Blog Tour and Book Review: Promised Valley Rebellion by Ron Fritsch

About the Book:

Prehistoric farmers inhabit a fertile river valley they believe their gods promised them in return for their good behavior and obedience. Their enemies, hunters roaming the mostly barren hills beyond the mountains enclosing the valley, believe their gods gave it to them.
When the farmers’ king refuses to allow the marriage of the coming-of-age prince to the daughter of the farmer who saved the king’s life in the last war with the hunters, her brother decides he has to help his sister and the prince, his boyhood friend, correct the flagrant injustice.

That decision leads them and their youthful allies into a rebellion against the king and his officials, who rule the kingdom from their bluff-top town. The far more numerous farmers in the villages below, who despise the officials but not the king, and who admire the prince, are in a position to determine whether the rebels will succeed or face execution for treason.

About the Author:

Ron grew up in rural northern Illinois. His father and mother were poor but hard-working tenant farmers who loved to read. So did the rest of the family.
Planting and harvesting, they lived by the seasons as much as our prehistoric ancestors had.

Because he inherited the gift of a good memory he obtained a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Illinois (major: history; minor: English literature) and a law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Early in his career, the persons in charge of the prestigious law firm where I worked became aware that I was gay. They’d insisted to him how “liberal” they were, but he soon realized—beyond the veil of a “farm boy” innocence he’d willfully kept in place too long—they were apparently still very much stuck in their times.

After his abrupt dismissal from the upper reaches of the legal profession, he became a public-service attorney representing indigent and disabled persons, and—at the end and most challenging part of his work—abused and neglected children.

All during his life as a lawyer, he spent most of his time writing arguments on behalf of his clients, in the trial courts as well as the higher appeals courts. Despite his careful legal reasoning, which he considered my trump card, he wasn’t above resorting to sarcasm and ridicule—sometimes, perhaps, excessively.

He’s writing and publishing a tetralogy asking whether history and civilization might’ve begun and proceeded differently than they did. He’s doing it not because he hopes to become rich and famous but because he wishes to share his story with the world.

For more information about Ron, you can visit his website at www.promisedvalley.com

My Opinion:

This is a tough one. I enjoyed the story and the mythology of the peoples but the names! The names drove me nigh on insane. It was so hard to keep track of Blue Eyes and Peaceful Harvest let alone remember which one was male or female. OY! Perhaps it was just too much for my old brain. Maybe if I had read it before the aneurysm sent my memory down the tubes - I don't know. But all the trying to keep track of who was who and which was which truly detracted from the basic story for me.

The story is age old; love thwarted for reasons unknown. To the elders keeping the lovers apart it is all for good reasons. To the lovers and their supporters there is no logical reason for them to be kept apart. No logical explanations are given and THEY ARE IN LOVE!

The book sets up the next in a planned set of four books detailing a possible start to civilization. I am just glad I am not named Bad Brain.

Promised Valley Rebellion is available at Amazon.com

Disclosure:  I received a copy of Promised Valley Rebellion gratis from Pump Up Your Book Promotions. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.