Hello Fellow Journeyers,
Our next tale is historical fiction, a genre I rarely find myself in because I find that this genre usually sacrifices storytelling satisfaction or adventure for historical accuracy. That being said, I thought the low-fantasy elements and Robin Hood-esque type narrative sounded interesting.
What's the story about: Altdorf is a multiple POV, historical fantasy story centering around a retired Hospitaller, his giant friend, a witch, a young man trying to initiate a rebellion, and a despicable Duke. The main plot is the burgeoning of fighting back against the suppression forced by the Duke.
To begin with, Swift proves early on that he is a comfortably sufficient writer. The details, descriptions, and character actions and dialogues are all executed effectively and with purpose. This was an adventure tale that was easy to get in to and while the historical fiction aspect seemed to limit some of the more interesting aspects of the story (particularly with the witch, who has a truly compelling connection to the world), there was enough to be entertaining all the way through. But I have to ask, was there any reason to write this as historical instead of fully fantasy!? I haven't read enough good Robin Hood fantasy stories and I felt like the way that it was going should have made for a great magic-induced Robin Hood tale with lots of action and adventure but instead the story was limited to "Germany this," and "Hospitaller that," and a lot of Christianity bashing. If it was educational, I guess I missed it; but as a story it just made for a fairly flat experience.
That being said, I found the characters were sufficiently interesting but I was honestly confused as to why the main character and one side character were in the positions they were. There is the main character, Thomas, who reminded me of the stalwart protagonist that is experienced, lethal, and has a tough past that he's gotten through. But there is a side character who is obviously meant to play as the true "Robin Hood" type. To the point that Seraina (the witch, who is also my favorite character in this book) knows that Noll (Robin Hood) is essential for the ways that the future will play out. And there isn't much explanation or purpose as to why we would follow Thomas when Noll is the one who sounds like he's more important! More than anything, this plot point just confused me more than didn't make sense. It kind of just seemed like a lost opportunity but since there is a second half I must finish, I'll see where it leads.
Which brings us to the main problem with reading Altdorf by itself: it is truly HALF a story. More than 50% of the book is taken up with setting up events that will play out later on. Since I have the complete story (The Forest Knights) on my tablet, it felt like it made sense that this was the first chunk (between 25-33%), but as its own story, it wasn't until 60% of the way through for actual tension and plot progression to take place! So I guess my main gripe with this story is, don't read Altdorf thinking it will be fully satisfying in any way. There is definitely a swelling of tension and release but it truly is a middle point, not an end.
★★☆ 2.5 Stars - Altdorf is an enjoyable enough first half of a larger story. This is a fun historical adaptation of someone (William Tell?) that's not Robin Hood, but reminds you of Robin Hood more often than not. While I enjoyed the reading experience, I hope that the second half (Morgarten) utilizes everything presented and purposefully moves along considerably. The writing was good, but it felt like it was spinning wheels for a long time until the last third where things finally heated up. Interested to see where it goes and think that you truly should NOT read or listen to Altdorf by itself and just buy The Forest Knights book or audiobook. It will just be frustrating unless the complete story is read.
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.
Rating system:
★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book and found nothing wrong with it; it is Essential Reading at its very best!
★★★★✫ 4.5 Stars: It was nearly perfect. I really loved almost every aspect of it, but a few things kept it from being a personally perfect favorite. This is definitely Essential Reading!
★★★★ 4 Stars: It was great; very worth reading and satisfying for the most part; highly recommend.
★★★✫ 3.5 Stars: I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but it was lacking in certain areas.
★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.
★★✫ 2.5 Stars: I loosely enjoyed it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but had many issues.
★★ 2 Stars: It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.
★✫ 1.5 Stars: I finished it, but it was a chore to get through.
★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.
*I round up based on the system on Goodreads.