Godforsaken
By Steven Shrewsbury
Behler Publications, 2005
Reviewed by William I. Lengeman III
(First published in Apex Digest)

As I read through the first chapter of Godforsaken, I couldn’t help being reminded of Jack Whyte’s impressive series, The Camulod Chronicles, another work that examines the struggles between Rome and the early Britons.

But it’s not long before Shrewsbury’s book leaves this territory behind and strikes out on its own. As the book opens, it is 59 A.D. and Celtic warlord Lucan Mac Aliester and his forces are battling the Romans on the Island of Anglesey, off the coast of Wales.

As the going gets rough, Lucan calls on the goddess Fey for assistance. She protects him, but the Romans rout his force and his wife is killed. The Romans also burn down the people’s sacred grove and kill as many of their Druids as they can run to the ground.

Lucan sets off for Rome, ostensibly on a diplomatic mission but with the true intention of getting revenge. As it turns out, when he arrives he is forced into the gladiatorial arenas to fight. By this time Lucan has already had a few run-ins with Fey and various other gods, has lost one of his eyes and gained a few godlike powers of his own.

Lucan becomes one of Rome’s mightiest gladiators and it is here, in the arena, that he meets the Apostle Paul and learns of Christianity and the Tree of Life. Lucan continues to defeat all comers, but a treacherous reversal of fortune lands him in one of the Emperor Nero’s prisons. Before long Fey and Lucan’s son Thorn show up to spring him and he joins up with the remnants of his old fighting force.

Rather than set out for home, Lucan and his men sail for Asia Minor. Along the way they are accosted by a Roman ship and emerge victorious and Lucan kills Fey and has a few more unpleasant interactions with other gods. Eventually Lucan finds the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life and steals a branch from the latter, though it was not completely clear to me why he was interested in it in the first place.

The rest of this relatively short novel find Lucan and company marauding and pillaging as they move north, hoping to find colder climes that are more suited to their temperament. As they do they meet with a variety of unsavory obstacles, including a nasty shaman and the rather spooky Temple of Ashtaroth. As the proceedings wind down Fey returns, and Lucan battles Ymir, one of a race of frost giants, who has some godlike powers of his own. Lucan wins, but it is ultimately something of a Pyrrhic victory.

At this point, Fey spirits Lucan away to the netherworld and Shrewsbury ties things up in rather nifty fashion by revealing who Lucan and certain members of his group really are. It’s a nice little twist and maybe a more attentive reader would have seen it coming long before I did, but enough said about that. This is a little surprise that’s best left to the reader to discover for themselves.

Copyright 2007 – William I. Lengeman III