When Hagan was in his first battle at just 15 years old, he witnessed the massacre of his people, the Burgundars, by a combined Roman and Hun army. Included in the death toll were his mother and the man that, until the eve of the battle, he believed was his father. Over the next 20 years, Hagan became a man without a home, traveling across Europe as parts of different armies and mercenary groups, before being sent by the Romans to Geneva, where the last Burgundars had gathered under a new king. While the new king was once Hagan's friend, something about the new position of power has corrupted him, and Hagan must do his best to stay on the king's good side, and thus stay alive.
This book was obviously well researched, and includes some really well-written battle scenes (some of which stretch on for 50+ pages). And it's nice to see historical fiction set in this largely ignored time period. However, there wasn't much depth to the characters, making it hard for me to fully care about them when their lives were on the line in the aforementioned battles. Read it if you want to read battle scenes, but find something else if you want something with a bit more meat.
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