The author seems to have great ideas and I've no issue with violence but the gratuitous nature of Reeman's descriptions rubbed me the wrong way (why I as a reader need to know a corpse had "reddish pubic hair and a disproportionately swollen penis", I shall never know). I'm not a prude, but content needs to have purpose and Reeman's graphic descriptions were not substantiated, a fact which left me wholly disinterested in the completing the narrative.

I was excited for this book as I am a fan of historical fiction and find this time period interesting. However, I struggled with this story and ultimately did not finish it. There was points where I started to get caught up I the plot but on more than one occasion once that happened it jumped to another storyline or character and would take me a while to get back into the story. The descriptions are well written, however I found the quick transitions confusing at times and think the writing style is just not for me. I kept thinking that everything would circle back around and make sense eventually so I continued reading for quite some time holding onto that hope. Unfortunately it just moved too slowly for me and lost my interest.

Extremely violent and no characters introduced seem to have any redeeming qualities. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Could not finish.

This was, for me, a difficult read. It didn't capture my interest at the get go. I did love the historical aspects of the story. The deeper into the story, the more I wanted to stay with it! This is a sweeping sage of a deeply depressing time in Scotland's history. Though you will not find this an easy read, it is worth the effort to stick with it.