Scimitar

Robin Raybould

Tetrabiblion Books/CreateSpace

ISBN:978-0-61-5433165

372 pp., $18.95

Reviewed by Ron Smyth

Scimitar is the first work of fiction by Robin Raybould, a specialist in Renaissance Literature and unsurprisingly is set at the time of the rebirth of classical learning in Italy during the middle of the fifteenth century. It mixes books, mystery and history set against the backdrop of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 as seen through the eyes of Eduardo Ferrucci, a young man working in a bookshop in Florence who becomes involved in the machinations of state security. Books of course are hand copied scrolls rather than printed works. It ought to be full of drama and color and excitement, clashing armies, clashing religions and clashing ideas but somehow it never comes alive.

This is partly a lack of focus on any particular storyline or character. Ferrucci may be the primary character but the tale is not told exclusively from any single point of view. There are many scenes where he does not even appear and we hear from other characters entirely, Eduardo’s lover, his lover’s father, his lovers sister, his enemies or even mere exposition by the ‘author’. Too often, what could be dramatic scenes are given to us as mere exposition.

Nor is the storyline that of lovers with the military and political history simply as a backdrop, nor the story of the intellectual rebirth of Classical Greek learning, nor the mystery of the secret text found in a Greek codex but instead bits and pieces of all of them that never become a unified whole. Added to these problems is the typical one of a first author who wants to put too much of his research into the book even when it adds nothing to the story.

We really don’t need, for example, not one, not two but three quotes, complete with footnotes no less, from wedding speeches, even if they did arouse the interest of Cosimo Medici and cause him to found the Platonic Academy in Florence. That merely takes away from the narrative drive.

A rather ponderous writing style more suited to an academic dissertation doesn’t add any excitement either. I quote:

“Fortunately, he would have a day’s notice for the attempt after the prisoners left Bursa and he decided that he would have to have two boats, one stationed on each side of the Bosphorus of which that on the European side would most likely make the interception, going as it would be, in the opposite direction.”

While there is nothing grammatically wrong in that sentence, it is not flowing prose. I’d call this book a decent first effort, but with plenty of room for improvement. The author might try some Raphael Sabatini to see how it’s done.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:  I have a material connection because I received a review copy that I can keep for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was not expected to return this item after my review.

Copyright 2011, Ron Smyth

The Triumph Of Deborah

Eva Etzioni-Levy

Penguin Group

ISBN 978-0-452-28906-2

Reviewed by Agnes Dee

The Triumph of Deborah begins with the events of Judges 4: King Jabin, who reigned in Hazor, had cruelly oppressed the Israelites. Deborah, a Judge (or leader and prophetess) was led to give God’s word to Barak: collect an army, and defeat Jabin. The events in the book of Judges then unfold. But because this book is Biblical fiction, they provide a small part of the story.

Ms Etzioni-Halevy then creates a romance revolving around not so much Deborah, but the military leader Barak, who in the author’s story takes from Hazor back to his home two of King Jabin’s daughters. One daughter has a Queen for a mother, and the other born from a slave. Barak desires one, and beds the other. One princess hates him for the death of her father and husband, the other loves him.

The author reveals a few surprising aspects of Torah law, and reveals through one character a lovely example of the woman worth far beyond rubies. Each of the characters come to a new maturity through their trials, especially Barak, who eventually discovers the heartbreaking consequences of his own callouseness. Ultimately, each character in the story is with the partner best for him or her.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION
I have a material connection because I received a review copy that I can keep for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was not expected to return this item after my review.