As a historical novel, Horseman’s Word provides quite a bit of depth to the back story of the place and time – Saratoga Springs, NY in 1965, post Civil War. It’s done organically within the scope of developing the characters and story line. I felt the book started out quite slow, I almost opted out at about 30%, but I persevered and that is about when the action in the story takes off. The books jumps POV a fair bit, which I found more jarring than necessary. There’s too much left out as the story develops, one doesn’t find out many details until far along into the story. It was difficult to keep all the stories, characters and their missing parts straight. As a horse person, and the title being “Horseman’s Word” I expected to find more about the horseman’s unusual talent. But, it is just a tiny part of the story.

The books weaves in and out of post-Civil War New York and the very distant past, which is primarily linked to the origin stories of Ireland. These stories are fascinating, and I wanted to see them fleshed out a bit more. If I hadn’t already known some about the Tuatha de Daanan, I would have been quite lost. You really had to pay attention to keep all of the societies and conspiracies straight, never mind all the characters. That said, it was a good read. I think it could have been better, which is why I give it 3.5 stars out of five.

I could read the Horseman's word thankfully to NetGalley. As a teacher, I will recommend the book to my young adults students, they will be totally happy to read such an unsual story told with such great gifts.
As a European, it was mind blowing to dive into the world of the early days of the USA. The book is a real page turner, the reader does not get tired of the characters, the settings, the adventures and the complexity of the story. Everything is orchestrated with brio, and I will definitely read more from this author.