The Lightning Horse (Empire at Twilight Book 1) by N.L. Holmes – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

The Lightning Horse by N.L. Holmes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tiwatipara is a charioteer, working for the Hittite King Hatusshili, as his father and grandfather have done before him. He loves caring for the great horses who pull the chariots, as well as the chariots themselves. Tipa drives the chariot of the crown prince, the eldest son and probable heir of the King.
And then a tragedy occurs: while racing, Tipa’s grandfather is severely injured and his father is killed in an accident while driving the king. When Tipa discovers that the chariot had been sabotaged, his life’s purpose becomes finding the saboteur and exacting revenge.
This is the basic plot line for the rest of the book, but mostly, there is a lot of world-building and so many unusual names – of people, cities, and nations. If a reader pronounces words in their heads as they read, the reading will be slowed to a crawl by the difficulty of doing so w/ the unusual names. The intertwined relationships amongst the books characters are also difficult.
That being said, the descriptions of charioteering, marching armies, and battles are pretty thrilling. Constant heartbreak for Tipa – and an unexpected, huge plot twist – keep one reading. The major flaw in the plot – besides the difficult names – is that the saboteur of the king’s chariot is so glaringly obvious as to remove most suspense from the novel.
I read the Kindle version of the novel, in which the author’s notes, acknowledgements, and a glossary of names were at the end of the book. It would have been most helpful to have read them all first, as many of the people and conflicts delineated in the book are actually historical. This information elevated the number of stars that I will assign the book to 3.4 stars, rounding down to 3.

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