REHupa

Every once in a while you find a book that grabs you and holds you until the end. The Year of the Horsetails by R. F. Tapsell is one of those. I first heard of this book reading a review by L. Sprague de Camp in an old issue of Amra. Readers of this site know that I have some problems with de Camp but I generally agree with his book reviews. De Camp hemmed and hawed about this book but in the end gave it barely passing grade. He thought the military aspects took up too much of the book. I decided to track down a copy and read it.

     The book takes place probably in Russia or Ukraine in an unspecified time. Some online sites say between the time of Attila and Genghis Khan. Actually it can be narrowed down. Bardiya, a refugee Saka tribesman escapes a death sentence from the Mongolian “Tugars.” He comes across a Slavic tribe, the Drevich and decided to throw in his lot with them. Bardiya warns the Drevich that the Tugars are coming their way and nothing will be left after they are done.  Bardiya teaches the Slavic Drevichians on steppe warfare and how to counter the well disciplined steppe raiders. There are several wonderful battles. One battle in the open is the best I have ever read of an infantry army on one side and a mounted light cavalry on the other. As to time– the novel is probably between the time of the Czech revolt against the Avars and rise of the Kieven Rus which would place the novel between the 7th and 9th Centuries A.D. (I don’t use the Common Era designation). My guess is the place is the area where the Carpathian Mountians meet the steppes of Ukraine. De Camp thought the novel took place in the Ural Mountains. The Slavs hadn’t pushed that far east for the time frame I have placed the story.  The writer, R. F. Tapsell, wrote three novels and a book on royal dynasties. He is an Englishman and was in military intelligence with the Royal Air Force specializing in Eastern Europe. It shows in this novel with proper use of terms and familiarity with the cultures. The book never drags and keeps up the adrenaline right up to the last paragraph. I couldn’t put it down. It is in my top five list for books that should be reprinted along with Gordon D. Shirreffs’ Calgaich the Swordsman and Don Tracy’s The Black Amulet. The book is without humor and very grim in tone. That is probably why de Camp was not enthusiastic about the book. Copies do show up on E-bay very sporadically. I upgraded my copy and am circulating my original among friends. If you ever wonder how the Robert E. Howard fragment, “The Shadow of the Hun” turns out, The Year of the Horsetails gives you an idea.