...Historical fiction? A fantastic story?.. Perhaps both. The book is written as a completely traditional adventure-historical novel with all its indispensable attributes - a twisted plot, court and political intrigues, scenes of battles and tournaments, a detailed depiction of the historical background, life and customs of the era, complex, sometimes confusing and ambiguous relationships between the characters - well, and of course, with love. At the same time, a fantastic element is implicitly present on the pages of the book. These are not sorcerers with dragons, not aliens from other worlds, and not even guests from the future, seeking to change their past. Fantasy lies at the very core of the plot, in that very historical background. In “The Prince of Gaul,” the fruit of the author’s imagination is not only individual characters and situations, but the entire history of medieval Europe from the time of the fall of Rome until the mid-15th century, when the events described in the novel take place. The author offers the reader his view of our past, but does not try to convince him of anything, but simply advises to consider other possibilities of historical development and decide for himself what we missed, and what, on the contrary, we benefited from the fact that history turned this way, and not somehow differently.