The Pale Horseman

Executive Summary: Another enjoyable Historical Fiction book that I probably would have liked a bit better if I hadn't already known what was coming from watching the TV show. I'm really looking forward to book three now.

Full Review
In retrospect I wish I had read this book before watching The Last Kingdom. I had no idea that a 10 episode season would cover two books. That's partly because they glossed over half of the first book, and partly because they cut a lot of detail out.

I had been hoping that much like the first book, I'd get a lot of extra plot and detail the show left out. While that is true, it was not nearly as much as the first book had. Much of the first season seemed to heavily focus on the major events of this book rather than the one it's named for.

The writing is excellent. The battles are interesting without being dragged out too long. The politics seem believable. Unfortunately for me though, none of the plot developments were a surprise. I knew what was going to happen. It kind of felt like a reread.

I read this while traveling to/from Las Vegas last week, so instead of reading it over a long stretch of time, I did it in two long sittings. As such, I'm not really sure what else to write. It all sort of blurred together a bit.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but mostly I'm looking forward to getting past the show and reading about what comes next.