What if there never was a “United” Kingdom and the island of Britain remained a mish-mash of squabbling, mutually antagonistic tribes of saxons, celts and norsemen? What if the industrial revolution happened in a United Africa and the Americas remained a largely unexplored and lightly inhabited wilderness?
That is the premise of Pagans and the author takes it seriously. The Saxons of “Today” are bearded, tattooed axe wearers with braided hair who drink mead and get their fast food from a venison bar.
Against this background we have a police procedural in the mould of “North Shore” – a cop from out of town without jurisdiction but having a formal role as an observer.
There are some gruesome crimes to solve that rapidly become linked to government and big business circles and things get murkier and more dangerous as we go along. There is plenty of action and a lot of dark humour – not against the setting, which the author plays absolutely straight, but in the interactions of the world weary cops, of whatever tribal background.
Theres never a dull moment here, the world and the characters within are realistic, interesting and surprisingly relatable.
A great story that stands on its own merits but does successfully tease the sequel that I’m now greatly looking forward to.
If you want to know what the characters of Asterix the Gaul might be like evolved 2000 years then this is the book for you!