Tag: Reading Challenges

Book Review – Dominion of Dust by Matthew Harffy @AriesFiction

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About the Book

AD 797, Cyprus. Warrior-monk Hunlaf and his crew are on a voyage to acquire an important Christian relic before it falls into the hands of Byzantium’s scheming Empress Eirene.

Hunlaf’s crew receive unexpected help as they seek their treasure, but soon find themselves betrayed. About to leave for home empty-handed, the adventurers instead sail further east: to Jerusalem, the Holy Land, abundant in relics. And dangerous intrigues.

Hunlaf and his friends will face a deadly race against time as they attempt to secure a holy treasure, outwit Byzantium’s zealous agents, and avoid grisly deaths at the hands of the local rulers.

Format: Hardback (432 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 9th October 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Dominion of Dust is the fourth book in the author’s A Time For Swords series, the follow-up to A Time For Swords, A Night of Flames and A Day of Reckoning. (Links from each title will take you to my review.) A Day of Reckoning ended on a literal cliffhanger and Dominion of Dust takes up the story directly from that point.

Once again Hunlaf is both chief protagonist and narrator. Now advanced in age and becoming increasingly frail, he is setting down the details of his eventful life, one which saw him abandon his calling as a monk to become a warrior and adventurer. 

A Day of Reckoning, saw Hunlaf on a quest for a book known as ‘The Treasure of Life’ which took him and his comrades to the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsular. This time he’s on a search for sacred relics which King Carolus, ruler of the remnants of the Western Roman Empire, believes will imbue him with the divine power to defeat his rival Empress Eirene, ruler of the remnants of the Eastern Roman Empire. Unfortunately she has the same idea, and her own set of searchers. So it becomes a race against time to see who can piece together the clues and locate them first. If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit Indiana Jones, you’re not wrong.

Many characters make a return appearance including the fearsome Norse warrior and master shipbuilder, Runolf Ragnarsson and – much to Hunlaf’s delight – Runolf’s daughter Revna.  The wily Giso, who seems to have connections everywhere and often disappears into the shadows only to reappear at a crucial moment, is also back. Unfortunately, Hunlaf and his comrades are not short of fearsome and totally ruthless opponents.

As you might expect, Hunlaf and his comrades face many perils along the way and there are some terrific action scenes, described in bone-crunching, bloody and visceral detail. They include a fight to escape from an underground chamber and the boarding of a merchant ship. Ignoring the voice of his spiritual mentor Leofstan, now deceased, Hunlaf continues to experience moments of uncontrollable battle rage and ‘the wanton joy of killing’.

Although we know Hunlaf will live to fight another day, he doesn’t. There are plenty of moments where he fears his luck has run out (and who could blame him) and doesn’t know if – or how – he will escape from the perilous situation he finds himself in. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for all his comrades, some of whom will die in tragic circumstances. Even though many decades have passed, the loss of these comrades still weighs heavily on Hunlaf’s mind accompanied by intense feelings of guilt that he might have been, even unwittingly, the cause of their deaths. 

The ailing Hunlaf leaves the reader with a tantalising glimpse of events he has yet to tell us about, including those of a romantic nature. And there’s a brief hint that his story might involve the appearance of a character from another of the author’s series.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dominion of Dust. I loved the characters, the settings and the fast-paced plot. To my mind, this is a series that just keeps getting better and better.

I received a review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus.

In three words: Action-packed, authentic, immersive
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About the Author

Matthew Harffy grew up in Northumberland where the rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline had a huge impact on him. He now lives in Wiltshire, England with his wife and their two daughters. Matthew is the author of the critically acclaimed Bernicia Chronicles and A Time for Swords series, and he also co-hosts the popular podcast Rock, Paper, Swords!

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A Time For Swords

Book Review – Venetian Vespers by John Banville

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About the Book

Everything was a puzzle, everything a trap set to mystify and hinder me. . .

1899. As the new century approaches, English hack-writer Evelyn Dolman marries Laura Rensselaer, the daughter of a wealthy American plutocrat. But in the midst of a mysterious rift between Laura and her father, Evelyn’s plans of a substantial inheritance are thrown into doubt.

As the unhappy newlyweds travel to Venice at Palazzo Dioscuri – the ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo – a series of seemingly otherworldly occurrences exacerbate Evelyn’s already frayed is it just the sea mist blanketing the floating city or is he losing his mind?

Format: Hardcover (368 pages) Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication date: 25th September 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Evelyn Dolman’s initial impression of Venice is not of a romantic city, but of a gloomy, cold and damp place hardly worthy of the title ‘La Serenissima’. For him, it’s a place of ‘glancing lights, distorting reflections, looming shadows’.

Venice was not his choice of location for their belated honeymoon but that of his wife Laura. Strangely, on arrival at their lodgings, the many-roomed but gently decaying Palazzo Dioscuri owned by the flamboyant but sinister Count Barbarigo, Laura seems to have no interest in exploring the city. Instead she urges Evelyn to go out on his own.

Arriving at the famous Cafe Florian he meets Freddie who says he went to the same school as Evelyn although, strangely, Evelyn has no memory of him. Freddie introduces Evelyn to his twin sister Francesca, known as Cesca, and Evelyn is instantly smitten by her beauty and wit. Harry and Cesca live a vagabond lifestyle, travelling from place to place and relying, Evelyn suspects, on the generosity of others to fund it. They persuade him to join them for a long series of nightcaps, introducing him to that powerful spirit, grappa.

The first six months of Evelyn and Laura’s marriage have not been a success. Laura rebuffs Evelyn’s sexual advances and in fact seems completely indifferent to him. It has become a source of increasing frustration which leads him in his drunken state to carry out an uncharacteristic act of violence. By the time he awakens the next morning, riven with guilt, Laura has disappeared without trace.

What follows sees Evelyn caught in a web of deceit, increasingly wondering if he can trust those around him or indeed trust in his own sanity. Unwilling to confess his actions prior to Laura’s disappearance, he attempts to hide her absence until the charade is unsustainable and he becomes the object of suspicion. Evelyn is a pompous figure, full of misplaced self-importance, but this hides a deep insecurity. We, the reader, sense fairly quickly that he is being manipulated, but to what end and by whom?

In the author’s hands, Venice is a place of damp, decay and menace in which no-one is quite what they seem. There’s a deliciously sinister atmosphere, with strange occurrences that might be supernatural or might be the work of human hands. There’s a pervasive sexuality to the story whether that’s the Count’s lascivious maid or Cesca’s teasing allure.

Venetian Vespers is an entertainingly sinister tale which effortlessly captures the style of the period in which it is set. Perfect for cold autumn nights.

I received a review copy courtesy of Faber & Faber via NetGalley.

In three words: Atmospheric, intriguing, sensuous
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About the Author

Born in Wexford, Ireland in 1945, John Banville has been the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Premio Nonino, a Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. He lives in Dublin. (Photo/bio: Publisher author page)