Book review: The Druid by Steven Mckay

The book: The Druid by Steven Mckay 

Setting:   Dark Ages in the Age of Arthur, Begins in Strathclyde 430AD but the story follows an adventure spanning the length of dark age Britain.

Wargame synergies: Dux Britanniarum, Dux Bellorum

So what attracted me to this book was the fact it’s main protagonist was a Pict.  My family originates from Moray which is now being understood as being the heartland of a northern Pictish Kingdom.  We are still discovering and only now starting to learn more about how “civilized” this ancient peoples were…The Picts are often positioned as the bad guys or barbarians in stories centred further South narrated more from the Romans or Britons point of view (some would argue that not much has changed in that respect).  But this is not surprising as we know far more about these civilisations than the Picts and have many more legends of great characters on which to base the stories on or around.  The likes of Steven McKay has a lot less to start with when writing a story based in the kingdoms of the Picts…  Perhaps that is why for the first book of this series he took us back south to more familiar lands?...

So this story follows the adventures of Bellicus a warrior Druid and a close friend and advisor to a king of the small kingdom of Alt Clut.  What is now Strathclyde.  The Druid is sent by his king to attempt to rescue his daughter from the clutches of the invading Angles.  There are a few leaps I felt you had to roll with in this story such as why Bellicus was sent off on his own with his two dogs on such an important mission.  But having got past that his escapade provided a interesting and at times amusing vehicle by which to discover this post-apocalyptic world that was post-roman Britain.  From the shores of the Clyde the story move south through Luguvalium (Carlisle), south toward the Saxon shore and Garrianum in Norfolk, followed by, where else but a climatic finish at Stonehenge…

I particularly liked how Steven handled how to portray the practices of the Druid.  A mix of slight of hand tricks and mummery along with shamanic style rituals, created I felt a believable story of the mysticism and beliefs of the time without pushing the story too far into the realm of fantasy and magic.  Portraying the druidic brotherhood as a network of religious power which is headed by the melancholic Merlin himself.  Melancholic as the famous “magician” has foreseen the forthcoming demise of his culture and religion…  With a cameo also from the Once and Future King,  Arthur himself and a rotund retired centurion (of sorts) there is a lot to like to this fun historical novel.

With regards to a story that can add flavour to your wargaming experience, I thought The Druid managed to capture the fragmented feel of Britain and the ensuing power vaccum that followed the romans retreat very well.  This is something that Rich from Too Fat Lardies has said that he was trying to recreate in his writing of the Dux Britanniarum rules.  You meet characters from towns such as Luguvalium & Pencathra that grew up learning their trades in a relatively stable environment, now having to also defend their towns and families as law and order has crumbled. Leaving (and I intentionally use that phrase again of) a post-apocalyptic feel to the world.  As the novel has a Pictish theme it would be great to give you a bit of flavour if you were planning to run a Dux Britanniarum campaign especially if using The Raiders Expansion!

Oh and did I mention the author also cites watching ITV’s kids show Knightmare as the inspiration for him to write a novel which includes the character Merlin.  Which is probably reason enough to read the book!