahmet), though the story jumps from viewpoint to viewpoint willy-nilly. The characters however are cliched and in general not believable. Maxian - a healer - suddenly turns necromancer without a single moral scrupple (he agonizes a lot over other things, but never about becoming a necromancer). By the end of the book he has become a great sorceror/necromancer, though the book doesn't bother explaining why this is so. Dwyrin is a young mage of no interest in this story - probably a sequel character. Thyatis is a great woman leader - she constantly wonders why her troops follow her - after reading the book, I still wonder (a very unrealistic character). Ahmet is another mage, spending the entire book doing nothing with his magic until the end where he suddenly turns out to be a great sorcerer. There are many more huge gaping holes in the characterization (for all the major characters).

One very irritating habit of the author is to gloss over important events - thus we will read that "they charge" and then shift viewpoint, so we never what happens when they charged (only the result, later). The same thing happens with emotional scenes or dialogues - the story gives the initial dialogue - then the story jumps, and later we get to understand that such and such have become lovers. It's a first novel, so a few of these episodes can be excused, but it's frustating to read (and seems lazy of the author).

As alternate history, the story isn't much good: the reader is given no reason for the world (or why the West Roman Empire survived). The story occasionaly mixes up "historical facts"(unintentionally), though this is not too bad (even Turtledove does that). The worst part is probably Julius Caesar - who is not the least bit credible (the only thing remotely Caesarian about this character is his dalliance with females). I shudder to think what the next book will do to Alexander. All in all, this story might as well have been placed in any standard fantasy world - it certainly has very little resemblance to the real Roman world other than the names and descriptions of clothing (no scene without a description of the clothing - its a little excessive).

So why do I give it 2 stars? Well, the battle scenes are ok (though a bit cinematic) when they don't jump. Some of the plot lines are interesting (though others are downright boring). Having bought this book at 50% discount I don't feel too bad about buying it - though I won't buy any of the sequels.

If you have enough patience with his verbosity (or if you're a big Tolkien fan) to get to the last third of the book, you'll be amply rewarded. His battle scenes are the best in literature. He loses his verbosity and cuts to the very heart of the action in these pages.

Another strong point of Harlan's is his ability to weave many, intriguing plots into a cogent, coherent and engrossing whole. Not all of them converge, which is a pleasing step away from the totally expected in modern literature. The intricacies of his plots will give fans of Roberto Eco something to delve into. The plots and characters are many, but easy to keep up with because they're all involved in most interesting events.

You finish the book dying to know what will happen next. This is one series I'll be eagerly anticipating. This is an impressive beginning for a man that will undoubtedly become a household name. Buy the book, you'll be impressed.