I hope you have been enjoying the series on The Lord of the Rings this past week.  I started off with a post on my own memories of when I first read the trilogy and followed that up with a piece on what separates Tolkien’s work from other novels.  I could leave it at that, but I would like to write one more post on how our perceptions on the three books have changed since the films have come out, and what the legacy of The Lord of the Rings is likely to be, since the three film’s incredible success at the box office.  I will also try and look ahead, at other fantasy novels that may one day be considered classics and take their place alongside The Lord of the Rings at the top of the genre.  This will come out on Wednesday.

Roman Mask

An update on my own novel Roman Mask.  I still haven’t managed to work out what has happened to the three missing reviews from my blog tour which were supposed to come out earlier this month.  However, one review did come out on Patty Woodland’s excellent site Brokenteepee.com earlier this week.  Patty is a city girl who remarkably decided to leave that life behind and become a goat herder in Montana!  She runs a site from Montana where she writes about and reviews books from many different genres.  She is respected for her honesty and reviews on her site are well sought after.  You can read her whole review here. However, if you want the abridged review of my novel, this is what she says:

“The book is exceptionally researched and very well written. I was drawn in from the very first page. Ancient Rome comes to life in all of its glory and menace. It’s a weighty book but one that read quickly because it is one of those books where you just get lost in the story and time flies by. Despite the dark subject matter and the gore – war is gory, there is nothing to be done about that – I didn’t want the story to end. I just love books that bring a world to life like this.” 5 Stars!

It is most gratifying to see how well received my novel has been, and it is such a great feeling to receive such a positive review from someone the other side of the world.  Hopefully the three missing reviews will come out in time and they will be equally positive (who knows?).  I will always seek to find websites and newspapers that want to review my work, I am not afraid to submit my work to this close scrutiny (although of course it is scary!!) so if you know of any other sites that may want to review my novel, please let me know!