BloodFeud - the first review

BloodFeud's first review - in the Ileach, the Independent Newspaper for Islay and Jura

Just had my first formal review of BloodFeud by the wonderful Ileach, the independent Newspaper for Islay and Jura.

My favourite parts include:

There are few opportunities to catch your breath…..

The premise behind the Black Tower series is superb, as is the writing…..

Compulsive doesn’t begin to describe it……

The sooner the third part arrives at the Ileach office, the better.

Thank you Ileach! http://www.ileach.co.uk/

You can read the full review below:

BloodFeud. The Book of the Black Tower, volume 2 Nick Bastin. Paperback £6.99

In March this year, the Ileach reviewed the first instalment of a promised trilogy from author Nick Bastin. That first novel, ‘BloodBond’ has now been quickly followed by the second instalment, entitled ‘BloodFeud’, pretty much continuing where the first one left off. Nick told me that he’d not commenced writing BloodFeud until the early part of this year. “It went quite quickly as the story just came out.”

The premise behind this ‘Black Tower’ series is that, rather than having been defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746, the Duke of Cumberland was, in fact, felled by a pistol shot, subsequently changing the course of history
as we know it, and engendering a Scotland entirely different from the present day.

The western isles, including Islay and most of northern Scotland is now constituted as the Gaelic Republic, leaving only the eastern fringes of the country under the command of Scotland’s First Minister. The rest is still ruled by Scotland’s various clans, and they’re still every bit as unruly and belligerent as ever they were.

The clan central to Nick Bastin’s narrative, is that of the MacNachtan’s of Dunderave, which is now a burned-out castle near Inveraray. As a small clan, they ought to be a mere bit player in the various schemes and strategies,
but they seek revenge against Allan Stewart who, at the opening of ‘Bloodfeud’, still occupies their ancestral home.

But, just to throw a spanner in the narrative works, ‘BloodFeud’ opens in Surrey County, Jamaica, on 30 June 1763, where Gilchrist MacNachtan has been held as a slave, but following his period of penitent hard-labour, he is about to be set free.

“With the setting of the sun, you have paid for your crime of rebellion against the King. […] You had the fortune to be captured alive, many of your fellow Gaels were not so lucky.” I doubt that it’s giving too much away to say that his captors then change the goalposts and rescind his freedom, forcing him to escape, killing but a few of those who stood in his way.

We then return to the present day, when a descendent of Gilchrist MacNachtan arrives at Scotland’s Gaelic Republic, a man who will play his part much later in the book, by challenging the Stewart occupiers of Dunderave Castle.

But, still the most important and ostensibly powerful man in the Republic is the head of the Clan Lamont. It is essentially he who has ‘allowed’ Allan Stewart to remain in Dunderave Castle, following his killing of the MacNachtan clan chief in ‘BloodBond’.

John Lamont is also a man who knows how to have others carry out his scheming, while concealing his involvement. He’s the man in charge of the Black Watch, supposedly the Republic’s peace-keepers, but with a rather brusque manner.

“Lamont knew he had to break a few eggs to make the omelette he had in mind. To do that, he had to play on the mutual enmity and rivalry of the other magnates, to keep them occupied and their eyes off the main game.”

The first chapter in Lamont’s strategy involves having Catriona Maclean of Duart invade and capture Islay. Though this act subsequently leaves her strategically weakened near her homeland, it also keeps her rivals occupied while Lamont continues with his master plan.

There follows an attempt by Brighid and Nin MacNachtan to persuade MacLeod of Dunvegan to intervene in matters, but with more than just a few plot twists, including the Stewarts’ kidnapping of children as hostages, to have the reader really need to pay close attention. There are few opportunities to catch your breath.

The premise behind the Black Tower series is superb, as is the writing, greatly enhanced by the shortness of each chapter (there are a total of 53 in ‘BloodFeud’). Compulsive doesn’t begin to describe it.

And in cheering news, Nick told me, “I am busy working on the third in the trilogy which I think could be the most exciting of all and in which Islay features a lot.” The sooner the third part arrives at the Ileach office, the better.

BloodFeud is available from Amazon.