CARLO F. SENTE'S PAGE: Sword Shatterers series—THE PLAGUE OF GOD & THE SUN KING'S MAN

THE PLAGUE OF GOD (Sword Shatterers #1)
CARLO F. SENTE
self-published (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$17.99 paperback, available now

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Two intertwined tales, both driven by the irresistible allure of gold:

In the present day, Baron Tim de St. Clere faces ruin and desperation, his family legacy slipping away. Enticed by rumors of hidden treasure, he plunges into a perilous quest, only to find himself locked in a dangerous race against a relentless foe, a politician hungry for the same riches. Tim's journey brims with betrayal and sacrifice, yet ultimately unveils a newfound purpose amid the shadows of his past.

Meanwhile, amidst the tumult of ninth-century Europe, Bera Haraldsdatter grapples with the consequences of her allegiance to a ruthless warlord. As realization dawns upon her, she heeds the call of maternal instinct, embarking on a solitary mission to safeguard innocent lives. Against the backdrop of Viking conquest, Bera's defiance echoes through the ages, a testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit.

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My Review: I'll be honest: Tim de St. Clere and his modern-day timeline did not grip me. I comprehend the author's point in making this a dual-timelines story was valid. A modern angle on the story of people making moral choices around wealth, power, and the uses they are put to (in opposition to the way they are, in the stories, used) allows him to present this as a thriller. The dreaded label "historical" or, even more limiting, "time-travel/fantasy novel" would seriously erode the commercial appeal of this tale. Or so he thinks, I assume....

Happen I disagree. Tim and the utterly pointless and barely characterized Julia, and the somewhat haphazardly included Frank and Tamara, are pressured by the expectations and the bedazzlements of twenty-first century life, to no satisfying end. The ninth-century timeline, with Bera fighting tooth and nail to preserve some sense of personal honor and family integrity, is more compelling (if just a bit more, um, leisurely of pace shall we say than is conducive to maintaining suspense) than Tim's efforts to recover material wealth contrast unflatteringly with Bera's powerfully moral quest to dissociate from the immorality seen in the misuse of power by a revolting suzerain.

Well, maybe an inconclusive result to the modern storyline is somehow resolved in book two. I was more than invested enough in Bera's efforts to make reading book two a certainty.

Anyone who enjoyed the National Treasure franchise ought to check out this debut novel.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE SUN KING'S MAN (Sword Shatterers #2)
CARLO F. SENTE self-published (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$17.99 paperback, preorder now for delivery on 22 April 2026

Rating: 3.75* of five

Two men separated by centuries. One legendary treasure. A ruthless enemy willing to kill to claim it. Baron Tim de St. Clere’s quest for his ancestor’s hidden treasure is no mere hunt for gold; it is a battle for redemption, family honor, and a fierce determination to right the wrongs of history. As he plunges into the depths of the past, Tim and his allies must confront not only the ghosts of yesteryear but also the ruthless ambition of Alain Lesczinsky, a man whose thirst for power threatens to consume them all.

Against the bloody backdrop of war-torn Europe lies the legacy of the courageous Quentin de St. Clere and his lifelong servant and confidant, Nicklaus Brenden. Their bond, forged in childhood and tempered in the fires of conflict, embodies an unwavering and relentless pursuit of justice. As Quentin fights to save their honor and their lives, Nicklaus stands firmly by his side, a testament to the power of loyalty in the face of overwhelming adversity.

In The Sun King’s Man (Part II of the Sword Shatterers Trilogy), the saga of the St. Cleres unfolds as a breathtaking epic woven through the centuries, resonating with the timeless echoes of honor and betrayal.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: The scoobygroup reunites! I still think the modern timeline's not the most compelling one, though. I got more interest from the political dimension added by including Alain Lesczinsky's quest to become president of France in addition to the treasure-hunting for its own sake. (It makes little sense when viewed practically, but it's a thriller so roll with it.)

Tim's ancestor, Quentin, in this story is in service to the Sun King (Louis XIV) a man of very questionable morals by modern standards but one of the most powerful people in recorded history...funny how often those things go hand-in-hand. Quentin and his man Nicklaus felt like they were more intimate than master and servant are usually, so of course I enjoyed them through my own headcanon. Quentin's desire to curry favor with the perpetually strapped-for-cash Sun King by sending him a vast fortune in gauds and baubles to help fund his forever wars is very much something I was glad to see *not* come to pass.

I'm surprised by the level of buy-in I have with these characters in their history-inflected treasure hunts that end as usual with enough wiggle room for there to be more storues. Please, Author Sente, develop Tim without his inexplicable desire to be with the bland Julia. Pretty please?

RED SHIFT, unjustly neglected mismarketed and beautiful

RED SHIFT
ALAN GARNER
HarperCollins Children’s Books
$12.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 4.8* of five

The Publisher Says: Collins YA editionA disturbing exploration of the inevitability of life. Under Orion's stars, bluesilver visions torment Tom, Macey and Thomas as they struggle with age-old forces. Distanced from each other in time, and isolated from those they live among, they are yet inextricably bound together by the sacred power of the moon's axe and each seek their own refuge at Mow Cop. Can those they love so intensely keep them clinging to reality? Or is the future evermore destined to reflect the past?

NYRB edition (now O.P.)In second-century Britain, Macey and a gang of fellow deserters from the Roman army hunt and are hunted by deadly local tribes. Fifteen centuries later, during the English Civil War, Thomas Rowley hides from the ruthless troops who have encircled his village. And in contemporary Britain, Tom, a precocious, love-struck, mentally unstable teenager, struggles to cope with the imminent departure for London of his girlfriend, Jan.

Three separate stories, three utterly different lives, distant in time and yet strangely linked to a single place, the mysterious, looming outcrop known as Mow Cop, and a single object, the blunt head of a stone axe: all these come together in Alan Garner’s extraordinary Red Shift, a pyrotechnical and deeply moving elaboration on themes of chance and fate, time and eternity, visionary awakening and destructive madness.

My Review: Why didn't I hear about this back in 1973? I'd've lapped it right up with happy warbles and gruntled slurps. But what completely baffles me is how anyone could read this unpunctuated marvel of modernism and say, "YA shelves, next!" or even more utterly inapt, "Fantasy novel incoming!" WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK. are these people thinking? Teens might get absorbed in the time-travel element, and some goodly percentage of them will like the Cormac McCarthy-esque attributionless dialogue, but the fantasy reader is going away very sorely disappointed. Yes, there's a goddess, and heaven knows we're up to our hips in angsty teens. BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

*fantods*

Okay, I've been ungently squawked at for spoilery reviews. (Good lord, grow up people! Don't read reviews of books you want to read if you're phobic about it!) There are three stories here. All of them take place in a very very tight geographical locus. They are separated by 1500 years (earliest to middle) and 300 years (middle to modern). The dialogue is all modern English, and still Alan Garner manages to convey a sense of the temporal location of the story...if you're paying attention!

And all the teens are able to experience each other. It's all psychometric in genesis (go look it up if it's new to you), and Garner handles it *beautifully* by not Explaining it, only making sure you know what happens as a result of the time loops.

I'm not sure what else I can say without giving too much of the game away, so let's cut to the chase: I don't like phauntaisee nawvelles and I'm pretty durned hmmmmm about time travel these post-Outlander days. And this novel, this gem of a McCarthy-writes-The Sound and the Fury-with-Virginia-Woolf novel, hooked me, gaffed me through the gills, landed me in the bottom of the boat and (at the very very end) exploded my teensy ickle brain-like thing with wowee.

So why aren't all sorts of people warbling their lungs out about it? Same reason I didn't until today: Never heard of it. I picked it up, idly, unsuspectingly, from a shelf in the house...looked at the "99¢" Day-Glo orange Jamesway sticker on the silver-foil coated jacket, winced, and then

and then

oh some more and then

And now here I am, warbling about a YA time-travel teen-angsty romantic novel. With me on how weird that is? See the thing that doesn't fit the picture, namely me smiling?

Buy. Read. Yes.