I got a free ARC of this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers group by promising to review it.
It’s an entertaining enough read that I had no problem finishing it quickly. Although there were aspects of the book that bugged me (sympathizing with Crusaders, and the main character being so self-centered), I was interested to see what would happen when Ian, the main character, made it back to the present day after he got tossed back to the year 1307.
(Minor spoilers from this point on, though not much more than you’d get from the book jacket.)
Unfortunately, what happened was nothing. After making a big deal about how Ian had to bring the “healing music of Rosslyn” forward in time, after he did so…nothing. The ending fell flat. I would almost expect a sequel, except that a sequel would be a completely different sort of book.
Until then the biggest problem I had with the book was the main character’s lack of agency. He spends the entire book doing what other people tell him to. Admittedly, he’s on a pilgrimage, so his journey is laid out for him, but he also doesn’t spend much time thinking about and trying to decipher the mystery of the healing music. He just waits to have visions in which bits and pieces are spelled out for him.
The writing’s a bit clunky in places—it was at least a third of the way through the book before “Remember, Ian’s in the past!” stopped beating me in the head—but the characters are well-drawn. The minor characters were a pleasure to spend time with.
Well, glad you enjoyed the book. The issue of course is whether something should happen: after all, the music is – without giving too much away – no less or more than a code to something that could “heal the world” if it were decoded . . . and that doesn’t just happen. The ending is what it is, and I offer no apologies for it.
The sequel, by the way, is a totally different sort of book. Just so you know.