Richard Herley

I thought the first book in the trilogy was brilliant, the second good, and this third one above average.

The story opens in a similar vein to the previous novels, featuring nomads and villagers, but it soon shifts towards the world of priests and theology.

Paoul, the main character, is likable enough, as are several others, like his love interest Yseld. Their uncertain relationship is my favourite element in the story.

On the most part, though, I had difficulty liking the plot. We have a long and detailed section about the priests’ teachings, which is beyond boring. I ended up skipping over this lengthy part, as I did several paragraphs here and there that amount to nothing of interest, which do little to move the story forwards.

Another reviewer comments that the story loses the feel of being in the Stone Age once Paoul is deep among his studies, and that it feels more like science fiction or a fantasy novel. I agree with this assessment. It loses the authenticity of the first two books and the early chapters of this one.

All three novels in the trilogy feature too much static detail, such as lists and lengthy descriptions. Certain characters are over-described, too, which ironically makes them less vivid than if you give them one or two features when they’re introduced. It’s much more effective to filter in a character’s appearance, ideally through action, rather than bombarding the reader with seven or eight adjectives in a static description, which is harder to remember.

We also have numerous instances of ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’. To state that ‘General Teshe was plainly stunned’ is blatant telling. Another character is described as ‘waiting nervously’. Why not show his nervousness? What did the general do that made it plain he was stunned? This sort of approach gives the reader dry information, not vivid images.

‘The Earth Goddess’ would’ve benefitted from more dialogue. The author is good at writing realistic dialogue, so it’s a shame he didn’t include more to break up those long sections of third-person narration.

The closing pages would certainly have benefitted from more dialogue and action. Without giving anything away, the ending is largely a summary, comprised of Paoul musing on what will happen and then hearing what has happened, followed by a bland account of what follows. None of this is dramatized, leaving the reader (this one, at least), bitterly disappointed with the conclusion.

Not only I am disappointed with the ending stylistically, the main characters’ outcomes are also dissatisfying. This would’ve been easier to accept if what happened was made exciting or frightening or suspenseful, creating gripping drama, but no. It left me feeling cheated. I can accept sad ending, happy endings, tragic endings, open endings, not getting the ending I want, etc., but not an ending that fades, leaving a bland impression and me thinking, 'Is that it?'

On the positive side, I wouldn't feel cheated if I didn't care about the characters, so the author did a good job in evoking my sympathies.

Like with Book Two in the trilogy, ‘The Earth Goddess’ has its good moments, but it also has a lot of missed potential.… (más)

This is in the most part an engaging and exciting story. One man against many is always an appealing concept in literature and film alike.

This is set when bears were still dwelling in Britain, and a bear family play a crucial part in this action novel.

The main character Tagart is a bit of a John Rambo type – quiet but dangerous. I was rooting for him all the way through, which shows off the author’s skills at creating strong characters that readers can sympathise with. All characters have merit of one sort or another.

The plot revolves around Tagart wanting revenge on a village containing over 100 people after a group of them massacre his nomadic tribe.

About halfway through, we have a complete shift in momentum. This is necessary for the overall story, but I admit to being disappointed by the sudden change. Tagart’s inventive plans to take down individuals or groups of villagers was enticing, and I felt it was a shame this was put on hold for so long.

Not that the change of location is bad. It is, in fact, clever plotting that adds depth to the overall story, plus it creates a much more dangerous threat to Tagart come the story’s ending when he faces a power far greater than the combined forces of the villagers.

The dialogue exchanges are good, and I like that the language is contemporary. I’m not a fan of archaic language in historical novels, as it slows the narrative pace down with its unnatural feel to the modern reader. None of that goes on here.

It’s a pity dialogue exchanges aren’t more frequent. At times, the narrative gets too bogged down with detail. A lot of this detail is superfluous and should’ve been reduced or cut altogether.

Detail for detail’s sake is never a good thing. It’s as though the author wanted to convey as much of his research as possible. This doesn’t makes for good reading, and it’s for this reason I’ve rated ‘The Stone Arrow’ four stars, not five. Lists of items in a room, or types of food in a forest, are boring. Such static description written at length is prose at its most passive.

On the most part, though, this is a fine novel. I’ll certainly read the next book in the trilogy.… (más)

This seems to be a fairly well known book by a fairly unknown author, which is a pity as this has to be one of my favourite offerings in the genre.

I remember seeing the film years ago called No Escape, I enjoyed it at the time and when it came on tv a few weeks back I looked it up and realised it was based on a book.

The penal colony is actually an island on the coast of Britain, a place where the most dangerous of prisoners are sent to live out their sentence until death. Routledge is one of these, he has been convicted of murder and transported to the colony of Sert. Here he discovers an internal political structure as the villagers struggle for power and the ultimate control of the island. Couple this with an ongoing escape plan and you have a melting pot of human emotions in a world that you can easily get lost in.

Think Lord of the Flies meets Papillon, and you have the general gist of the novel. I'm sure this will be one of the few books that I reread one day.… (más)