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THE DEVIL'S HIGHWAY
Three journeys. Three thousand years. One destination. The Devil’s Highway is a thrilling, epic and timely tale of love, loss, fanaticism, heroism and sacrifice. ‘Brilliant … a powerful meditation on the damages – and the good – we have wrought, and will wreak, on the living world’ Robert Macfarlane, Book of the Year His fingers fastened about Her stone. He brought it to the light and held it to his nose. There was lightning locked inside. He rolled the stone in his palm to give it the heat of his body. She had come to him, catching his eye where she lay among dull flints. She alone among the stones had spoken. An ancient British boy, discovering a terrorist plot, must choose between his brother and his tribe. In the twenty-first century, two men – one damaged by war, another by divorce – clash over their differing claims on the land, and a young girl is caught between them. In the distant future, a gang of feral children struggles to reach safety in a burning world. A Roman road, an Iron Age hill fort, a hand-carved flint, and a cycle of violence that must be broken. As gripping as it is dazzling, The Devil’s Highway is a bold and intimate novel that spans centuries and challenges our dearest assumptions about what it means to be civilised.
224 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 14, 2018
Andagin is hunting across a heathland in the south of Roman Britain two thousand years ago, but he is about to discover something that threatens him and his communities safety and means that he will have to betray a family member.
Two millennia later, two troubled men have a differing opinion over the same landscape that Andagin and the Roman occupiers once walked. Aitch, haunted by the effects of war wants to use it as he sees fit and Robbie's father struggling to cope with the fallout from a divorce is passionate about protecting it.
In a future world, a broken world where heathland has become desert. A gang of feral children flee slavery and conflict in a time of war, hiding from those pursuing them, heading to a part of the country where rain is believed to still fall from the sky.
These three stories all have a common trace, The Devil's Highway. A Roman road constructed across Bagshot Heath, to Sunningdale and to Silchester and beyond. The historical, contemporary and dystopian stories are layered and intrinsically linked by this terrain and the road that traverses it. It is a story that shows how humans over the course of 3000 years irreparably alter a landscape and a planet. We go from a tribe who are in tune with the natural world who have been taken over by invaders who couldn't care less, to a modern world where almost no one cares, to a bleak place where the planet has stopped caring back. I really liked the Roman and modern-day tales, though I must admit I struggled with the language with the mob of children set in the future though. The way that the stories were draped over the same landscape was really well done too, elements in one would be visible all the way through. I grew up in the vicinity of this area, so places in the book were very real to me. This book made me think a lot a couple of days after reading it and while I thought that mixing the stories up a chapter at a time was good, but I think for me it would have worked better having them as three separate novellas within the same book.
Two millennia later, two troubled men have a differing opinion over the same landscape that Andagin and the Roman occupiers once walked. Aitch, haunted by the effects of war wants to use it as he sees fit and Robbie's father struggling to cope with the fallout from a divorce is passionate about protecting it.
In a future world, a broken world where heathland has become desert. A gang of feral children flee slavery and conflict in a time of war, hiding from those pursuing them, heading to a part of the country where rain is believed to still fall from the sky.
These three stories all have a common trace, The Devil's Highway. A Roman road constructed across Bagshot Heath, to Sunningdale and to Silchester and beyond. The historical, contemporary and dystopian stories are layered and intrinsically linked by this terrain and the road that traverses it. It is a story that shows how humans over the course of 3000 years irreparably alter a landscape and a planet. We go from a tribe who are in tune with the natural world who have been taken over by invaders who couldn't care less, to a modern world where almost no one cares, to a bleak place where the planet has stopped caring back. I really liked the Roman and modern-day tales, though I must admit I struggled with the language with the mob of children set in the future though. The way that the stories were draped over the same landscape was really well done too, elements in one would be visible all the way through. I grew up in the vicinity of this area, so places in the book were very real to me. This book made me think a lot a couple of days after reading it and while I thought that mixing the stories up a chapter at a time was good, but I think for me it would have worked better having them as three separate novellas within the same book.
April 17, 2021
With the theme of climate change and specifically global warming this novel has 3 strands all set in the same area of Surrey but spread across 3 thousand years. The 1st is during Roman times where there's conflict between the Britons and the Romans. The 2nd in current times about a returned British army veteran of the Afghanistan campaign. The final one set at some time in the future where a small group of young people are trying to survive in a broken world of intense heat and breakdown of society
I didn't think the 3 stories connected as much as they could. The future storyline worked best with its use of its own argot which was quite effective at getting some emotional points across.
I didn't think the 3 stories connected as much as they could. The future storyline worked best with its use of its own argot which was quite effective at getting some emotional points across.
October 6, 2018
This was excellent! An ambitious novel - we get three timelines: ancient Briton, the present day, and a futuristic Mad Max-esque landscape in which England has gone to shit and is burning alive (thanks global warming!). I was reminded of Game of Thrones, The Buried Giant and Ridley Walker (which I haven't read). The ecological themes reminded me of "Beast" by Paul Kingsworth (another excellent book). Other themes include human connection to the land, what made Britons different from Romans (found this SO interesting!) the presence of foreigners, migrants, and strangers, the attractiveness of jiahd, the question of when to be kind, and violence. SO much violence. Ngl I began reading this w some trepidation (The historical voice seemed stiff, the futuristic voice is a bitch to read - fellow ADHD readers, you better being your A game and get ready to fuckin' FOCUS!). But.... once I got used to it I just lapped up the themes in this book like a spoon. I really enjoyed the scenes and motifs that link the different sections: like the flint stone, or the moment where someone drinks water. This made me feel v clever and involved as a reader. God, I was really moved at times! And kudos to the author - this is SHORT. Barely two hundred pages! Hell yeah to brutally efficient novels that don't drag on endlessly! I would highly recommend this.
February 28, 2018
Three Journeys. One Road.
Read More Book Reviews at It's Good To Read
At just over 220 pages, a timeline from approximately the first century AD through present-day to a future date (say five hundred years from now), and located firmly around Bagshot Heath in Surrey, UK, The Devil’s Highway aims to give a picture of slow degradation in both civilisation and environment.
There are three strands to the story, for the three slices of time, each with its own strong characters, but the constant backdrop is the Roman road and the heath, and a curious palm-sized stone, in the rough shape of a woman, possessed by at least one main character in each storyline.
Andagin is the young Celt, caught up in a Druidic rebellion movement not of his making, and his struggle to save his family (and by extension, his tribe). He is very much of and connected with the earth, living in harmony with his gods, and the cycle of nature. His main counterpart is the Decurion legionary Marcus Severus, who is part of the occupying force, and very Roman. Physically, Andagin is in perfect condition (e.g. greater stamina when running than Marcus).
Harry (or “Aitch”) and Bobbie are the two main characters in present-day England, a PTSD-affected returned veteran of Afghanistan and a 14-year old girl, whose father is trying to protect the Heath. Aitch, though a soldier, is beginning to run to fat.
The last storyline features a rag-tag group of migrants scavengers, living hand-to-mouth in the blasted landscape of “The Heave”, fearing the “juntamen”, slavers and virtually everyone not of their group. It is a world of “city-states” called steds, and life is cheap and precarious. These are not healthy people, nor do they expect long lives. They are looking for a sanctuary, which may be just a mirage.
It is a clever book, describing the decline of the world and the environment with subtlety (as above, through the decline in the overall well-being of the characters, the lessening of a sense of something spiritual in the stone), and overtly (from the deep and abundant forests of ancient Britain to the desolate future).
There is a lot of violence, most of it implied or potential, in each story, and each timeline has its own themes of family, trust and betrayal, love, loss fear and hatred, but the Road and the landscape is always there and, depending on the character’s perspective, dominant or passive. However, the road directs actions and decisions, the landscape works on the characters, even if they are not aware.
I did not like the future dialect of English, feeling it unnecessary and distracted from the story. We get that it is in the future, but there was a similar enough gap between the first two stories but the language remained the same.
There are no happy ever after endings in these stories, and holistically we see that, unless action is taken to be more aware (e.g. for Bobbie not to tear up pine trees), there will be no happy endings for anyone.
A good read, for me a three star.
Read More Book Reviews at It's Good To Read
At just over 220 pages, a timeline from approximately the first century AD through present-day to a future date (say five hundred years from now), and located firmly around Bagshot Heath in Surrey, UK, The Devil’s Highway aims to give a picture of slow degradation in both civilisation and environment.
There are three strands to the story, for the three slices of time, each with its own strong characters, but the constant backdrop is the Roman road and the heath, and a curious palm-sized stone, in the rough shape of a woman, possessed by at least one main character in each storyline.
Andagin is the young Celt, caught up in a Druidic rebellion movement not of his making, and his struggle to save his family (and by extension, his tribe). He is very much of and connected with the earth, living in harmony with his gods, and the cycle of nature. His main counterpart is the Decurion legionary Marcus Severus, who is part of the occupying force, and very Roman. Physically, Andagin is in perfect condition (e.g. greater stamina when running than Marcus).
Harry (or “Aitch”) and Bobbie are the two main characters in present-day England, a PTSD-affected returned veteran of Afghanistan and a 14-year old girl, whose father is trying to protect the Heath. Aitch, though a soldier, is beginning to run to fat.
The last storyline features a rag-tag group of migrants scavengers, living hand-to-mouth in the blasted landscape of “The Heave”, fearing the “juntamen”, slavers and virtually everyone not of their group. It is a world of “city-states” called steds, and life is cheap and precarious. These are not healthy people, nor do they expect long lives. They are looking for a sanctuary, which may be just a mirage.
It is a clever book, describing the decline of the world and the environment with subtlety (as above, through the decline in the overall well-being of the characters, the lessening of a sense of something spiritual in the stone), and overtly (from the deep and abundant forests of ancient Britain to the desolate future).
There is a lot of violence, most of it implied or potential, in each story, and each timeline has its own themes of family, trust and betrayal, love, loss fear and hatred, but the Road and the landscape is always there and, depending on the character’s perspective, dominant or passive. However, the road directs actions and decisions, the landscape works on the characters, even if they are not aware.
I did not like the future dialect of English, feeling it unnecessary and distracted from the story. We get that it is in the future, but there was a similar enough gap between the first two stories but the language remained the same.
There are no happy ever after endings in these stories, and holistically we see that, unless action is taken to be more aware (e.g. for Bobbie not to tear up pine trees), there will be no happy endings for anyone.
A good read, for me a three star.
February 21, 2018
The Roman road from London to Silchester - Londinium to Calleva Atrebatum - forms the spine of Gregory Norminton's novel, and, as The Devil's Highway, provides its title. Along this road, across three different time periods, stories of conflict and family play out.
First we have a story of Roman Britain, where a boy discovers his people are planning to strike back at the Romans - a futile act that can end only in retribution from their imperial occupiers. In the present day, a soldier back from Afghanistan struggles to adapt to civilian life, and gets caught up with an archaeologist and his daughter trying to preserve the heath along the Roman road. In an unspecified post-apocalyptic future, a group of escapees tries to run along the road to the imagined freedom of the West Country.
The stories are told in three skeins, past then present then future. Echoes of behaviour ripple across the time periods, and the stories are linked by the road and a stone talisman that appears in each time period. Conflict. Chase. Flight. The landscape sees the same things across the thousands of years, but each time the details are different.
Each section has its own charms. The Roman setting appealed to my historical tastes, and I enjoyed the linguistic trickery of the post-apocalyptic future, while the present day didn't engage me quite as much - but I've read reviews that disagree on which sections are more successful! Your mileage might vary. Taken as a whole, the stories played off each other nicely, and reinforced each other.
The Devil's Highway is a novel constructed of landscape and time, and sometimes the human beings that track across those four dimensions seem rather small and insignificant. But the road goes on.
First we have a story of Roman Britain, where a boy discovers his people are planning to strike back at the Romans - a futile act that can end only in retribution from their imperial occupiers. In the present day, a soldier back from Afghanistan struggles to adapt to civilian life, and gets caught up with an archaeologist and his daughter trying to preserve the heath along the Roman road. In an unspecified post-apocalyptic future, a group of escapees tries to run along the road to the imagined freedom of the West Country.
The stories are told in three skeins, past then present then future. Echoes of behaviour ripple across the time periods, and the stories are linked by the road and a stone talisman that appears in each time period. Conflict. Chase. Flight. The landscape sees the same things across the thousands of years, but each time the details are different.
Each section has its own charms. The Roman setting appealed to my historical tastes, and I enjoyed the linguistic trickery of the post-apocalyptic future, while the present day didn't engage me quite as much - but I've read reviews that disagree on which sections are more successful! Your mileage might vary. Taken as a whole, the stories played off each other nicely, and reinforced each other.
The Devil's Highway is a novel constructed of landscape and time, and sometimes the human beings that track across those four dimensions seem rather small and insignificant. But the road goes on.
January 8, 2018
The Devil's Highway is not a long book, but it is a full one, resonant with history and myth. Bouncing back and forth between three time periods—Roman Britain, the present day, and a far future of harsh drought and a return to brutality—it stays focused on one place: Bagshot Heath, in Surrey. Here, a young Celt, Andragin, tries to barter for mercy for his brothers by delivering a kidnapped decurion back to his legion; here, Harry, a soldier just back from Afghanistan, bumps into a young girl whose father is determined to preserve the heath at all costs; and here, a pack of feral children led by the ruthless Malk attempts to make it to "the West Cunny", where, it's rumoured, there is still rain. Norminton's evocation of the heath's atmosphere is superb: this book is less about individual people and their choices, and more about the ways in which a particular landscape can fate us. Each time period is linked to the others by a palm-shaped stone that resembles a crude carving of a woman, and which is so ancient that it's old even in Andragin's time. Norminton is a subtle enough writer to leave the connection at that (though we may draw our own conclusions about the relationship between the young Celtic warriors encouraged to their deaths by a religious mystic, and the jihadis whom Harry fights in modern-day Helmand), giving the book a feeling of David Mitchell tinged with Paul Kingsnorth's aesthetic. The futuristic sections are perhaps the least successful—there's only so many times authors can rehash wild-child Riddley Walker dialect—but the book as a whole is both bold and delicate, and quite unforgettable.
July 20, 2023
The only thing I enjoyed about this book was that the writing could be really poetic at times. Other than that, it flipped between too many perspectives and stories of different times so that it was hard to get to know any of the characters or even which character’s POV we were experiencing. The stories didn’t link together at all and made no sense. I just didn’t see the point to this book in the slightest- wouldn’t recommend at all.
1.5 stars
1.5 stars
June 15, 2021
I really wanted to like this book. It is very well written, and its message about how we've lost touch with nature, and therefore are the authors of our own demise, is clear and timely. Unfortunately, I can't stand books that have no ending and I would have much preferred one complete story, than three incomplete ones.
I also found the dystopian future a bit frustrating. Not because it's not possible, and not because it wasn't well written (I liked the evolution of language), but because in these dystopian futures women are always reduced to powerless child-bearers. It's like the hidden message is that women only have the freedoms, rights and achievements they have not because we deserve them, but because men allow them, and in times of struggle and stress of course that agency will be taken from us. Perhaps I'm naive but I like to think women are stronger and more capable than that.
All in all, I found this to be one of those literary books that promises much, delivers little, and fails itself in its ambitiousness.
I also found the dystopian future a bit frustrating. Not because it's not possible, and not because it wasn't well written (I liked the evolution of language), but because in these dystopian futures women are always reduced to powerless child-bearers. It's like the hidden message is that women only have the freedoms, rights and achievements they have not because we deserve them, but because men allow them, and in times of struggle and stress of course that agency will be taken from us. Perhaps I'm naive but I like to think women are stronger and more capable than that.
All in all, I found this to be one of those literary books that promises much, delivers little, and fails itself in its ambitiousness.
March 26, 2020
Interestingly compelling book. Three seemingly unrelated but totally related stories
July 16, 2018
Ambitious and bold in form and language, I love this kind of novel; engaging in deep time, not just one human lifespan. The section set in the future, with its unique language was probably the strongest for me, with the section set in Roman Britain the next strongest. I wanted it to be longer (which I think is the ultimate compliment to a book perhaps?!) and I wanted to know the characters even better, particularly those of the present day timeline, as I felt there was maybe more to be explored there, especially with regards to their relationship with their place, and how that might mirror that of a contemporary reader.
May 16, 2021
Original, disturbing, powerful. Three stories told in different periods of English history - Roman times, modern day and in the far future - anchored in the same terrain around an ancient roadway. I especially admired how deeply grounded in place this novel was - I could really hear and smell and see the place. The far future sections concern a group of feral children using a kind of fractured English. Initially I found these sections more of a challenge, but once I started to hear the language in my head, they became my favourite sections. I only wish I had more time with the characters - I wanted this book to go on longer.
April 13, 2018
I found this hard to get into, for such a short book. The future section is written in an incomprehensible patois that really needed concentration to make sense of. I liked the three stories, with a road, and an Earth Mother totem linking them, it was an interesting concept, Roman Britain, current-ish England with climate change taking hold, drought and fire risks, and then the future, hot, desert Mad Max style England where civilisation has broken down, with the return of tribalism and slavery...
August 22, 2020
Interesting but difficult to follow at times. Ending was a bit abrupt and that sort of shocked me... the stories kinda fizzled out one by one. That said, I understood the motif of the cyclical nature of how we all experience our own version of now and our connection to the landscapes we inhabit. I enjoyed that. Well worth the read and at times hard to put down! Only the ending lets it down and a few unanswered questions.
February 22, 2022
If there was a point to this book, I unfortunately missed it.
I enjoyed most of this book, but wasn’t keen on the futuristic chapters and this was mainly due to the style of writing for these chapters. It was written in the narrators dialect, which I found a little hard to read a la’ A Clockwork Orange with the somewhat made-up slang…
This is the first book I’ve ever read that mentions Ancient Briton too!
I enjoyed most of this book, but wasn’t keen on the futuristic chapters and this was mainly due to the style of writing for these chapters. It was written in the narrators dialect, which I found a little hard to read a la’ A Clockwork Orange with the somewhat made-up slang…
This is the first book I’ve ever read that mentions Ancient Briton too!
October 8, 2018
Three journeys on the same road, each one a thousand years apart. The stories intertwine through the book, which was well written, although the patois of the future times required concentration to follow at times.
February 13, 2022
i think the idea for this book was great, but the author didn’t manage to carry it out at all. based on the book description I thought I was going to like this weird little book, but I was quickly disappointed and struggled to even finish it
January 14, 2025
Loved the ambition of this novel - three stories in one. Felt the Celtic and future sections were particularly successful. It’s conjured lives and landscapes that will stay with me a long time. Will definitely seek out more by this author.
March 5, 2025
I came across this book by accident while researching the history of my local area. It was fascinating to follow 3 different time lines which mention places that I am familiar with and that I walk in everyday. It is very well written and I found the narration of the audio book spot on.
April 30, 2020
went nowhere again. idk what the style of book is calld when it just narrates ppls lives but dear god ! not for me
June 7, 2025
This was a dystopia, set in one specific place but three different times, with continuing links and themes, and quite distressing just because it’s so realistic. But that last chapter! It needs to be read more than once. Many readers dislike the ending, apparently, but I thought it brilliant. It makes the strongest point in almost a mythic way.
November 9, 2025
A haunting story of three different times set over 2000+ years all set in the same place. The devil's Highway morphs from the Roman Road in the past to 'Davy's Way" in the future. But the way this story is written is what makes it accessible and forces you to think about now, 2025.
There are several leitmotifs or symbols that help link each story to the others.
The already ancient handheld stone in Roman times is a talisman through all three eras, but is it to keep people safe or a symbol of the unending violence that people, have been, are now and in the future will use to wreck the peace of everyone who just wants to get on with living? At times it is described as if it is Palaeolithic statue of a stylised woman, which only adds to the mystery.
Roads of course feature prominently. They say here is 'civilisation', they say go this way don't deviate, they become a symbol of a way out of terror in the future, where it might be raining. They take you away from nature onto a hard surface.
The Heath is the other constant where wildlife and flora nurture, protect and provide until humans wreck the planet with climate change, pollution. and, too many of us. Then the heath is a violent blasted, heated dry place of no redemption.
Language is also an important feature: the Roman story has Latin versus old Briton, the people living in the valleys and hills who eye the road building with suspicion. Two worlds colliding with little that either could understand.
The language in the 21st C is already starting to break down and echo the violence of death and war because what words can you use to describe jihadists happy to die and kill, forcing the troops in Afghanistan to develop very brutal responses. No-one is really saved.
In the future language is spoken not written. The words are truncated, phonetic, harsh but, they still show their meanings. However you must focus as if you are reading a foreign language.
All 3 stories finish on the Heath, the unspoken, unending witness to the violence, stupidity of clashing views. But there are moments where people love and care for each but there seems no real language for this.
The final chapter was a challenge. I read it twice before I understood it and then felt nothing but sadness and a sense of terrible waste.
I remember once having a really interesting discussion about 'what is the point of fiction?' in my English classroom. The answer: to tell the truth when you can't put it into fact and make people read it. And in 2025 this is incredibly true and the truth is dying out under an onslaught of lies, deliberate and intended false truths, and all through a social media that is so fast that no-one can keep track of anything. In this story Norminton calls now the 'fast time'. Indeed in the future people are reduced to making flints to survive - a full circle back to 50000 years ago, as if it all crashed so abruptly humans were left with nothing. Is Norminton saying that humans never learn, never look back to change the present and want the future so badly that they are prepared to rip 'civilisation' to shreds to get it? I was left with the feeling that in places on this planet we are already in his benighted, ruthless dead world in the future and the world is so ruined that it truly is the endpoint.
All three stories, regardless that they are each short, have really well written characters who can be related to. Andagan and Marcus Severus are strong interesting characters in the first story. The second story is perhaps with less characters to sympathise with, possibly because they are coping with modern isolating issues but can still be understood. The feral children in the future form themselves into a little group of care and support. Perhaps humanity will outlive 'civilisation'.
A hard and difficult read that left me feeling a little without hope for systems but some hope for one human reaching out to another. However this is very much a worthwhile read that will stay with me for awhile.
There are several leitmotifs or symbols that help link each story to the others.
The already ancient handheld stone in Roman times is a talisman through all three eras, but is it to keep people safe or a symbol of the unending violence that people, have been, are now and in the future will use to wreck the peace of everyone who just wants to get on with living? At times it is described as if it is Palaeolithic statue of a stylised woman, which only adds to the mystery.
Roads of course feature prominently. They say here is 'civilisation', they say go this way don't deviate, they become a symbol of a way out of terror in the future, where it might be raining. They take you away from nature onto a hard surface.
The Heath is the other constant where wildlife and flora nurture, protect and provide until humans wreck the planet with climate change, pollution. and, too many of us. Then the heath is a violent blasted, heated dry place of no redemption.
Language is also an important feature: the Roman story has Latin versus old Briton, the people living in the valleys and hills who eye the road building with suspicion. Two worlds colliding with little that either could understand.
The language in the 21st C is already starting to break down and echo the violence of death and war because what words can you use to describe jihadists happy to die and kill, forcing the troops in Afghanistan to develop very brutal responses. No-one is really saved.
In the future language is spoken not written. The words are truncated, phonetic, harsh but, they still show their meanings. However you must focus as if you are reading a foreign language.
All 3 stories finish on the Heath, the unspoken, unending witness to the violence, stupidity of clashing views. But there are moments where people love and care for each but there seems no real language for this.
The final chapter was a challenge. I read it twice before I understood it and then felt nothing but sadness and a sense of terrible waste.
I remember once having a really interesting discussion about 'what is the point of fiction?' in my English classroom. The answer: to tell the truth when you can't put it into fact and make people read it. And in 2025 this is incredibly true and the truth is dying out under an onslaught of lies, deliberate and intended false truths, and all through a social media that is so fast that no-one can keep track of anything. In this story Norminton calls now the 'fast time'. Indeed in the future people are reduced to making flints to survive - a full circle back to 50000 years ago, as if it all crashed so abruptly humans were left with nothing. Is Norminton saying that humans never learn, never look back to change the present and want the future so badly that they are prepared to rip 'civilisation' to shreds to get it? I was left with the feeling that in places on this planet we are already in his benighted, ruthless dead world in the future and the world is so ruined that it truly is the endpoint.
All three stories, regardless that they are each short, have really well written characters who can be related to. Andagan and Marcus Severus are strong interesting characters in the first story. The second story is perhaps with less characters to sympathise with, possibly because they are coping with modern isolating issues but can still be understood. The feral children in the future form themselves into a little group of care and support. Perhaps humanity will outlive 'civilisation'.
A hard and difficult read that left me feeling a little without hope for systems but some hope for one human reaching out to another. However this is very much a worthwhile read that will stay with me for awhile.
March 3, 2018
Review originally posted on The Bibliophile Chronicles.
This is a fascinating little book that explores three different journeys at different time periods. At just over two hundred pages that’s quite a lot of ground to cover, but this short read is well paced and full of history and imagination. Spanning across three thousand years, all three perspectives have one destination in mind: The Devil’s Highway.
The three different time settings show life in Britain at completely different times. One is kind of present day setting featuring a young solider returned from Afghanistan, attempting to find a way to live a normal life as a civilian. There is also a future wasteland in which much of what we know of society has broken down, including speech. Finally there is a Roman perspective, in which a group of rebels are attempting to launch an attack on their Roman overseers.
Each story feels realistic and well thought out, the characters are well portrayed and Norminton subtly weaves the similarities between each time period, while still making them feel unique and interesting. Although I enjoyed reading all three, I found the story of the Romans and the Celts to be the most fascinating.
I did find the wasteland future perspective a little difficult to enjoy, the breakdown of language makes it a bit of a difficult read, and that took away some of my enjoyment of the story. Overall I found this an engaging and enjoyable read. The Devil’s Highway is a really original read, and one that manages to pack a lot into such a small space. If you’re looking for a book that is clever and subtle, this should definitely be your next read.
This is a fascinating little book that explores three different journeys at different time periods. At just over two hundred pages that’s quite a lot of ground to cover, but this short read is well paced and full of history and imagination. Spanning across three thousand years, all three perspectives have one destination in mind: The Devil’s Highway.
The three different time settings show life in Britain at completely different times. One is kind of present day setting featuring a young solider returned from Afghanistan, attempting to find a way to live a normal life as a civilian. There is also a future wasteland in which much of what we know of society has broken down, including speech. Finally there is a Roman perspective, in which a group of rebels are attempting to launch an attack on their Roman overseers.
Each story feels realistic and well thought out, the characters are well portrayed and Norminton subtly weaves the similarities between each time period, while still making them feel unique and interesting. Although I enjoyed reading all three, I found the story of the Romans and the Celts to be the most fascinating.
I did find the wasteland future perspective a little difficult to enjoy, the breakdown of language makes it a bit of a difficult read, and that took away some of my enjoyment of the story. Overall I found this an engaging and enjoyable read. The Devil’s Highway is a really original read, and one that manages to pack a lot into such a small space. If you’re looking for a book that is clever and subtle, this should definitely be your next read.
April 22, 2022
Not quite sure what the intention was at the end of this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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