The Gallowglass
Year: 2019
Author: Jason Henry Evans
Length: 337 pages
In trying to expand the genres that I read, I ventured into historical fiction with The Gallowglass. Set in Ireland in the late 1500s, this book was quite educational for a time and place about which I knew very little. Sure, it has modern morals thrust into a historical context that makes them seem out of place, but that conflict between what we know as right and what the majority would have done is part of its charm. The action is intense and the details are impeccable, but the proofreading needed some work.
The Gallowglass doesn’t shy away from the adult nature of war and romance in this era. Its injuries are brutal and the sex is somewhat explicit. Racism and sexism are also on full display, as you’d expect of the English from the 16th century. The realism felt authentic, and the clearly researched details of everything didn’t seem to impede the story that some books of this genre could probably lean toward (just to show how much they know of the era). For my first historical fiction, it was entertaining at a story and setting level.
My only gripe is that this manuscript probably could have stood another pass by a proofreader. Most pages had a few typos or homophone errors that pulled me out of the flow of the story. The worst example of this was when the main character put a belt on “around his waste.” Unfortunately, this lack of attention to detail in the editing phase does cast doubt on the historical details of the book, which are (as far as I can tell) clearly correct. Still, if you can push your way through these errors, it’s a pretty good story.
An unflinching look at late-1500s war that needed one more proofreading pass, I give The Gallowglass 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
