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irongold's review against another edition
5.0
A very good book. Definitely my favorite Sutcliff, even with the sad ending.
oxeyed's review against another edition
5.0
I didn’t think I was a huge fan of YA or historical fiction, but it’s hard to resist the appeal of a book as beautifully crafted as this one. I wish I’d discovered this fifteen years ago when I was in the intended audience and in the habit of rereading books to shreds.
thistlechaser's review against another edition
1.0
This book got really good reviews on here Goodreads, including from a friend, so I gave it more of a chance than I usually do.
In it a slave/gladiator won his freedom, and then got mixed up in... something. I hadn't been interested in the story from the beginning, and at that point I just gave up. I really didn't care about the politics that the story was dipping into.
It seemed like a fine story, but I just don't enjoy historical fiction. I even tried pretending it was some fantasy world instead, but the author typed out the Irish accent, so that didn't really work.
On top of my lack of interest, the author used semicolons incorrectly (and used as lot of them). It was just so distracting. Things like: He walked down the road; and bought some wine.
In it a slave/gladiator won his freedom, and then got mixed up in... something. I hadn't been interested in the story from the beginning, and at that point I just gave up. I really didn't care about the politics that the story was dipping into.
It seemed like a fine story, but I just don't enjoy historical fiction. I even tried pretending it was some fantasy world instead, but the author typed out the Irish accent, so that didn't really work.
On top of my lack of interest, the author used semicolons incorrectly (and used as lot of them). It was just so distracting. Things like: He walked down the road; and bought some wine.
margaret_j_c's review against another edition
5.0
I am fully aware that I just read this book in September and that reading it again is adding nothing to my reading challenge and that the whole of life is just a shout in the void but I had a very good reason:
Conory and his cat
Conory and his cat
missmeddler's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
loxleyhall's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
eshink117's review against another edition
3.0
"Sutcliff writes with an amazing capacity for detail, creating descriptions of the landscapes and minutia of Phaedrus’s world that help to paint a vivid picture of the action and story going on. I had never heard of this book before browsing through the books that were on sale this summer on The Folio Society’s webstore. I really enjoyed the read, and was a little surprised to see that it is categorized as a story for children due to the amount of violent content and the rather bleak ending. This is another high quality edition from The Folio Society, as has come to be expected, and I find it sits in its place nicely with the other books from their catalog." - https://thepastduereview.com/2018/11/07/mark-of-the-horse-lord-review/
mallorn's review against another edition
adventurous
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
sadie_slater's review against another edition
3.0
Reading Gwyneth Jones put me in mind of Rosemary Sutcliff, and as I'm off to Argyll on holiday soon I thought I would re-read The Mark of the Horse Lord, which is set in Argyll. Unlike most of Sutcliff's novels set in Roman Britain, Phaedrus, the protagonist of The Mark of the Horse Lord, isn't a Roman soldier; instead, he's a half-British ex-gladiator, son of a Greek wine merchant and a slave woman, who lived his whole life as a slave until being freed after winning a fight in the arena. By coincidence, he discovers that he is the exact double of Midir, the exiled prince of the Dalriad tribe, and is persuaded to impersonate Midir and travel beyond the northern boundary of the Empire to lead a rebellion and win back the kingdom of the Dalriads from Queen Liadhan, who has seized the throne and imposed the old matrilineal rule of the Earth-Mother in place of the patrilineal worship of the Sun-God. The plot is not dissimilar to The Prisoner of Zenda, really, as Phaedrus tries to take over another man's life and relationships and learn how to be a king.
This isn't my favorite Sutcliff; Phaedrus is a less sympathetic protagonist than the various members of the family in the Dolphin Ring saga, hardened by the years in the arena as he is, although he does become more sympathetic as the story goes on. I also don't find the society of the Dalriads, beyond the frontiers of the Empire, as interesting as the Roman society depicted in the books set inside the Empire, and, revisiting it now, I also feel that the conflict between the matrilineal and patrilineal societies is probably more nuanced than the book really suggests, and I wish we had got to see Liadhan's point of view as well as Phaedrus's.
This isn't my favorite Sutcliff; Phaedrus is a less sympathetic protagonist than the various members of the family in the Dolphin Ring saga, hardened by the years in the arena as he is, although he does become more sympathetic as the story goes on. I also don't find the society of the Dalriads, beyond the frontiers of the Empire, as interesting as the Roman society depicted in the books set inside the Empire, and, revisiting it now, I also feel that the conflict between the matrilineal and patrilineal societies is probably more nuanced than the book really suggests, and I wish we had got to see Liadhan's point of view as well as Phaedrus's.