This would probably not normally be my thing, but the prose and dialog are so rich and alive that I have probably never felt more transported to the setting of a piece of historical fiction. I'm not the biggest history buff, so I think being kind of a blank slate on most of these people and circumstances helped matters, but you can tell it's so well-researched and planned that it could be all true, down to every royal word behind closed doors. The writing is dense and challenging, so ultimately very rewarding of the attention required to keep up with the mind of Cromwell, where each paragraph comes at you, almost like a riddle to be solved.

Reviewed on Sunday, November 19th, 2023, 6:30am.

Woof. Really tough, but rewarding, to read this. Ultimately I am very glad to have done it, as it paints a much fuller picture than, I guess what you could call the caricaturization of the Donner Party, where you can really see the humanity, heroism, and toughness of those involved. The book itself is engrossing and well-written, doing a great job of delicately walking the reader through the events in the Sierra Nevada, but also the chapters leading up to the party being snowbound paint a detailed picture of generally how brutal life on the frontier was, and how closely we modern Americans should be holding our loved ones, automobiles, and wireless routers.

Reviewed on Sunday, October 29th, 2023, 9:00am.