Sebastion's Way - The Pathfinder by George Steger

An epoch which has some importance for me in both my reading life and my genealogical pursuits, apparently called the "Saxon March" at that time. I loved the period descriptions of life in this hard and distant time on the borders of what would be France.George Steger has crafted a fine piece of work as a first novel, and he enjoys as well as develops his characters.

Sebastian is clearly a reluctant hero,but he does have elements of heroism as well as blunders.The author allows him and his characters to grow and develop well. The villain,or antihero, his cousin Konrad, has his ups and downs as well.The love story with Adela is quite bumpy and rocky but it gets there in the end as does his ups and downs with Charlemagne, also know as Karl der Grosse. A violent era, I still think that Sebastian's staunchest supporters got killed off with remarkable rapidity, so I am expecting a few more important folks to emerge in subsequent books.

Simon is a bit of a puzzle  and Adelaide, also, has an improbable character for the 8th century.I think it all works however as the story seems to flow along pretty well, due to the fact that Steger is  a skillful writer.He is a top notch medieval scholar, as the descriptions of 8th century fortifications as well as agricultural developments of the times are superb.

I received the book for a review  and enjoyed it a great deal. I personally am looking forward to the next installment in Sebastian's life and recommend this for historical  and medieval novel fans.



Link to Tour Schedule:  http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/sebastianswaytour

Tour Hashtag: #SebastiansWayTour

About Sebastian's Way

Publication Date: October 3, 2013
iUniverse
Paperback; 370p
ISBN-10: 1491708964

In a dark age of unending war and violence, one young warrior opposes a mighty king to forge a new path to peace…

During the savage Frankish-Saxon wars, the moving force of his age, Karl der Grosse, King Charlemagne, fights and rules like the pagan enemies he seeks to conquer. But in the long shadow of war and genocide, a spark of enlightenment grows, and the king turns to learned men to help him lead his empire to prosperity.

One of these men is the unlikely young warrior Sebastian. Raised in an isolated fortress on the wild Saxon border, Sebastian balances his time in the training yard with hours teaching himself to read, seeking answers to the great mysteries of life during an age when such pastimes were scorned by fighting men. Sebastian’s unique combination of skills endears him to Charlemagne and to the ladies of the king's court, though the only woman to hold his heart is forbidden to him. As the king determines to surround himself with men who can both fight and think beyond the fighting, Sebastian becomes one of the privileged few to hold the king’s ear.

But the favor of the king does not come without a cost. As Charlemagne's vassals grapple for power, there are some who will do anything to see Sebastian fall from grace, including his ruthless cousin Konrad, whose hatred and jealousy threaten to destroy everything Sebastian holds dear. And as Sebastian increasingly finds himself at odds with the king’s brutal methods of domination and vengeance, his ingrained sense of honor and integrity lead him to the edge of treason, perilously pitting himself against the most powerful man of his age.

This fast-paced adventure story brings Charlemagne's realm to life as the vicious Christian-pagan wars of the eighth century decide the fate of Europe. Filled with action, intrigue, and romance, Sebastian's Way is a riveting and colorful recreation of the world of Europe’s greatest medieval monarch.

About the Author

A native of Louisiana, the author followed a long tradition of young men from the Deep South by seeking to improve his prospects in the military. From a green second lieutenant in the famed 101st Airborne Division to battalion command in Vietnam, Colonel Steger spent most of the rest of his military career in four European tours as an intelligence officer and Russian foreign area specialist, working on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. He traded sword for plowshare in a second career in academia and is now Professor Emeritus of history and international affairs at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. The motivation to write Sebastian’s Way came from his experiences in both war and peace, from fourteen years in Germany and Eastern Europe, and from his love of teaching medieval and other European history courses. 

Steger is an avid hiker and trail biker, and much of the story of Sebastian came out of time spent in the woods and fields of eastern Kansas. In memory of Mary Jo, his wife of many years, he and filmmaker son Ben spent a recent summer trekking across Spain on The Camino de Santiago, one of Europe’s oldest pilgrimage trails. He lives and writes in rural Kansas and has four other grown and gifted children.

For more information please visit George Steger’s website. You can also find him on Facebook.

                                        GIVEAWAY
To the very first person who requests this book before the end of the tour.Email or inbox me at Facebook Blog page.