Being the first review on here, I feel bad but I hated this book. It is a very difficult read. I had to read the same line over three times to figure out what the conversationalist was attempting to say. Whereas I understand the author was writing the way people in this day and age supposedly spoke, it was too difficult to comprehend. Perhaps one with a college degree would have better luck. I think it needs a guide and dictionary also. Your average American today will have no idea what an arquebus or moss trooper is among many other strange words in this novel. I would also have appreciated more description on the clothes and such. In conclusion, if you appreciate and understand the first line of the book "They ne'er saw a horse but they made it their ain" then go for it, because pretty much the entire speech throughout the novel is such.