James Alistair Henry’s debut Pagans is a set in an alternative 21st century Britain where Christianity, The Norman Conquest and The Industrial Revolution never happened, but where crimes still need to be solved.
The small, mostly unimportant, island of Britain is inhabited by an uneasy alliance of Pagan tribes – the dominant Saxon East, the beleaguered Celtic West, and an independent Nordic Scotland – with tensions increasing by the second. Supermarket warpaint sales are at an all-time high, mead abuse shortens the lives of thousands, and social media is abuzz with conspiracy theories suggesting the High Table is putting GPS trackers in the honeycakes.
Amid this febrile atmosphere, a serial killer is on the loose, and the brutal murder of a diplomat from the Celtic West, has drawn the attention of two mismatched police detectives: Detective-Captain Aedith, Saxon daughter of the powerful Earl Lod of Mercia and Inspector Drustan, a heavily tattooed police officer from the Celtic West.
For fans of Game of Thrones, The Last Kingdom, Terry Pratchett, Pagans is currently optioned for a major Apple TV series by Media Res (The Morning Show, Pachinko, Extrapolations, Scenes from a Marriage) with a cast announcement due in early 2025.
James Alistair Henry is the writer behind smash hit comedies including Green Wing, Smack the Pony, Bob The Builder, Hey Duggie, Sean the Sheep, cult comedy TV hits Delivery Man (ITV 1), Piglets (ITV 1) and Campus (C4), and who regularly writes for BBC Radio 4.
My thoughts: I thought this was great. Really well written (no surprise considering the author’s other work), clever, funny and entertaining.
Wondering, what if the Normans never bothered conquering Britain and the Saxons carried on ruling, keeping things pretty much as they were. Scotland still a separate country, Wales too. They have technology, but worship the old gods as well as the Christian one (He predates 1066 so still arrived), carrying seaxes (basically a big knife for fighting and also cutting up your dinner) and tribal life.
Once you get to grips with the idea of modern Saxons (I had quite a lot of fun imagining them) and that Britain never did any of the things it has (no Empire here, but plenty of African Brits still as instead empires have risen in Africa and the Middle East that weren’t conquered and oppressed and people still move around).
Then it’s also a crime novel – pairing Saxon detective Aedith with Celtic Inspector Drustan, as the victims are visiting Celts in town for a summit. Lovely political chaos on top of the killing kind.
Aedith has a lot to deal with, her dad’s the Earl of Mercia, which means a lot of people are hoping she messes up, and there’s pressure from him to do well, as he’s got his own schemes and ambitions. She’s also got to deal with the anti-Celtic sentiment, her new partner isn’t exactly subtle with his tattoos and accent.
I was fascinated by all the differences between history as we know it and a potential other version of events, and I love a good crime read, so this was a really good blend of fantasy and police procedural. Can’t wait to see how this develops and how the partnership between Aedith and Drustan continues.
Out now from all the usual places.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for reading and reviewing it, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 