OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Year of the Horsetails" by R. F. Tapsell.]

Bardiya, a Saka soldier, is a fugitive from the Kagan's army. Fleeing for his life, he is given shelter among the Devich people who live west of the mountains, but his new, peaceful existence is short-lived.

Set in the Middles Ages, when the steppes of central Asia are ruled by fierce nomads, The Year of the Horsetails tells the story of a momentous year when the Tugars, on the trail of the runaway, find their own way to the Devich land and, unable to resist such a rich prize, determine to conquer it.

The Saka faces his own struggles during this time; he needs to overcome the distrust and suspicion of his new acquaintances before he can convince them of the extent of the threat to their lives and lands. And, if he can gain their trust, he just might be able to use his knowledge of the Tugar's warfaring tactics to teach the Devichi how to defend themselves against the ferocious enemy.

The story grabs the reader's attention from the very first page of the Prologue and keeps it throughout the book as the tension mounts and you want to know what happens next. It is written in the third person, primarily from Bardiya's perspective, and cleverly maintains the sense of his mysterious past; explanations to the reader unfold slowly through his own words as he relates his experiences to his new friends.

The book is very well written and the author has created strong, interesting characters that I found believable. The descriptions of the landscape, from the vast grass lands, to the mountains and the great forests are very well drawn and I'm not surprised to learn that Mr Tapsell spent time travelling in this part of Europe and Asia. His study of the history of this land and its people is also evident as well as his extensive knowledge of the nomad armies, their military tactics, weaponry and siege warfare.

The Horsetails are the symbol of the Tugar army and the title of the book is reinforced by the fact that the book is split into four main sections, each representing one of four seasons of this year; this gives a sense of time passing as well as a feeling of inevitability: the story will end when the circle of the year is complete.

I really enjoyed this book and I am glad I had the chance to read it, as it is set in a time and region that I am particularly interested in, as well as being a really good story. It is skilfully written, with excellent background knowledge and a clever plot.

However, I do have a couple of criticisms which make me hesitate to give this the four stars I feel it deserves. On the ebook, the map at the beginning is too small to make out the location of the action, which is a bit frustrating, as it might just as well be left off; and there are a number of typographical errors which spoil the flow of the narrative and which I didn't expect in a book of this calibre.

In spite of this, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who can overlook the typos and just enjoy an engrossing tale.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.

***
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Thank you for your helpful comments on this book. The new edition is based on an OCR scan of the original 1967 one, and there have been some inevitable errors. Since the publication of this review, updates of the e-book have taken place which have attempted to recify these errors. Readers are invited to rectify the publisher Cnposner Books of any outstanding errors by e-mail.
A full size version of the map can be found at the publisher's website. A Kindle version of the same map, hopefully large enough to be legible, is avilable on request from the publisher by e-mail.

Thank you for the update. I have visited the publisher's website and found the map very useful. It's good to be able to place the location of the story and the scale of the distances covered by the marauders and defenders.
I wish you every success with this superb book.