The Evening of the World: a Romance of the Dark Ages

by Allan Massie

The Evening of the World  is set in the period of the barbarian invasions. Its hero is a young Roman nobleman named Marcus, who undergoes extraordinary experiences as he searches for meaning and stability in a twilight world where the old gods are dead or dying, and the new religion is threatened by new barbarisms. Marcus's journeys take him over the empire, from Italy to Greece and Byzantium, to the camp of Alaric the Goth and the wastes of the northern forests, from a Christian monastery to the horde of Attila the Hun. His is a world where everything is possible and nothing solid, a world that is full of danger and mystery, of love and terror, of simple faith and abstruse philosophy, of cruelty, strange perversions, treachery, and undaunted courage.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Allan Massie was a Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist. He was one of Scotland's most prolific and well-known journalists, writing regular columns for The Scotsman, The Sunday Times (Scotland) and the Scottish Daily Mail. He was the author of nearly 30 books, including 20 novels. He is notable for novels set in the distant past and Vichy France.

Reviews

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book.
Presented as a “found manuscript” written by Michael Scott, a fable for his pupil the Emperor Frederick 2nd. Occasional asides from previous “editors”, a templar and a Rosicrucian.
Many digressions in the picaresque style, many anachronisms, some hints at the grail. The hero from the same mould as Percival.
Having been reading medieval romances recently I found it odd, this tries at times to be a pastiche of these types of works but keeps falling back to more modern styles of storytelling.
Entertaining enough though.

[João Roque · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allan Massie é um escritor de que gosto muito até porque os livros que tenho lido dele são relacionados com a História, que é para mim um assunto de imenso interesse. Já li dois dos livros sobre os imperadores de Roma, ainda tenho três para ler. E li “O Rei David” que muito me agradou.
Parti para esta leitura um pouco de pé atrás já que o período medieval, a idade das trevas, é a que menos me atrai na história da humanidade.
Trata-se do primeiro livro de uma trilogia sobre a Idade Média, centrada num jovem que faz uma aprendizagem da vida numa longa viagem pelos vastos territórios do ainda império romano, já decadente e que o narrador procura fantasiar com variadíssimos episódios nem sempre bem integrados e dos quais o próprio se penitencia.
Enfim, um período sombrio da História que encontra numa narrativa também muito cinzenta, o complemento para não me entusiasmar e que só logra as três estrelas pelo muito apreço que nutro pelo autor. Tenho pena de não encontrar os dois livros que se lhe seguem, pois seria interessante saber se Massie consegue sair do novelo em que se envolve neste livro. E o que mais me desagrada é que as referidas “fantasias” utilizadas parecem tão pouco verosímeis que, para quem, como eu, prezo muito o romance histórico, me parece quase blasfemo.
Venham dai os imperadores romanos que me faltam ler, e são os mais importantes, para reabilitar este escritor, que continuo, apesar de tudo, a admirar.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allan Massie, pe care Gore Vidal îl numea „maestrul romanului istoric de demult”, este un jurnalist renumit de origine scoţiană, autorul a peste 20 de cărţi. Scrierile sale se axează pe trecutul îndepărtat şi clasa de mijloc, cele mai de succes lucrări fiind biografiile unor figuri politice de vază din Roma: Augustus, Tiberiu, Marc Antoniu, Caligula, Nero, Cezar.

Prima parte a unei trilogii, acţiunea din Fiul Arhanghelului Mihail este setată în ultimele zile ale Imperiului Roman, în perioada invaziilor barbare, şi la răscrucea dintre păgânism şi creştinism, dintre vechii zei şi cei noi, urmărind aventurile unui tânăr pe nume Marcus. Despre descendenţa acestuia ni se spune ca ar fi una nobilă, pe linie maternă înrudindu-se cu zeiţa Venus. Paternitatea este, în schimb, destul de nesigură şi controversată, unii susţinând că tatăl este Stilicho, marele general vandal. Alţii cred cu tărie că acest copil fusese conceput cu Arhanghelul Mihail.

Recenzia completa o puteti citi aici:
http://www.azicitesc.com/fiul-arhangh...

[Moureco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Desinteressante qb, não passa de um pastiche de mitos gregos, episódios romanos do fim do império do Ocidente, e lendas medievais mais ou menos conhecidas, tudo isto já lido e relido noutros livros e com outros contextos mais aliciantes. Aborreceu-me mas não o pousei porque queria livrar-me dele. E surpreendeu-me que Massie, um autor que já me proporcionou tantas excelentes leituras, tenha tentado o romance de aventuras com tão pouco sucesso.

[Cătălin Lupu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fire narative alambicate, haotice, nu înțelegi unde vrea sa ajunga. Personajele nu sunt bine închegate, nu iti trezesc decat sentimente sporadice. Ultimele 100 pagini le-am citit pe sărite.

[Bohemian Book Lover · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Told in the medieval Romance style of a knight's/
*Hero's quest, THE
*EVENING OF THE WORLD is an

*Epic fable narrated by three
*Voices: the main one that of the medieval mage, scholar & philosopher, Michael Scott written for the
*Edification of his pupil, the future ruler, Frederick II; the others are of
*Nameless, esoteric/hermetic commentators/editors, adding footnotes to the "supposedly found" manuscript.
*It kept my interest & curiosity
*Needing to know what crisis/fate/experience/lesson would be awaiting next for the protagonist, Marcus, & the motley, chanced-upon companions he collects along his journeys & missions: from the
*Gothic sack of a glory-sapped Rome, to the mercurial cesspool

*Of Constantinople; across a Roman Empire literally on its last legs.
*Filled to the brim with references

*To bygone legends, myths, Greek tragedy, pagan religion, early heretical & radical, ascendant Christianity, etc.
*Here we have an immensely
*Eclectic historical metafiction/fantasy,

*Where the sacred & the profane, the religious & the secular rub shoulders, & aren't always
*On good terms. I personally feel that the
*Richness of the book was to be found in the wealth of mythological & classical literature that it employed on various, anecdotal occasions; as well as the philosophical digressions & esoteric expositions. I didn't particularly
*Like the homoeroticism that
*Dominated most of the narrative. I felt it to be overly emphasised & unnecessary at times. Overall, it was an unusual, yet enriching reading experience, which began to flag somewhat before the open-ended conclusion.

[Joanne Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read. I remember liking it more first time around but I had forgotten everything about it.

[Chiefdonkey Bradey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The magic of ancient names - the deeds of heroes - the glamour of myth

[cayteye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Struggled to keep going but got into it in the end.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Allan Massie's novels on the lives of the Roman Emperors, and so had high hopes for this story set in the declining years of the Empire. From the blurb on the back cover, I was expecting another fairly straightforward historical novel, and no indication was given of out-and-out oddness of its construction. I think this confusion added to my dissatisfaction with the story.

In fact, the 'narrator' is the thirteenth-century scholar Michael Scot, who therefore presents fifth century history as a medieval romance, replete with anachronistic knights and castles. The protagonist Marcus undertakes fabulous adventures, meeting mythical characters such as the Wandering Jew, sorceresses and fairies living in a green mound. There are lengthy digressions on mythical subjects and religious questions, but it is never clear whether the author is directing us towards a particular answer or standpoint. Is all this argument meant to be steering us towards some conclusion, or is it all just laid out for our amusement?

On a related note, there are strong hints of disgust at the female body throughout the novel. While I find this highly distasteful, I don't understand whose viewpoint this is meant to be - the modern day author's, the thirteenth century scholar's or the fifth century Roman's? In reality, I think that we can see from their art works that the people of the ancient world saw beauty in both the male and female aspects of the human form.

On the whole, I was baffled as to the point of the exercise, other than as a display of the author's cleverness. The prose itself was well executed, and it was a flowing read, but other than this it was ultimately very unsatisfactory.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being historically inaccurate and overly fanciful does not always ruin a work of historical fiction but it truly hurt this one. The story never really got going and the changes in scenery combined with numerous anachronisms made the story confusing and uninteresting. The addition of fantasy sequences and the number of characters that are introduced for short periods of time and then disappear further muddle the story.

[Cezarina Anghilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reading experience. For a complete review (in Romanian) you can visit this page

[Steven Raszewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, #1 of the Massie trilogy