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Jump to navigationJump to searchTheoderic by Ross Laidlaw (view source)
Revision as of 10:57, 5 September 2020
, 10:57, 5 September 2020no edit summary
Laidlaw warms to his subject very early on with plenty of historical footnotes and most pages are also heavy with historical facts, information and data. One thing I did appreciate was that the majority of chapters start with a quote.
Amongst the schoolmasters at this elite place of learning, ridicule is also present. Theoderic is often referred to as the ''pet barbarian.'' We can see that no amount of classical education will cancel out his dreadful genes, his nationality. An example of bullying amongst his peers is given after which Theoderic reflects to himself that ''Now he knew how Moses must have felt when, having led his people to the Promised Land, he alone was not allowed to enter.'' But he's a smart boy and he learns quickly.
Theoderic has a trusty side-kick, Timothy. At times, reading the book, I felt that the lowly but intuitive Timothy dealt with awkward, sometimes dangerous situations better than his educated master. Less hot-headed. But then, he has nothing to lose. Unlike Theoderic (who he calls Deric throughout). Both men have a mammoth task in trying to gather lawless, marauding men together for a common purpose. And Laidlaw takes the reader through many of these situations, detail by detail. And there's the odd map or two to leave the reader in no doubt as to what part of Europe this book centres on.
And unsurprisingly, there's quite a number of pages at the end of the book devoted to Appendices, Afterword, Author's Note and a fair few pages of notes. This is definitely for history and historical fiction fans.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a coy copy to the Bookbag. We also have a review of [[Justinian: The Sleepless One by Ross Laidlaw]].
If this book appeals then you might like to try [[Sacred Treason by James Forrester]].
