Title: The Winnowing Circle
Author: Kevin Roberts
Publisher: Pilot Hill Press
ISBN: B00DERC0VI
Pages: 112, Paperback/Kindle
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Russell D. James, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
The Winnowing Circle by Kevin Roberts is a delightful combination of Elizabethan themes with age-old plot lines that never run dry. The characters (and their own unique qualities) are taken from German and Celtic mythology and legend, ancient Greek literature, and mixed with some pretty cool minor characters that add that special spice to a story that makes the reader want more and more of the dishes the author is serving. Both right brain and left brain readers will find this book exciting and suspenseful, as it plays to not only emotions, but also logic, reasoning, faith, and down home values like family, the sanctity of “home,” and hope for a better future for us and those that come after us. Any reader who likes a good story that also blends genres will like this book. Historical fiction, fantasy fiction, and even some “chick lit” can be found in this book. There is no specific one word or one phrase that will describe this book in all of its goodness.The writing is professional and even has more first person narration than most novels (a welcome thing to this reviewer), even if the dialog does sometimes get caught up in the pronoun envy trap, where it is often difficult to determine which “he” or “her” is being referred to. Some minor editing in regard to punctuation and capitalization is necessary, but only a professional editor will catch such minor errors. As I read the book, I wondered how many times the author had re-written a passage, not because the passage didn’t work, but because it fit perfectly into what I could see as a well developed outline of the book that was either in the author’s head or put down on paper (my bet is for the latter). The story line flowed so nicely that my only critique is that there were two chapters that I thought may (I say “may”) need to be switched around, but that is just armchair quarterbacking.
I don’t know if this is the author’s first novel or tenth novel, but it is so poignant in any day and age because it explores themes of war and family and self-interest, timeless motives for any real life person or character created by a real life person. There is no telling how many sequels could be written as full novels or short stories from this book, as it is possible after any chapter to go off on a logical tangent and have a totally different story line. The fantasy portion of the book may just be in this reviewer’s mind, but I found that the names of the characters, taken from various ancient cultures, fit perfectly the psyche and personae of the character it was given. In other words, I thought Peter Pan acted like the Peter Pan an adult sees in the main story created about him. The same can be said for the other characters and how they fit the ideal. I also saw in this regard that there were Jungian archetypes that fit each character and wondered whether the author might be a Jungian psychotherapist – more than likely a product of such a therapeutic approach, because no one but a crazy author (which I love) could have put together a story like this for his readers. Wow!
I enjoyed this book so much and I know that other readers will, as well.
