Rating: 4 out of 5
‘Empire’s first installment sounded a bit weaker to me than my recollections of the previous series’. This could be due to an error on my part, remembering wrong what I thought of the previous ones, especially as I am at a loss to say what was missing. A gripping narrative interwoven with historical citations and the story of the development of Britain (and the modern world) doesn’t leave much to be said, if one appreciates that the level of detail will not be perfect if the subject matter spans five hundred years.
Even so, this is a wonderful beginning, looking first into Ireland and then into Virginia and other New England colonies, but not omitting the less lucky forays into Spain, Morocco, India and the Caribbean which (quite deservedly) are described more thoroughly than in many other mainstream narratives.
As such, the scope and breadth of this work can only be praised, and maybe what I was missing was the theme of the previous series’ which became dear to me by the end of the series. Echoes of the past, as they say…
