Customer Reviews

Ares of Westford: Book Two of the Latter Annals of Lystra

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In Ares of Westford, Robin Hardy continues the story of Ares and his wife, Nicole. Political intrigue in the palace abounds as Nicole learns more about her husband and he searches to find where he belongs in the ruling of Lystra.Despite the difficulties that Nicole and Ares face together, they continue to show integrity, honor, and faithfulness. The plot takes many twists and turns as princess' and princes' cause confusion to the already complicated mess in country.
Like Nicole of Pri Mere, the second book in the Latter Annals of Lystra is another wonderful novel by Robin Hardy. Unlike Chataine's Guradian, this series is not appropriate for younger teens and down due to some sexual content.

I've been really pleased with how different this part of the series is from the first three. IT was so hard for me when I found out that I wouldn't be seeing Roman or Deidre or even Ariel for that matter in the new sequels that were coming out but I have not been disappointed by what's happened. I feel attached to the story and the characters just as I did with the Roman and Deirdre but there is a different quality because it is a different time with different circumstances. I highly recommend this book, even if you've read they're not about Roman and Deidre and it's turned you off, don't let that happen because you're cheating yourself. Yes it's different but take it from a former skeptic these books are well worth it. So pick it up, read it and I promise you won't be disappointed.

This being the 11th book by Robin Hardy that I've read (and own), one would think I'd get bored, and think that her writing would become predictable, boring, and a little mundane. But that simply isn't true. There are a few reasons I like reading her books so much, and one of those reasons is that she's full of surprises. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, she throws in the most poignant wrench, and delivers the story beautifully. This book is the perfectly adept companion to Nicole of Prie Mer. It seems you simply can't stop with just one...

Now that the usurper has been deposed, Ares is not only commander of the army but co-regent of the kingdom. He is determined to keep his vows of loyalty until the young Chatain is old enough to rule, but then he finds out something about his own past that changes everything and which could cost not only his own life but that of his beloved young wife, Nicole.

Book Two of the Latter Annals of Lystra continues the excitement where Nicole of Prie Mer left off. I found the end particularly touching and can't wait to read the next book in the series, Prisoners of Hope.

This novel is little better than the first in terms of its romantic, historical or Christian content. The entire series has been trumpeted as more `realistic' then most novels in this genre by fans because the characters are flawed and imperfect. The Latter may be may be true, but this does not make the series `realistic' because the behaviours and responses of the characters to the behaviour of others are not always an accurate reflection of how people would act and react in real life situations, or in the Historical context.

Early on the novel Chataine Renee boasts to her ex-husband about an incestuous affair that she had with his father, and describes the sexual act in detail. In the Medieval setting such an act would have been viewed by many people as shameful and dishonourable, but in the novel none of the characters regards this as such, or even bats an eyelid. Renee's reputation is in no way tarnished by this deed or any of her other promiscuous sexual liaisons, as it would almost certainly have done so for a Medieval Princess in reality.

In another passage Princess Renee throws away a Holy Relic (implied to have been a Piece of the Cross) as if it was a piece of trash. Again these is little objection to this from the other characters. In reality Medieval people would almost certainly have regarded this as a shocking act of sacrilegious profanity, but in Lystra nobody cares. They do however regard not having a Christmas Tree (which were not common in Britain and Western Europe in the Middle Ages) in the palace as sacrilegious. This inversion of medieval moral and religious values is a prime example of the lack of realism in these novels.

The main villain Renee's former husband Magnus (mentioned above) is, as most of the other baddies in the series, utterly stupid and gullible. He is unable to see through the very unconvincing deception of the Lystrans in which they disguise a maidservant as a Princess by lending her a fancy dress, and does not even notice she is several years older than the real Princess that he is intending to marry. Similar methods of deception and disguise are utilised throughout the series' most unconvincingly, yet the hapless caricature villains can never see through them.

In a novel that is meant to be Christian one would expect some mention of God, and he does get the odd mention in the novel, and even Jesus is mentioned twice. There are several passages which seem to be at odds with the established teaching of this religion. In one Ares the hero reads out newly discovered pages from the Law which allow him to conveniently excuse the crimes and misdeeds of a number of Characters including embezzlement of money and fornication with the Princess ... all in the name of God of course.

In order to justify this Ares claims that the characters bad deeds can simply be discounted and overlooked because they are outweighed by their `good' deeds which generally involve loyalty to him personally. All this is dressed up in seemingly admirable patriotic and quasi-religious terms with Ares talking about loyalty to one's country being more important than `small trivial' sins, and the infinite mercy of a God who seemingly couldn't care less about what people do.

It did not apparently occur to Ares (or seemingly the author) that in the Middle Ages such `small trivial sins' as a Counsellor having sex with a Princess or nobleman stealing money from the treasury could potentially have catastrophic effects on the entire Kingdom and its people if left unchecked. Nor apparently does Ares regard Renee's reckless squandering of huge amounts of money as serious enough to warrant an enforced curb to her spending to avoid economic disaster for the Kingdom.

Indeed Ares refuses to limit Renee's limitless spending because he fears this will upset her, and that such an action would be `unloving' and `unchristian'. Such is the attitude of Nicole and most of the other characters who refuse to punish or chastise Renee for the most heinous or crimes for the same reason. Yet they are at the same time more than happy to mete out severe punishments, including the death penalty to other people for much less serious offences. These double standards pose no problems for the characters, and do not cause jealousy or resentment as they likely would in reality.

At the end of the novel after a huge battle scene in which thousands of young Lystran soldiers are killed a Nun says that they have all gone straight to heaven simply because they died for their country, although there is no indication that any of them had been forgiven of their sins or believed in the proprietary sacrifice of Christ to obtain this. Yet this is generally seen as an essential prerequisite to salvation in Christianity.

Perhaps significantly it is stated in the prequel to this novel `Nicole of Prie Mer' by the Surchatian (King) himself that all the soldiers lose their virginity before the reach their teens, and in a Later novel that such soldiers commonly indulge in pre or extra marital sexual liaisons with palace women, including Renee's mother and former Queen Vivian.

So this novel does not seem to be especially `Christian' or very historically authentic, thus it fails on both levels of what it is intended to be. For a better Christian Medieval Fantasy series I would recommend DeAnna Julie Dodson's Chastelayne Trilogy, beginning with `In Honor Bound'.