Attila by William Napier

For those of you who follow me on Goodreads, I'm sorry you have to read my review twice. I promise to make this one more in depth and relevant. For the rest of you, here goes.

If this book is any judge, Napier can write a decent historical fiction novel. Attila is the first of three novels about, you guessed it, Attila the Hun. And it's a really interesting book! I didn't really know anything about him, so this book was a good introduction. For instance, did you know it was Attila the Hun who finally brought down the Roman empire once and for all? And did you know that he was a "hostage"? Rome's way of securing allies was to trade youth from prominent families of the two nations. So Attila spent much of his youth in Rome while a Roman boy spent much of his youth with the Huns. This was done as security--if one nation turns on the other, they risk the death of their hostage.

That being said, I unfortunately can't recommend this book in good conscience. Napier has a particular love for the "f-word" that I just can't accept. As much as I would love to read the rest of the trilogy, I can't because I know he'll use it more and more throughout the trilogy as Attila grows up and goes into battle more and more. It's so disappointing, because Napier has a wonderful book other than that! And it wouldn't be that difficult to take the swearing out. He only has soldiers use it in battles and skirmishes. I know, I know, he's just using it to "stay true to his characters," but do you know what? I felt like he betrayed his characters by making them say those things. Each use of the word felt unnatural in the character's mouth. I felt like he was just using that word to stir people up and not because that's what his character would've said.

So, in the end, this great book is brought down. And now I have to find a different book about Attila the Hun to satisfy my curiosity on what happened to him.