Gleason’s second installment of the Carolingian Chronicles explores warring factions and families in 742 Laon.

The novel begins with Pippin surveying the city of Laon in northern Francia, where his brother Carloman has killed nearly a third of its soldiers. Pippin is preoccupied not just with the carnage that lies before him, but also with thinking about his love, Bertrada, who has “broken their courtship over the siege, stating she wanted nothing further to do with the brutality of his family.” In this opening scene, Gleason introduces three of the central plot points: sex, love, and violence. Pippin laments Bertrada’s departure, though, halfway through the novel, he will discover that they’re inextricably linked. Meanwhile, Pippin’s sister Trudi is pregnant and married to Odilo, a man she fell in love with despite being promised to Prince Aistulf of the Lombards. Trudi carries the secret that the child is not her husband’s, and she must safeguard herself for “the chance for a fresh start...a new beginning for the royal family in Bavaria.” But Odilo’s horrible half brother Theudebald soon descends on their household, bringing violence and chaos with him. And, finally, coquettish Miette becomes the mistress of Childeric, the future king of Francia. But Childeric’s increasingly violent, degrading behavior with Miette causes her to increasingly turn to Pippin, confiding in him and conspiring with him in ways that occlude her loyalties. Gleason doesn’t stint on soap-operatic melodrama and sex in a novel steeped in warfare and fight scenes. Though the cast is large and intricately connected, Gleason keeps the plot agile and propulsive thanks to ongoing conflicts. While the brutality feels accurate to the times, one rape scene is unnecessarily graphic, and the description of Miette’s desires can feel a bit outdated: “She knew she would comply, whatever he asked of her, her need was that great.”

Entertaining historical fiction overstuffed with bloodshed, drama, and desire.

In this debut fictionalized account of Francia in the 740s, the death of a Dark Age ruler pits religions, and brothers, against each other.

The novel opens in the last year of the life of mayor of the palace Charles Martel, who, although not technically a king, has ruled the Frankish empire for decades. His military prowess has allowed him to take over a good portion of western Europe (including what is now Germany and France), but now he’s dying. He breaks his kingdom into three parts, making each of his three sons a mayor of one. One portion goes to his eldest son, Carloman, a Christian zealot; another goes to his middle child, the great warrior Pippin. The final third, which includes the prized city of Paris, goes to his youngest son, Gripho, the half brother of Pippin and Carloman and the product of Charles’s marriage to the pagan Sunni. Martel also has a strong-willed daughter, Trudi, who defiantly opposes her arranged marriage to a Lombardy prince and subsequently falls in love with a Bavarian—and pagan—lord. Although Gripho does his best to act like a good Christian, Carloman suspects that Gripho follows the pagan religion. What follows is political intrigue straight out of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, except that Gleason’s novel is based on stories of real people, and this historical “game of thrones” is engrossing, with fast-paced, crisp prose and smart dialogue. The tale’s real antagonists are religion and the conflicts it breeds; however, at times, the author’s disdain for Christianity comes close to undermining the story’s credulity, as Christian leaders too often come off as cartoonish villains. For example, at one point, the elder bishop, who has Machiavellian designs for power, nonchalantly has sex with a 20-year-old male “acolyte” as he speaks to another member of the church. Gripho desecrates a Christian church and Carloman turns from a principled if overly religious man into a kind of evil Christian crusader. That said, the story is strong enough for readers to overlook these flaws, which, fortunately, are few indeed.

An enticing read, sure to please lovers of historical fiction and political and religious intrigue.