Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm Knight Hardy here on a mission to ensure that all works on YWS has at least two reviews. You will probably never see this but....Imma do this anyway.
First Impression: So...I have to admit I only vaguely know who Atila the Hun is and have never heard of this Pope Leo so the historical context for this is something I just don't know enough of to actually comment on so that won't be there. Besides that, this seems a fairly straightforward. It seems like just a bit of a monologue by this Pope who is about to face a dangerous enemy and he's just reassuring himself and trying to look for a solution. And that's fine. It doesn't really have a plot to it but it presents it idea pretty well.
Anyway let's get right to it,
He is close, Leo thought. He had worked too hard creating order and peace within his own lands to let it go to shambles under the likes of such a man. He knew he would have to go before the vile barbarian before he came and ravaged his city. The Huns were a ferocious and wild bunch. They were led by the foul Attila, the man who had led his despicable armies through Europe destroying most of what lie in their path. It was unfortunate indeed. France had been mercilessly pillaged; he knew his city would come to the same fate if he didn’t intervene. But what would his words mean to this savage? Why would he take audience with the leader of Christianity?
Okay kind of a long monologue there to start things off but then its based off one idea so for this instance having a large opening paragraph is fine.
Well, he was the Pope after all. Wasn’t that enough? Not only did he have the support of all the people of Europe, but he had forces with which to combat the invaders. No, he knew. There were not enough. The Hun army was enormous. There would be no stopping it if it were to attempt to take Rome. He would have to try the diplomatic route.
That sounds like a pretty smart move there. Like I said earlier I don't really know about the historical context of this except in vaguest of descriptions so I'll just judge it as a regular story.
He would have little time before the scourge of God would reach the gates of Rome, less than a year. He needed to stop the violence where it was located now. If he had any chance of saving his city, surely it was through his superior negotiating skills. He would have this barbarian on his knees! His words would inspire divine intervention. The Lord would surely not allow such brutality upon him and his followers. Yet Leo already knew that this was not the case. Attila had already unleashed his men upon many poor countless Christians. Many had died, so many had died. Now he knew it was up to him to save the rest of his people and his city. Rome shall not fall, he thought, never shall it fall.
Definitely sounds like a fairly uplifting thing to be saying and thinking about. So that's nice.
“Get the men and horses ready. We shall meet with this savage fellow and see if he means business. The people of Christianity will be ever under God’s watchful eye, but Rome, I fear, will not be so lucky. God willing, I will be able to save the city and the people. We travel north. Already he has fouled the lands of Italy. We shall stop him there.”
“Yes, your Holiness. I shall give the orders myself,” Prosper answered.
“Excellent,” Leo added, “may God help us in these dark hours."
And onward they went.
Aaaaand that's it for this one.
Overall: This was a pretty decent piece. It was definitely heavy on the large monologue style paragraphs so it was slightly bland because there wasn't anything in there besides the exposition to break them up. If there were a couple of humorous points or if this was broken into smaller chunks it would be much better and easier to read. At any rate I think the humor is probably not appropriate here so spreading out that large monologue would be the best choice here.
As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.
Stay Safe
Harry
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Reviews: 4102
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