Is it Monday already  What happened to Sunday  Well without much more delay, here is a great review on one of my all time favourites here at GA! Thanks for @ancientrichard for bringing this most excellent review!

Rothenian Tales
Mike Arram

Reviewer: ancientrichard
Status: Complete
Word Count: 787,516

Michael Arram's Rothenian Tales focus on events in a mythical central European state which the author tells us was inspired by Anthony Hope's Ruritania, though a good deal of the action takes place in other parts of the world, especially England where the series begins. It is wise to read the stories in the order in which they were written as characters introduced in one story usually appear in many of the later stories, which contain many references to earlier events.

Mike's story The Eskaton is actually the tenth story in the series, though it is not labelled as such. His story The Golden Portifor is also set in Rothenia, several centuries before the events in the other stories, but there is no need to read it first, it could be read at any stage and is well worth reading.

The saga begins around the end of the twentieth century, when  the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequent end of the Communist dictatorship in Rothenia  was still a fresh memory. In the first story, The Heart of Oskar Prinz, we are introduced to Rothenia in the company of a young English Schoolmaster, Will Vincent, whose life is transformed by an encounter with a young Rothenian aristocrat seeking restoration of the family estates. Later stories involve the revival of the Rothenian monarchy.  Much of the action is seen from the point of view of English school friends of the young king.

There is a strong supernatural theme in these stories. Just a hint in the early stories, the otherworldly component had become the dominant theme by the end. The supernatural can be tricky, but Arram handles it very well. While the righteous mostly triumph in the end, they don't have an easy ride. Characters are not black and white but realistic shades of grey. The 'good' characters have their lapses.  In Mike's world not even angels are entirely angelic, and, with the possible exception of a distinctly disagreeable mother in law, not even the most abominable are entirely beyond redemption though redemption is far from painless. Not many authors manage such a balance.

Mike says that he was more in love with the country than with any particular character, and I sympathise. I wish there really were a Rothenia, but I do have a favourite character. Henry Attwood, who appears as a schoolboy in the third story and is at the centre of much of the action in the later stories. Kind but not sentimental, brave but not foolhardy conscious of his own weaknesses with a well developed sense of humour,  he is the embodiment of balance and calm self critical reflection, the calm centre of the exciting turbulent world Mike has conjured up for us.

All the stories are exciting and extremely well written, the personalities of the principal characters are well developed and we see them grow as they progress through the stories of the series; these stories are about people one can believe in despite the extraordinary situations in which they find themselves.

The plots have multiple strands which gradually come together. As the main adventure progresses the individuals develop from naïve schoolboys into formidable men. Although the stories are linked by common themes and common characters,  Mike has something new to surprise us in every story.

Some of the Rothenian words are puzzling. I'd love to know how to pronounce 'Vwyszh'.

Category: Fiction  Genres:  Romance, Thriller/Suspense (+ more)  Tags:  young adult, europe, modern, school, ghosts, politics, fostering (+ more)   Rating: Mature