The story takes on an older Wen Alder/Foolish Cur, reflecting on his past. He wants to learn magic without the limitations of his Nayani heritage and the Siennese disdain for magic. His grandmother is a central character that wants him to revolt against the Empire. While his mother doesn’t want that. I shall call him Foolish Cur because that is an apt name for many of the decisions he makes in the book’s course, which aren’t significant. He is competent, yes, but he’s also misguided at the same time. Foolish Cur wants his way, a third way where he’s free from all the burdens that are placed by his background. He’s torn between two heritages, and that’s what eats at the core of his soul in this book. How can one man break away from this? On the one hand, the Siennese torture and kill those who practice magic and yet make use of it in battle. On the other, the Siennese recently conquered the Nayani, and they have been rebelling against them. Foolish Cur could have been a double agent, which he tries too, but fails at it miserably. This entire book is about a young man trying to discover who he is and what he wants.
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Review: The Winter of Winters (The Histories of Sphax #2) by Robert M. Kidd
218 BC. Hannibal’s exhausted army staggers down from the last Alpine pass like a rabble of half-starved savages, the remnants of a once magnificent army that had set out from the Rhodanus with such hope. Now there is no way back. With the legions of Consul Publius Scipio closing fast, Carthage needs its Gaulish allies like never before. But where are the Insubres? Where are the Boii? Where are the thousands of warriors pledged by solemn oath? In the maelstrom of battle, Sphax, nephew of Hannibal, forges a reputation as the scourge of Rome. But will his ingrained recklessness and quest for honour set him at odds with the forbidding genius of his uncle? Only one thing is certain in this winter of winters, a great battle is coming that will decide the fates of Rome and Carthage.