OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "MYK: Prince of the Vends" by Donald E. Zlotnik.]

MYK: Prince of the Vends is an ambitious historical fiction novel by Donald E. Zlotnik fully deserving of the term epic. Set in second century Europe, this novel is an exploration of some of the vastly different cultures in the world at this time. Each of these cultures formed a thread of the storyline which were woven into an overall tapestry. Encounters include the titled Vends, Druids, Romans, early Christians, and Mongols among others.

Myk, is the youngest son of the chief of the Vend tribe. The Vend thread of the storyline follows him from age eight thru manhood. This story is not just about Myk. He is one of several primary characters whose lives largely are separated by distance and culture. These disparate storylines are eventually interwoven as the reader follows the unknowingly converging adventures of these groups, which include exploratory forces from the Roman Empire as well as Mongolia. The reader is shown many points of view from both primary characters and, occasionally, from the point of view of opposing tribesmen for a full 360 degree view of life in these times.

The attention to detail in addressing everyday items in this novel and what the lives of each of these people may have been like is impressive. There is obviously a lot of painstaking research that went into the building of each tribe and character in the story. In order to encompass so many points of view, the novel is necessarily written in the third person throughout. Although generally well written, I found it somewhat difficult at first to completely connect with the characters as a reader. However, as more detail and context was revealed, the characters became more sympathetic and the story really drew me in.

This novel is a collage of human nature. Depravity and greed are counterbalanced by generosity, courage, and ingenuity. Fear mongering and xenophobia are counterbalanced by tolerance and openness. There are some explicit scenes found within MYK, although I would not consider it unnecessarily gory but rather a part of the contextual setting. There are instances of mutilation, human sacrifice, rape, and child abuse. For this reason, I would recommend MYK: Prince of the Vends for mature readers only though these qualities are often counterbalanced within the storyline. The chief of the Vends, and by extension the Vends themselves, seem unusually civilized for their setting and background.

The author does a fascinating job of building up detail in the lives of the peoples described in MYK. Many of the larger transitions of point of view flowed well and are clearly indicated. The biggest challenge I had with this read is that the point of view of a character may transition to another within the same general setting or tribe from one paragraph to the next. The reader is left to determine that the switch was made from the context of the next few paragraphs. These transitions caused me to reread the preceding paragraphs a few times. An example of one of these awkward transitions may be found on page 380 of the pdf version. There were few typos in the text to distract from the flow. Additionally, an editing note was accidentally left in the pdf version on page 1103.

MYK contains many themes throughout. One theme contrasts slavery as an accepted practice of the time versus the collective benefits of freedom. Other contrasts are naturally drawn by the reader between the entitled, noble citizens of the declining Roman Empire and the innovative Vends. Religion also plays a key role in parts of the story, both negatively and positively.

There are a few additions I would personally like to see with this book. I am not knowledgeable in geography and related visualization. I would like to see a sketched out map with some of the key events from the novel indicated on it. I would also like to see a short summary of the history of the Vends and their role in the region. The only clues I recall as to their background are that they had migrated to evade Viking raids which were devastating their tribe and that the chief was avid in adopting advances made by other villages/tribes.

MYK: Prince of the Vends is a well written and researched book but not for the faint of heart. Readers should not be intimidated by the page count. This novel totals to 960 pages in a mass market standard paperback. The pdf version I read was 1123 pages. I would rate this novel three and a half stars, if half stars were permitted. I do believe this is a novel I will be revisiting again in the future and I feel that this novel does not deserve to be down-rated to three stars. Therefore, I rate this book at 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this novel to mature, adult readers who enjoy historical fiction, epics, multiple points of view, and history of early Germanic tribes, Vend tribes, Druids, Mongols, Romans, and/or early Christians.

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MYK: Prince of the Vends
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This epic novel is about PEOPLE! How they survived, lived, grew and developed during difficult times. It is a lesson in the development of Europeans. There was no special "privileges" for them. Men and women worked side-by-side under extreme conditions to raise their children to adulthood. The average lifespan in the 2nd century was less that 25 years old. Extensive research went into every small event. Now add 27 main characters, develop them and then decide how to deal with each of them as the pages turn AND make it realistic to the times. the task was monumental. I have written short 300+ page novels but there is nothing that can compare to writing an epic saga and NOT lose the reader and keep the storyline interesting enough to keep the reader turning pages until the end; There are characters you will instantly love, some you will pity and others as the pages turn you will slowly come to hate.

-- 20 Dec 2015, 04:28 --

With any good novel it is the characters and how the author the author handles them that make the storyline. Some authors "dump" a character's characteristics on the reader--I don't, I give the reader a little at a time surrounded with action and movement of the charter over the pages. It take a little longer to get to know them--but!--each of them has a purpose in the novel.

Characters
(M) MAIN, (S) SECONDARY

Boga, [bow-ga] (S): Dark eyes, reddish brown haired Alan girl, who was taken captive by the Mongols and her life was spared by Rud Khan. She is a twin to Plug. She developed a spin for arrows by twisting the feathers around the shaft. Boga had been severely traumatized by her capture and becomes an ‘Amazon’ warrior.

Boz, [bow-zzz] (S): He is a Vend youth and is the homosexual lover to Misko. He’s seventeen years old and when he refused to take a wife at fourteen years old, he was threatened by the druids for human sacrifice. His life is spared and protected by Lech, the village chief.

Brodar [Antoninus](S): A Saxon prince, who was sent as a hostage to Rome. He was sold by a devious politician and was turned into a sex slave for the emperor. He escapes and returns back to his tribe and supports the Vends. He is extremely handsome with all the genetics of the Northern Saxons; blond-hair, blue eyes and a large build, which made him very rare in Rome. He marries Kit, the daughter of Owain, a Celt chieftain from Northern Scotland. Brodar is fifteen years old at the beginning of the novel.

Bury [burr-ee](S): A great Vend warrior and father of Perun.

Czarny [zar-knee](S): Norwegian hound that is shipwrecked on the shore of the Baltic (Northern Poland) and is found by Myk and his father. She is a very large dog with black hair and a white chest patch. She has light blue eyes and is devoted to Myk.

Commodus (S): Emperor of Rome during the late part of the 1st century A.D. Extremely corrupt and perverted.

Dazyc [day-sic](S): Crippled Vend youth who suffers from a severe clubfoot and a cleft palate. He is nine years old in the story and is a genius.

Gueran [gahr-ruin] (S): Seventeen years old and the son of a German chieftain. He is captured and released by Valens. Red hair and light green eyes. He is a cousin to Brodar and becomes a companion to Valens. He becomes an early Christian.

Kosz [ko--uzh] (S): Druid priest. Pure evil. Sacrifices children to his wood gods and eats their flesh. He has fangs tattooed at the corners of his lower lip and tattoos around his eyes. He wears a robe made from the scalps of women and children.

Lech [lehc-kish] (M): Father of Myk. Vend chief and early scholar and thinker. He invents many new tools and establishes a number of innovative social laws. He’s forty-four years old. Blond hair and sky-blue eyes.

Myk [Mike](M): Main protagonist of the novel. He is thirteen years old at the beginning of the novel and turns fifteen when the story ends. Strawberry-blond hair and sky-blue eyes. Very athletic. Born in the winter (modern Christmas Day.)

Misko (S): Homosexual male warrior. Becomes the chief of the wood scout sect. Very brave warrior and lover of Boz.

Norca (S): Secret Roman Christian and mother of Valens.

Pertinax (S): Emperor of Rome for eighty-six days. Grand Prince who is too good for his times and is murdered. 193 A.D.

Perun [pear-run](M): Son of Bury. Inseparable childhood friend of Myk’s. Strawberry-blond hair and dark green eyes. Very handsome and intelligent. He is captured by slave traders and turned into a eunuch by Alan slave traders for sale to a Turkish harem.

Plug (S): Alan youth and brother of Boga. Captured by the Mongols and becomes a companion to Rud Khan. Dark blue eyes and black hair. Fourteen years old at the beginning of the novel.

Rud Khan (M): Mongol prince and explorer. He has mapped more than four thousand miles of the lands west of the Great Khan’s empire. He is captured by the Vends and becomes a major factor in placing the Vends ahead of the other Germanic tribes by teaching them how to make the composite bow and teaching them to ride horses and use stirrups.

Rus (S): Eldest son of Lech and Slava, brother of Myk’s.

Septimus Severus (S): African pro-counsel and commander of the province of Pannonia. Friend of Pertinax and the eventual successor to the throne of Rome.

Slava (M): Mother of Myk and wife of Lech. Brilliant inventor and doctor. Sets the standards for the whole village in hygiene and medicine.

Thaddaeus (S): Descendant Christian from the Apostle Jude. Companion of Valens and early missionary. He’s a language genius and establishes the church in the Vend tribe. Twenty-two years old. Dark complexion Hebrew.

Valens (M): Roman tribune and early Christian. Son of Norca and Vopiscus. He owns an Arabian stallion named: Windrunner. Designs defenses for the Vend village and trains the Vends in farming and engineering. (Was captured by the Vends after the battle in the valley.)

Var (S): Sixteen-year-old married brother of Myk’s.

Vopisus (S): Retired Roman legionnaire. Operates a highly successful Arabian breeding farm. Very wealthy. Verona, Italy is where he has established his horse farm and practices the Christian religion at great risk.

Wiatr [wee-a-ter](S): Childhood friend of Myk’s and his wife at the end of the novel.

Wolos [whoa-los] (S): Myk’s sister. She is cheerful and a joy to be near. Her husband commands the Rainbow Tower.

Great, insightful review! You made a very good point about the POV switches where it's not always apparent that there is a switch. If you have to reread sections for clarity, it can be frustrating.

Nice and insightful review! I am glad you enjoyed the book despite it (the awkward transitions).

Thank you, gali and bookowlie. I enjoyed how people across different cultures were able to connect and form relationships despite all their differences. I liked the book enough that I was not overly frustrated with the transitions.

I'm a bit lost here, Anonanemone. You mention problems in the transition of characters that confused you? In particular on page 380 (pdf.) Are you referring to the death of Misko? Or the conversation between Rud Khan and Boga? If that confused you maybe something as a simple double-space would solve that to show there was a break and switch between locations and characters? (Maybe 3 asterisks?)

With different reading settings it is difficult to follow where you are at exactly in the novel. As for the editing data left in the novel--that one has me completely lost---I cannot find it in ANY of my copies.

Fantastic review. Your writing style is very engaging. It's good to know that the book is a slow build and eventually sucks you in. It says a lot that despite the large amount of pages, you would read this book again.

I've spent some time considering the points you made reviewing the epic saga MYK. The problem you brought up is a common one with sagas. It was reading the fifth version of Homer's "Iliad" where I could finally make his character transitions, but when I did the story finally fell in place. There were two major problems I had to overcome--first was the Greek names; second was the "rhythm" of his writing as translated from the Greek.

You were well into the saga (page 380) when you pointed out confusing transitions and being forced to have to re-read passages to understand what was occurring in the novel. That is a common problem when the reader does not identify with the characters, especially when there are a LOT of characters at play late in a saga.

There are a few tricks we use to help the reader; first--we break the saga down into sections; The VENDS, The ROMANS, The MONGOLS, etc. so each group of characters can be built into recognizable individuals--and hopefully the reader can identify with a few of them. Second--we "pair up" characters; Rud Khan, Plug and Boga--Myk and Perun--Lech and Slava--Valens and Thaddeus, Misko and Boz, etc. Using that trick when a reader identifies with one character, they'll remember the other.

Sagas are extremely difficult to write and keep the reader turning pages and when they do putt he book down--to get they anxious to pick it up again; Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE, Renault's "The Persian Boy," Eckert's "That Dark and Bloody River" are all examples of excellent sagas that use the tricks I mention above.

-- 22 Dec 2015, 05:12 --

I've been a student of human behavior for most of my life. I have been curious as to WHY certain humans have huge impacts on the human race and how major events occur. In many cases a single person has an idea that grows. Northern Europeans were the first to form an elected leadership and it had to of started with one person. In MYK, the village leader Lech and his wife Slava are very advanced for their times. They believe in all people being free, democracy and both of them have exceptionally open minds. There has been some tongue-in-cheek questioning that they were too advanced for their times. Really? Actually the Greeks were highly advanced if you compared them to Southern Africans in 300BC. Lech and Slava serve very realistic positions for that time frame--it is entirely possible they would seek each other out and listen to new ideas. During every phase of the human experience there are those who move the mass forward; in MYK--THEY are those people. The more the reader is aware of human history, the more the saga makes sense. The Mongol Hordes of the 13th century did not just appear along the European borders--it took a lot of small contacts like Rud Khan's before that occurred.

There were a couple of areas where the transition issue was. Most of the transitions really are well marked and I did not have trouble with them. Unfortunately I think I wrote down the wrong page number on that particular reference I made. I will have to go back and check again It is possible that my confusion may have lain in areas where there was a one-line break but no asterisk, like page 113 or one the other similar breaks and my eyes may have skipped over the break without that stronger reference of the asterisk. If I find the actual reference I was thinking of, I will let you know. The break I was thinking of seemed like it had happened when Myk was outside of the village and next thing I knew the text had gone back to Slava inside the village.

One of the other spots was on 863 where the paragraph moves from Lech in the village to Perun in the pass without a space break.

The note I referenced was in red text: "[***note: the Suebi army broke up in an earlier chapter.***].

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Thank you, blue mel! I meant what I said about it making ot onto the future reread list.

"Anonanemone," there is NOTHING more frustrating for an author then when a story editor or a copy editor make changes to a novel that's screws it up! Or we send a "perfect" manuscript to kindle and somehow their "printing system" messes it up--like spacing or titles will be off center etc. Those things are out of the author's control!

As for typos and misspelled words--they are MORE frustrating to us authors than they are to the reader--many times we "read over" misspelled words that good copy editors catch. (ensure/insure)

I'm happy you enjoyed the read...I cannot express the "labor of love" that went into that saga--but I had to prove to myself that I could write one as good as the "other" guys.

What an ambitious book. Congrats to the author for a 4 star review. I can only imagine all the hard work that went into it. Great review! You did a wonderful job describing the book's structure and themes.

Sounds like quite the tome. Your review was very enjoyable to read anonanemone. A book like this takes me about two weeks to read. That's a lot of time, but the book sounds interesting enough for me to try it.

Cee-Jay--based on your reading history--MYK is right down your alley. Reading a saga is like writing one--the characters come to life and draw you in. I spent a YEAR just thinking about the characters and we became friends before I wrote the first word!

Thank you, Tanaya and Cee-Jay!

Sounds like a well-researched and well-written book. Great review! Congratulations to Donald E. Zlotnik for such a wonderful book!