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Pagans
Britain, 2023� only in this Britain, the Norman Conquest of 1066 never happened. An uneasy alliance of ancient tribes � the Celtic West, Saxon East and an independent Nordic Scotland � has formed, but the fragile peace is threatened by a series of brutal murders. Members of a mysterious ‘Fisher� cult are being killed one by one. The gruesome case brings together two mismatched police detectives: Captain Aedith, daughter of the powerful Saxon leader, Earl Lod of Mercia, and Inspector Drustan, from the beleaguered � and mistrusting � Celts. As the threat rises, the detectives must put aside their personal differences to follow the trail, even when they uncover forces behind the killings that go deeper than they could ever have imagined � into their own murky pasts. Set in a world that’s far from our own and yet captivatingly familiar, Pagans explores contemporary themes of religious conflict, nationalism and prejudice in a smart, witty and refreshingly different police procedural that keeps you guessing until the very end.
292 pages, Hardcover
First published February 27, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
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March 17, 2025Oh my GOD I enjoyed this book.
The concept is pure genius. No Norman Conquest, massively alt history. Europe is mostly an Islamic caliphate, but Pan-Africa is the global power. No British colonising, so no USA. Pathetic rainy basket/charity case backwater Britain is divided into Norse Scotland, Saxon Central/East, and Tribal (Celtic) Wales/South west. And although it's set in a contemporary now with computers and drones, society is heavily Old English / Celtic still. with knives, ritual tattooing, blood feuds etc.
This is bloody great if you know anything at all about Old English. The police officer calls her car Roadfucker, and there are some fabulous lines along the lines of 'are we all reciting from the same saga here, boys?' and lots of delightful little tweaks and flourishes in the language. The mystery is super rooted in the imagined world, with its racial and cultural issues. The relationship between Mercian Aedith and Tribal Drustan is fantastic, as is the sense of immanent gods (very much plural). Basically it manages to be both a great alt-history and a really good mystery thriller and the two are inextricably linked.
Enormously enjoyable, written with great verve and nicely paced. I really hope there will be more!
The concept is pure genius. No Norman Conquest, massively alt history. Europe is mostly an Islamic caliphate, but Pan-Africa is the global power. No British colonising, so no USA. Pathetic rainy basket/charity case backwater Britain is divided into Norse Scotland, Saxon Central/East, and Tribal (Celtic) Wales/South west. And although it's set in a contemporary now with computers and drones, society is heavily Old English / Celtic still. with knives, ritual tattooing, blood feuds etc.
This is bloody great if you know anything at all about Old English. The police officer calls her car Roadfucker, and there are some fabulous lines along the lines of 'are we all reciting from the same saga here, boys?' and lots of delightful little tweaks and flourishes in the language. The mystery is super rooted in the imagined world, with its racial and cultural issues. The relationship between Mercian Aedith and Tribal Drustan is fantastic, as is the sense of immanent gods (very much plural). Basically it manages to be both a great alt-history and a really good mystery thriller and the two are inextricably linked.
Enormously enjoyable, written with great verve and nicely paced. I really hope there will be more!
Read
March 3, 2025This is a riot. Set in a Britain of 2023 where the Norman Conquest never happened, it's about Saxons and Norse and Celts all with their own little kingdoms, bickering and oppressing each other, on a shitty little island in northern Europe that no one cares about. Without unification, there was no colonisation - and so the Mughal Empire and an EU-type federation of African states are the world's superpowers. And amid this we have a police procedural with riotously imaginative worldbuilding and characters, culture and religion beautifully depicted and a general sense that the author is having an amazing time. It is a bit soppy about Christianity - seen here as a minor 2023 cult - and a little forgetful about Islam and Judaism, but I enjoyed it a lot.
February 6, 2025
‘Pagans� is a fast-paced, high-octane crime novel which spans genres in an interesting and unique way. It is set in a 21st century London, if the population were all Pagan; the world is well crafted and thought out, with fascinating parallels drawn between our own cultural responses to small ‘cult-like� religions, and this world’s response to a thinly-veiled Christianity cult. Overall, while this is not at all my usual book of choice, I felt invested in the plot and the characters, and enjoyed reading this debut novel.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an advance reading copy.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an advance reading copy.
April 11, 2025
3.75*
Rather enjoyed this police procedural set in a 21st century where the Norman conquest never happened. The result, a world defined by Saxons, Celts and other tribes, is very different to our world and yet so recognisable. You can see how the author had fun portraying this and extrapolating how the resulting political landscape would look.
Rather enjoyed this police procedural set in a 21st century where the Norman conquest never happened. The result, a world defined by Saxons, Celts and other tribes, is very different to our world and yet so recognisable. You can see how the author had fun portraying this and extrapolating how the resulting political landscape would look.
March 6, 2025
Cannot stress enough how great a time I had with this book! It is such a joy to pick something up with little idea of what to expect and have such a great surprise. Well thought-out plot with deft handling, great dialogue, likable characters and a really well-realised alternate history. Pagans was great fun. It handles its setting seriously but with ironic nods to the reader and some memorable jokes worthy of Pratchett. I kept telling everyone unfortunate enough to be talking to me while I read it about the latest clever thing he'd weaved into the world. The alternate setting is thought-through, exciting, and has plenty of space to grow. Loved it, gobbled it up and will be accepting no criticism and I already can't wait for more.
I was given this copy by the publisher but will be getting my grubby little hands on real edition ASAP
I was given this copy by the publisher but will be getting my grubby little hands on real edition ASAP
March 28, 2025
A cracker. Futuro-Celtic style police procedural with an edgy, grungy feel. Rivers of London fans, take note. Crime lovers with an open mind will enjoy it too.
March 27, 2025
Taken for what it is - so, not holding it being a crime novel against it - five stars, excellent, SO IMPRESSED with the attention to detail in the worldbuilding (they don't have the term 'serial killer', presumably because it was coined by the FBI who don't exist in this setting!) and my gods these cops need defunding, but as characters they were all fantastic.
I would happily devour a dozen sequels if someone will let Henry write them!
I would happily devour a dozen sequels if someone will let Henry write them!
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February 16, 2025Did not grab me at ALL. Great concept, looked genuinely fascinating, and seemed fully and thoroughly researched, but I struggled my way through fifty pages and just couldn't get a grip on it. An immediate 'dramatis personae' always puts me off (because there are going to be way too many characters and guess what), and I found the historical/cultural and genre juxtapositions really jarring. On principle, I won't give a star rating to a book I didn't finish, and I suspect this is probably very clever, if you stick with it.
Not for me, though.
Not for me, though.
February 28, 2025
This one wasn't for me I'm afraid. Everything felt too over complicated and forced. Shame. It had a good thing going for it.
March 8, 2025
Everything about this worked for me. The world building, the alternative history, the crime/ mystery / thriller aspect. Left me wanting more of this world!
Vaguely reminiscent of another 5 star favourite - the acts of the Assassins by Richard Beard
Vaguely reminiscent of another 5 star favourite - the acts of the Assassins by Richard Beard
March 14, 2025
I'm a sucker for alternative-history whodunnits, and I love ancient British history. In this book, a Saxon cop and a Celtic cop team up to catch a serial killer against the backdrop of the latest British unification summit.
The crime plot with its political elements is well done, the characters are strong and sympathetic. The alt-history is fun and often witty, with the world dominated by the "Pan-African Unified States" and Britain a developing nation, heavily culturally colonised.
It's a bit difficult to follow the exact timeline -- it has to involve Christianity (and Judaism?) being heavily suppressed by the Romans, to the point that hardly anyone in the present day has heard of it, but Islam is present, with a European Caliphate and a Mughal Empire as secondary powers...and how any of that leads to the failure of the Normans to conquer Britain is anyone's guess. The worldbuilding of the alternative present is deft and detailed, though, cleverly twisting the familiar rather than making up new stuff. (Though a reference to Lycra by name raised an eyebrow.)
Generally huge fun, though, and if you liked Cahokia Jazz or The Yiddish Policemen's Union or Dominion, it seems a fair bet you'll enjoy this.
The crime plot with its political elements is well done, the characters are strong and sympathetic. The alt-history is fun and often witty, with the world dominated by the "Pan-African Unified States" and Britain a developing nation, heavily culturally colonised.
It's a bit difficult to follow the exact timeline -- it has to involve Christianity (and Judaism?) being heavily suppressed by the Romans, to the point that hardly anyone in the present day has heard of it, but Islam is present, with a European Caliphate and a Mughal Empire as secondary powers...and how any of that leads to the failure of the Normans to conquer Britain is anyone's guess. The worldbuilding of the alternative present is deft and detailed, though, cleverly twisting the familiar rather than making up new stuff. (Though a reference to Lycra by name raised an eyebrow.)
Generally huge fun, though, and if you liked Cahokia Jazz or The Yiddish Policemen's Union or Dominion, it seems a fair bet you'll enjoy this.
March 2, 2025
Pagans is a riotously fun novel, bucking genre convention to create something wholly original. I was gripped from the very first page, fully immersed in Henry’s timely story of an alternative world.
Rich with new history, fascinating characters and a propulsive plot, I couldn’t put Pagans down, desperate for answers which Henry delivered with expertise.
Pagans is a novel that’s hard to define: crime, fantasy, a reimagined history that creates a vaguely dystopian world, that manages to feel contemporary and very timely. Basically, it’s very good. Set in a world where the Norman conquest never happened, we have Celts, Saxons and the Norse living on the a non-unified, divided island (the one we know as Britain). I’m crossing all my fingers that this is the start of a series of books because I want more of all of it.
Rich with new history, fascinating characters and a propulsive plot, I couldn’t put Pagans down, desperate for answers which Henry delivered with expertise.
Pagans is a novel that’s hard to define: crime, fantasy, a reimagined history that creates a vaguely dystopian world, that manages to feel contemporary and very timely. Basically, it’s very good. Set in a world where the Norman conquest never happened, we have Celts, Saxons and the Norse living on the a non-unified, divided island (the one we know as Britain). I’m crossing all my fingers that this is the start of a series of books because I want more of all of it.
March 15, 2025
An interesting concept with good research but nothing mind blowing, a pretty standard crime set up, with decent but predictable outcomes.
February 11, 2025
Absolutely amazing. A crime novel set in a world where the Normans never rose to prominence, creating a 2023 radically different from the one we inhabit. This leaves everything open for a follow up and I really hope that happens soon!
February 12, 2025
If I was a fan of crime novels I would have given this a five star. Considering I don't much like crime novels at all a four star means I thought it was very good lol.
It's an alternative universe premise, not a fantasy one. Even though everyone is 'pagan' there's no real magic; instead it's a different take on prejudice, racism and acceptance while police forces from different cultures have to work together. I kept expecting Drustan (an officer from a downtrodden minority group) to say "They call me MISTER Drustan" because it has echoes of In The Heat Of The Night
A really good read and also I think would be enjoyed by people who "don't read fantasy"
It's an alternative universe premise, not a fantasy one. Even though everyone is 'pagan' there's no real magic; instead it's a different take on prejudice, racism and acceptance while police forces from different cultures have to work together. I kept expecting Drustan (an officer from a downtrodden minority group) to say "They call me MISTER Drustan" because it has echoes of In The Heat Of The Night
A really good read and also I think would be enjoyed by people who "don't read fantasy"
March 23, 2025
Huge shout out to the book I just finished, Pagans by James Alistair Henry
Fascinating and clever alternate universe thriller, in a world where the Norman Conquest never happened and the modern British Isles are a backwater mess of feuding clans patronised by Pan-African first-worlders (they come here to build schools or experience fascinating primitive culture)
It's a modern world with smartphones etc, but British culture is quite different in clever ways (murder for revenge is admired, everyone has tattoos but erasing or covering one is taboo (unless you're trans, then it's revealing not denying your true self))
Our two protagonists are senior police detectives (one a Saxon woman from a political family, with an adopted teenage son, one a Celtic man from over the border who's lost touch with his goddess, here to advise on cross cultural matters)
The plot involves catching a serial killer and unravelling a complex political plot
It has clever commentary on modern life (definite shades of comment on nationalist violence, teenage internet radicalisation etc) and a very dry sense of humour
It ends with sequel bait which I am well up for
Surprisingly low on squick given it's a serial killer story, but content note: mention of child abuse, religious abuse, religious persecution
Fascinating and clever alternate universe thriller, in a world where the Norman Conquest never happened and the modern British Isles are a backwater mess of feuding clans patronised by Pan-African first-worlders (they come here to build schools or experience fascinating primitive culture)
It's a modern world with smartphones etc, but British culture is quite different in clever ways (murder for revenge is admired, everyone has tattoos but erasing or covering one is taboo (unless you're trans, then it's revealing not denying your true self))
Our two protagonists are senior police detectives (one a Saxon woman from a political family, with an adopted teenage son, one a Celtic man from over the border who's lost touch with his goddess, here to advise on cross cultural matters)
The plot involves catching a serial killer and unravelling a complex political plot
It has clever commentary on modern life (definite shades of comment on nationalist violence, teenage internet radicalisation etc) and a very dry sense of humour
It ends with sequel bait which I am well up for
Surprisingly low on squick given it's a serial killer story, but content note: mention of child abuse, religious abuse, religious persecution
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April 8, 2025Police procedural murder mystery in current day alt-hist Britain where the Norman conquest never happened. Loved it, although I suspect I missed a lot of historical nuance. Aedith is a terrific strong female character, the kind that men don't often write. Her strength is as much brains and emotional intelligence as force, and also I don't know what she looks like; there was no emphasis on her physical appearance at all (I do skim description so I might have missed it, but I suspect it just wasn't there). And Drustan is a lovely surprise, never doing what I expected and with hidden depths. Something of a cliff hanger ending though.
April 11, 2025
The worldbuilding in this is relentlessly good.
March 31, 2025
Well written. Original concept. The map/characters� list/glossary are somewhat slowing down the read.
Overall enjoyable.
Overall enjoyable.
March 20, 2025
I love me some pagan historical fiction and this was very unexpected!
Modern day paganism, no Norman conquest here! A gritty crime thriller set in completely divided Kingdoms of our grey little island. Fairly heavy on racial and cultural issues but it only builds the suspense and intrigue. Main characters come from all across the isle, overcoming prejudices to solve a murder.
It’s a really interesting flip on society, and I found it a captivating read. Now I guess I just sit and wait for a sequel?!
Modern day paganism, no Norman conquest here! A gritty crime thriller set in completely divided Kingdoms of our grey little island. Fairly heavy on racial and cultural issues but it only builds the suspense and intrigue. Main characters come from all across the isle, overcoming prejudices to solve a murder.
It’s a really interesting flip on society, and I found it a captivating read. Now I guess I just sit and wait for a sequel?!
Want to read
January 10, 2025"Britain, 2023� only in this Britain, the Norman Conquest of 1066 never happened. An uneasy alliance of ancient tribes � the Celtic West, Saxon East and an independent Nordic Scotland � has formed, but the fragile peace is threatened by a series of brutal murders."
February 27, 2025
There's a fascinating sub-genre of science fiction known as alternate history. The idea is that at some point in the past, history diverged from reality, resulting in a different present. Perhaps the most acclaimed of these books is Kingsley Amis's The Alteration, set in a modern England where there had not been a reformation - but James Alistair Henry arguably does even better by giving us a present where Britain is a third world country, still divided between Celts in the west and Saxons in the East. Neither the Normans nor Christianity have any significant impact.
In itself this is a clever idea, but what makes it absolutely excellent is mixing in a police procedural murder mystery, where the investigation is being undertaken by a Celtic DI, Drustan, who has to work in London alongside Aedith, a Saxon reeve of equivalent rank, who also happens to be daughter of the Earl of Mercia. While you could argue about a few historical aspects, it's effectively done and has a plot that drives along dramatically with a lot more than a few lives at stake. It was one of the most un-put-down-able books I've read in ages.
On top of the police procedural, cultural differences and politicking between the different regions there is also the complexity of a minority cult known as the Fishers who some think are criminals, others peacemakers who are trying to achieve a united island. It's one of their number, nailed to a tree, who is the murder victim that starts it all off. Although I loved the characteristics of the different cultures, they felt a touch stereotyped - all Saxons seemed to live on lumps of venison, for example, while the Celts all still wore torcs. It seemed that the whole country was preserved in cultural aspic. If you think of how much things have changed since, say, 1066 in clothing, hairstyles attitudes over the centuries, these seemed fixed here. Surely they would have changed more over time?
It was also hard to pin down exactly where the divergence from our history was supposed to have occurred. There was no Norman conquest, so that put it pre-1066, but the Christian bible appeared to be the same as is now, putting it after the Council of Rome in 382. However, this was a Britain without a history of Christianity, so this probably puts it before Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597. And what happened to the earlier Celtic Christianity - all forgotten? This is fun speculation if you are into history - but somewhat misses the point of the book, and risks breaking the butterfly on the wheel.
What really makes Pagans is the juxtaposition of the cultural and tribal aspects that hark back 1500 years with smartphones and drones. It's a similar appeal to urban fantasy, where it's the clash between ordinary modern life and magic that has such an impact. In fact I have seen this book described as urban fantasy - but apart from a couple of brief appearances of a mysterious person which may be fantasy element, there is nothing here that deviates from solid, science fiction, alternate history. The book's a delight: read it!
In itself this is a clever idea, but what makes it absolutely excellent is mixing in a police procedural murder mystery, where the investigation is being undertaken by a Celtic DI, Drustan, who has to work in London alongside Aedith, a Saxon reeve of equivalent rank, who also happens to be daughter of the Earl of Mercia. While you could argue about a few historical aspects, it's effectively done and has a plot that drives along dramatically with a lot more than a few lives at stake. It was one of the most un-put-down-able books I've read in ages.
On top of the police procedural, cultural differences and politicking between the different regions there is also the complexity of a minority cult known as the Fishers who some think are criminals, others peacemakers who are trying to achieve a united island. It's one of their number, nailed to a tree, who is the murder victim that starts it all off. Although I loved the characteristics of the different cultures, they felt a touch stereotyped - all Saxons seemed to live on lumps of venison, for example, while the Celts all still wore torcs. It seemed that the whole country was preserved in cultural aspic. If you think of how much things have changed since, say, 1066 in clothing, hairstyles attitudes over the centuries, these seemed fixed here. Surely they would have changed more over time?
It was also hard to pin down exactly where the divergence from our history was supposed to have occurred. There was no Norman conquest, so that put it pre-1066, but the Christian bible appeared to be the same as is now, putting it after the Council of Rome in 382. However, this was a Britain without a history of Christianity, so this probably puts it before Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597. And what happened to the earlier Celtic Christianity - all forgotten? This is fun speculation if you are into history - but somewhat misses the point of the book, and risks breaking the butterfly on the wheel.
What really makes Pagans is the juxtaposition of the cultural and tribal aspects that hark back 1500 years with smartphones and drones. It's a similar appeal to urban fantasy, where it's the clash between ordinary modern life and magic that has such an impact. In fact I have seen this book described as urban fantasy - but apart from a couple of brief appearances of a mysterious person which may be fantasy element, there is nothing here that deviates from solid, science fiction, alternate history. The book's a delight: read it!
March 14, 2025
'...dozens of conspiracy theories here, all stirred up together. And I don’t mean “The Pan-Africans never went to the moon� stuff, there’s mad stuff: wifi summoning dark elves, the Wall being a big hologram put up by the Norse, the High Table tracking agitators by putting microchips in their honeycakes—�
‘I happen to believe in that one,� said Aedith, her face solemn. [loc. 2270]
The setting is modern London -- but London the capital of the Kingdom of England, in a Britain that is classed (in the Pan-African Collective Intelligence Services Factsheet) as a 'developing nation'. This is a world where the Norman Conquest never happened; where there's more of an East/West than a North/South divide in Britain; where Celts, Saxons and the Norse maintain an uneasy peace, with a Unification Summit about every five years; and where there are vapes, phone games, disaffected youths making music out of right-wing rhetoric, and warpaint for sale in the supermarket.
Pagans begins when a prominent Celtic negotiator is found gruesomely murdered, on the eve of the latest Unification Summit, by a Nigerian couple on honeymoon. (They've eschewed 'native guides' to wander into the primeval woodland of Epping Forest, where they discover a tattooed Celt leaning against a tree, then realise that that's real blood.) Aedith Mercia, daughter of Earl-Elector Lod Mercia, is a Detective Captain at the Woden's Cross Station. When the victim is identified, she has to work with Detective Inspector Drustan, a Celt who is more than he initially seems, to establish a motive and avert a diplomatic crisis. And she'll have to step on a lot of toes to do it.
The worldbuilding is superb. The Pan-African Unified States, the Mughals and the European Islamic Caliphate are this world's superpowers; the Nordic Economic Union, the Tsarist Conglomerate, the Han and the North American First Nations are also mentioned. Britain, meanwhile, gets Mughal students on their gap year building playgrounds, and the poor wear castoffs donated by Pan-Africans 'to help starving whites through the long cold winters'. Britain was never a colonial power, but a quarter of the Metropolitan Police Force (including Aedith's sergeant, an avid player of 'the game where you walk around collecting sacred creatures') is of African descent. While religion doesn't play a major role in Aedith's life, Drustan's faith is important to him -- and there seems to be a murderer hunting down followers of an obscure monotheist cult known as the Fishers.
I enjoyed this a great deal: it reminded me in some respects of , though here the alternate history encompasses the whole world. (MapsÌýÌý-- the versions in the Kindle edition are rather small...) The police-procedural aspect is soundly constructed, the characterisation is great, and the style is immensely readable. I'm looking forward to the next in what I hope will be a long series.
April 2, 2025
Britain is a small backwater, populated by three separate kingdoms: the largest portion the home of the Saxons, the Indigenous Celts to the west, and the mighty Norse, aligned with Nordic Economic Union, in the Democratic Republic of Scotland. When a Celt is found murdered in London, Detective Captain Aedith Mercia is required to work with Drustan of Dumnonia, a Detective Inspector with the Tribal Police of the Celts, even though he has no remit in London at all. Working uneasily together, along with some of Aedith’s officers, the pair quickly come to learn that there is a serial killer at large, and a far broader conspiracy afoot to derail the latest attempt to unite the disparate nations of Britain� This is a very interesting alternate history, a time when there was never a Roman Empire, never the rise of Christianity, and no Industrial Revolution in the west (it took place on the African continent instead); as a result, Britain in the 2020s is very much an unimportant part of the world. The reader is plunged directly into this world, and it takes a little while (and constant referral back to the cast of characters, maps and glossary) to figure out what is going on, but once one does, this is a very satisfying tale. Unusually for a novel, there is actually a bibliography appended at the end, for those of us who might want to dig deeper into the real histories of the peoples described in the book. I really enjoyed this, and was happy to see that the ending hints at a possible sequel; I certainly hope so, anyway! Recommended.
March 22, 2025
This alternate-history buddy-cop story follows a Saxon and Celtic detective duo navigating precarious international politics as they investigate a string of murders, its victims all linked to an obscure cult that worships a demigod who died by crucifixion. I loved the intricacy of the world PAGANS crafts, as I'm always a sucker for worldbuilding that mixes historical and modern cultural motifs with abandon, and laughed out loud a few times at the playful comparisons that Henry draws between our timeline and this fictitious world—in both universes there are controversies about how rich people from Russia (well, Novgorod) are buying up property in London, but in PAGAN's world there's only one Indian/Mughal restaurant in London worth visiting (which, as far as I'm concerned, makes that world a dystopia). This also allows PAGANS to explore what British nationalism looks like in an alternate setting, telling an all-too-familiar story about extremism and the radicalisation of young people.
However, the novel's length and elaborateness (it features a dramatis personae, a map, and a concluding glossary) also made it an occasionally overly complex read, with the worldbuilding pulling focus away from the characters. PAGANS ends by setting up a sequel, but despite the reservations I have, I'll be excited to see where this story heads next.
However, the novel's length and elaborateness (it features a dramatis personae, a map, and a concluding glossary) also made it an occasionally overly complex read, with the worldbuilding pulling focus away from the characters. PAGANS ends by setting up a sequel, but despite the reservations I have, I'll be excited to see where this story heads next.
March 27, 2025
Interesting enough read.
The ‘Norman Conquest of 1066 never happened� in the first line of the book description is a little misleading �. Would be better to say the ‘Roman Conquest of 43AD never happened�, and even that doesn’t fully account for the altered global historical timeline�.but appreciate that’s nudging into ‘spoiler� territory :-)
Appreciated the character names, map and glossary - which would have driven mad if this ever made it into a ‘e-reader/kindle� edition�. But as a Hardback I’ll let it slide.
There’s a very short description in this ‘alternative history� Island of Sheppey in Kent �. And this is definitely a case of ‘the more things change, the more things stay the same!!� The only difference between the alternate and real is the name � I certainly won’t be visiting the Isle of Sheppey soon!!! (It tickled me so much that I actually looked up the author to if he came from Kent �. Alas no, but I suspect he may have taken a wrong left turn driving out of London in the past :-)
Other than a few typos scattered throughout the book (a proofreader - human, not bot/AI - should have corrected�.maybe if this makes it to a republished edition?) which annoyed me, it’s an ok read.
Presumably we can look forward to a more fleshed out tale for Edric in Eastmarsh? Or even more from DI Drustan??
The ‘Norman Conquest of 1066 never happened� in the first line of the book description is a little misleading �. Would be better to say the ‘Roman Conquest of 43AD never happened�, and even that doesn’t fully account for the altered global historical timeline�.but appreciate that’s nudging into ‘spoiler� territory :-)
Appreciated the character names, map and glossary - which would have driven mad if this ever made it into a ‘e-reader/kindle� edition�. But as a Hardback I’ll let it slide.
There’s a very short description in this ‘alternative history� Island of Sheppey in Kent �. And this is definitely a case of ‘the more things change, the more things stay the same!!� The only difference between the alternate and real is the name � I certainly won’t be visiting the Isle of Sheppey soon!!! (It tickled me so much that I actually looked up the author to if he came from Kent �. Alas no, but I suspect he may have taken a wrong left turn driving out of London in the past :-)
Other than a few typos scattered throughout the book (a proofreader - human, not bot/AI - should have corrected�.maybe if this makes it to a republished edition?) which annoyed me, it’s an ok read.
Presumably we can look forward to a more fleshed out tale for Edric in Eastmarsh? Or even more from DI Drustan??
March 7, 2025
Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the publisher in return for an honest review.
I'll admit that when I first started reading Pagans it was a bit of a slog. There was so much to wrap my head around in the worldbuilding, and I had to refer back to the maps, cast of characters, and glossary a lot during the first third of the book. But I'm glad I stuck with it.
The author has created an amazing world with incredibly in depth worldbuilding. This world is very different, both within Britain itself and the world at large. And yet, for all its differences, some things never change. Racism is still rife within this society, it simply has different targets. Politics is still as messay as always. And religion is still as divisive. And that is, in my opinion, the cleverest part of this story. In a world so different from our own, humans continue to be the same old humans - complex, conflicted, and in some cases, corrupt.
All in all I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good murder mystery, or who is interested in history, religion, or politics and wants to spend some time in an alternate Britain.
I'll admit that when I first started reading Pagans it was a bit of a slog. There was so much to wrap my head around in the worldbuilding, and I had to refer back to the maps, cast of characters, and glossary a lot during the first third of the book. But I'm glad I stuck with it.
The author has created an amazing world with incredibly in depth worldbuilding. This world is very different, both within Britain itself and the world at large. And yet, for all its differences, some things never change. Racism is still rife within this society, it simply has different targets. Politics is still as messay as always. And religion is still as divisive. And that is, in my opinion, the cleverest part of this story. In a world so different from our own, humans continue to be the same old humans - complex, conflicted, and in some cases, corrupt.
All in all I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good murder mystery, or who is interested in history, religion, or politics and wants to spend some time in an alternate Britain.
April 6, 2025
I discovered this book through KJ Charles' review, picked it up on impulse and didn't regret it. It's a crime mystery playing in modern times but set in an alternate history of Britain (and consequently the world). I'm not that firm on british history but I enjoyed the setting and world building nevertheless. Also, the murder mystery plays out well and the characters are fabulous. I'd love to read more in this world.
March 23, 2025
Unfortunately I DNFed at about the quarter mark. It could very well be wrong book at wrong time, but the sheer number of unfamiliar names and characters was a huge struggle to overcome and greatly hindered my ability to keep up with the narrative. It was much easier to just call it a day and pick up a book that didn’t tax my brain quite as much as this one did.
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