C
Caesar
Guest
I’m not a big fan of fantasy literature (with the exception of Tolkien, one of the greatest authors of all time in my opinion), but a couple years ago I started reading the Oath of Empire series by Thomas Harlan, only recently picking it up again. I finished the last book in the series last night. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, Oath of Empire is a fantasy and alternate history which takes place in the mid-600s AD. In the books, the Roman Empire is still standing (in two halves- the Eastern and Western Empires) and fighting a war against Persia. The characters are a mix of historical and imaginative. Harlan apparently did a large amount of research into for his series, especially in regards to military and the theology of ancient religions like Zoroastrianism and Greco-Roman paganism.
While Oath of Empire isn’t among my favorite novels, the first three books were a pleasure to read. Thomas Harlan has the talent of being able to turn a sentence into a 10-page chapter, so the level of detail and the complexity of the plot are excellent, while still being fast-paced. The fourth, and last, book was quite disappointing. The story-line almost completely changed, as did a good number of the characters. There were many loose ends left hanging at the end, and I don’t even think there was a proper resolution. Had the book not been marketed as the last in the series, I would have thought that there should be at least one more coming.
Has anyone else read this series and, if so, what are your thoughts on it?
While Oath of Empire isn’t among my favorite novels, the first three books were a pleasure to read. Thomas Harlan has the talent of being able to turn a sentence into a 10-page chapter, so the level of detail and the complexity of the plot are excellent, while still being fast-paced. The fourth, and last, book was quite disappointing. The story-line almost completely changed, as did a good number of the characters. There were many loose ends left hanging at the end, and I don’t even think there was a proper resolution. Had the book not been marketed as the last in the series, I would have thought that there should be at least one more coming.
Has anyone else read this series and, if so, what are your thoughts on it?