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speesh's reviews
416 reviews
A Traitor's Fate by Derek Birks
4.0
We’re back in the 15th Century, England, the Wars of The Roses and our main man, Ned Elder now 23, is with the Yorkists - being a landowner, a Lord, from Yorkshire, ‘Yoredale,’ as he is and all. He’s still got problems up to his eyeballs. He’s still got a feud to deal with, a threat of death hanging over his head, a castle to get back to, a wife to rescue and very little money. But he is ‘rich’ where it really matters; he has a close family and a handful of faithful friends around him.
What ‘Fate’ does, is move away from the armies and the more formal set-pieces of the larger, nationwide struggle, between the forces of York and Lancaster. That is in the background, mostly. Book One, ’Feud,’ started with the feud (!) and moved outwards to involve the characters in the big picture. What ATF does and does very well, is to turn round and look back into its story, concentrating on what started the whole story rolling, that feud between the Elders, half-Elders and the Radcliffes.
Set in and around a part of England, Yorkshire, I know well (having lived there for 26 years), there are twists and turns, suspicions and deceptions, deaths being stared in the face and improbably rescues a-plenty. There are bloody battles on a grand scale and desperate skirmished in forests and fords. Nasty characters (mostly) get their just desserts, but well-loved characters also reach the end of the line, story-wise. It’s non-stop from the get-go, but with periods of reflection and a level of writing that is a forward step even from what was a fabulous first book.
I did think it was a bit long. It wouldn’t have suffered from being a little shorter, more compact. I can’t quite think what should have been cut out, maybe a bit of the to-ing and fro-ing in the forests towards the end - but then I’m not a writer, just a reader. I also thought that some of the - admittedly more minor - character’s deaths were unnecessary. For the story development, even long-term, or for the enjoyment value. Some writers seem to think almost that they have no control over where the story will lead and that the death of a well-loved minor character, is therefore unavoidable. I can understand this. And I can’t. Some writers seem to enjoy the killing off of some characters as occurring purely because it is pleasurable for them. It's all very well liking something, liking doing something, like saying you just killed off a main character, or a minor loved one, trying maybe to shock your audience, certainly to tantalise them (into buying the next book). However, you have to, in the final end - and this is your job - take a step back and say 'does it work?' Not 'do I like doing it?' subjective, but 'does it work?' objective.
There were a few deaths here, that were avoidable. And that leads me to my other criticism - it was all bit unnecessarily bloody. It's all very well and may indeed reflect the troubled and violent times and as one of the characters says, surely speaking to the writer; “You’re good at bloody chaos, I’ll give you that, my lord.” Yeah it happened, yeah it 'has' to go in, but - quite so often? So much? I’m with that it was bloody, that appealing things went on, but I don’t want to get battle fatigue just reading the book! The characters might have suffered, but the story wouldn’t have from leaving some of it out. Maybe that’s what could have been left out? Some of the hacking and the slicing and the wading through the pools of blood.
Through familiarity, with the characters, the story, the period and the author, it obviously can’t quite have the same punch in the face affect that the first (‘Feud’) had. It is to DB’s credit, that he doesn’t try and do the same again. There’s no doubt this is a middle of a trilogy (or fourology, actually) story, though, somehow, it doesn’t actually read like one underway. It is pretty self-contained and I do remember thinking it would be possible to read this, not having read the first - but why deny yourself that pleasure, eh? Then by the end of it, with all the threads hanging loose (dripping blood, probably), you’ll be ordering number three. Like me. And the fourth, what seems to the the final book in the saga, is on the old writing desk as we speak, probably while the good Mr Birks looks though his drawers for blotting paper. Not for ink blotches, for the blood.
What ‘Fate’ does, is move away from the armies and the more formal set-pieces of the larger, nationwide struggle, between the forces of York and Lancaster. That is in the background, mostly. Book One, ’Feud,’ started with the feud (!) and moved outwards to involve the characters in the big picture. What ATF does and does very well, is to turn round and look back into its story, concentrating on what started the whole story rolling, that feud between the Elders, half-Elders and the Radcliffes.
Set in and around a part of England, Yorkshire, I know well (having lived there for 26 years), there are twists and turns, suspicions and deceptions, deaths being stared in the face and improbably rescues a-plenty. There are bloody battles on a grand scale and desperate skirmished in forests and fords. Nasty characters (mostly) get their just desserts, but well-loved characters also reach the end of the line, story-wise. It’s non-stop from the get-go, but with periods of reflection and a level of writing that is a forward step even from what was a fabulous first book.
I did think it was a bit long. It wouldn’t have suffered from being a little shorter, more compact. I can’t quite think what should have been cut out, maybe a bit of the to-ing and fro-ing in the forests towards the end - but then I’m not a writer, just a reader. I also thought that some of the - admittedly more minor - character’s deaths were unnecessary. For the story development, even long-term, or for the enjoyment value. Some writers seem to think almost that they have no control over where the story will lead and that the death of a well-loved minor character, is therefore unavoidable. I can understand this. And I can’t. Some writers seem to enjoy the killing off of some characters as occurring purely because it is pleasurable for them. It's all very well liking something, liking doing something, like saying you just killed off a main character, or a minor loved one, trying maybe to shock your audience, certainly to tantalise them (into buying the next book). However, you have to, in the final end - and this is your job - take a step back and say 'does it work?' Not 'do I like doing it?' subjective, but 'does it work?' objective.
There were a few deaths here, that were avoidable. And that leads me to my other criticism - it was all bit unnecessarily bloody. It's all very well and may indeed reflect the troubled and violent times and as one of the characters says, surely speaking to the writer; “You’re good at bloody chaos, I’ll give you that, my lord.” Yeah it happened, yeah it 'has' to go in, but - quite so often? So much? I’m with that it was bloody, that appealing things went on, but I don’t want to get battle fatigue just reading the book! The characters might have suffered, but the story wouldn’t have from leaving some of it out. Maybe that’s what could have been left out? Some of the hacking and the slicing and the wading through the pools of blood.
Through familiarity, with the characters, the story, the period and the author, it obviously can’t quite have the same punch in the face affect that the first (‘Feud’) had. It is to DB’s credit, that he doesn’t try and do the same again. There’s no doubt this is a middle of a trilogy (or fourology, actually) story, though, somehow, it doesn’t actually read like one underway. It is pretty self-contained and I do remember thinking it would be possible to read this, not having read the first - but why deny yourself that pleasure, eh? Then by the end of it, with all the threads hanging loose (dripping blood, probably), you’ll be ordering number three. Like me. And the fourth, what seems to the the final book in the saga, is on the old writing desk as we speak, probably while the good Mr Birks looks though his drawers for blotting paper. Not for ink blotches, for the blood.
Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø
3.0
It’s got to be said at the start that I have no idea why it’s called ‘Cockroaches.’ What the significance might be, passed me by. I kept trying to think of something under way, but it wouldn’t come.
Anyway, it was more enjoyable - for me - than the first one (’The Bat’), though it is still tricky to see why Jo Nesbø, apart from him being Norwegian, has decided to write about a Norwegian detective. There’s nothing here that needs the ‘hero’ to be Norwegian (the fact that it is a Norwegian person’s death, in Thailand, that sparks it all off and therefore, for reasons I’ve either forgotten, or weren’t made clear, or were too dull, requires a Norwegian detective being sent out there, aren’t the strongest). There isn’t any particular nuance that only a Norwegian could bring to the investigation, no particularly Norwegian world-view that provides the key to unlocking the case, no 57 words for snow…or any of that. My idea for why it’s a Norwegian detective sent out first to Australia, then Thailand, are all to do with the publisher’s desire to have an international success with a Norwegian author, than - as stated above - writing a series of books exploring the uniquely Norwegian way of looking at crimes. Even what made him reasonably different last time out, being an alcoholic, isn’t brought out much here. He struggles a few times, but - thankfully for my enjoyment as I thought the alcoholic detective angle has been done to death before, was intensely dull and didn’t add anything to ‘The Bat’ - it doesn’t cause him any more trouble than a headache or two.
I also tried my best to think of why he’s set it in Bangkok. And here’s my best punt at it: Scandinavians love Thailand. No idea why. But they do, trust me, I live in Denmark and they all say they ‘dream’ of going there, if they haven’t yet. And all the ugly, social misfit blokes go there and come back with wives. I’ve seen them, here, in the airport last weekend, everywhere. I’m guessing Norwegians are the same. So the publisher said “to get sales here off the ground, so we can put ’The New Stig Larsson’ on the cover, we need to sell a few copies here - set it in Thailand!” Ker-Ching! Then the subsequent ones are set in Norway, sales are set fair in Norway and people outside of Norway, who’ve heard of Stig Larsson, pick up his books thinking he’s the new one.
So, Norway’s ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a Bangkok brothel with a knife in his back. Murder is suspected, as it would be, dead in a brothel, knife in back. They shine the Norway sign on a cloud and whaddaya know, but Harry Hole duly is the only one they can spare to send out there. You’re gonna read that and read ‘Hole’ as ‘…in the ground,’ no amount of Holé, as it was in the first one, or ‘Holler’ as they try here, is gonna change that. There’s some interesting pieces about adjusting to the climate and the Thai way of ‘doing things’ and then investigation follows the lines of the first one. Lots of clues, maybe clues and not clues. Getting no where. Nearly time to go back. Breakthrough. There are some nice turns of phrase here and there, though it is of course in translation. Though you never know how much has been lost, or gained, in translation. And I've not read it in Norwegian. I probably could do. I read and speak Danish and Norwegian is largely the same, just with different in pronunciation. Trust me on that.
My problem here was that the final explanation for whodunnit and why, was so unnecessarily convoluted, turning as it did on the ins and outs of high finance, that I kind of glazed over. I was scratting around trying to find something for my mind to catch hold of and never really did. The fact is, I’d say that JN knows it and knows you won’t have figured out the why, even if you have at least figured out the who, because Harry H has to spend several pages explaining it to us…erm, I mean explaining it to the Thai police chief. Always both bad sign and a sign of a writer unsure if his reader can be trusted with going along with it all. Though, the angle I thought it would take, it didn’t, so I’ve got to give it marks for surprising me. But how much, I don’t really know, as I couldn’t tell you now who the perpetrator was. Never mind.
It does then all end a bit meh. It could have done without the free association and the talking about something completely different. Then the epilogue - two ‘chapters' of it - is pointless. All it does do is take the edge off me thinking this was much better than the first I really must get hold of number three. Now I'm not so sure. More substance, less style required next time out.
Anyway, it was more enjoyable - for me - than the first one (’The Bat’), though it is still tricky to see why Jo Nesbø, apart from him being Norwegian, has decided to write about a Norwegian detective. There’s nothing here that needs the ‘hero’ to be Norwegian (the fact that it is a Norwegian person’s death, in Thailand, that sparks it all off and therefore, for reasons I’ve either forgotten, or weren’t made clear, or were too dull, requires a Norwegian detective being sent out there, aren’t the strongest). There isn’t any particular nuance that only a Norwegian could bring to the investigation, no particularly Norwegian world-view that provides the key to unlocking the case, no 57 words for snow…or any of that. My idea for why it’s a Norwegian detective sent out first to Australia, then Thailand, are all to do with the publisher’s desire to have an international success with a Norwegian author, than - as stated above - writing a series of books exploring the uniquely Norwegian way of looking at crimes. Even what made him reasonably different last time out, being an alcoholic, isn’t brought out much here. He struggles a few times, but - thankfully for my enjoyment as I thought the alcoholic detective angle has been done to death before, was intensely dull and didn’t add anything to ‘The Bat’ - it doesn’t cause him any more trouble than a headache or two.
I also tried my best to think of why he’s set it in Bangkok. And here’s my best punt at it: Scandinavians love Thailand. No idea why. But they do, trust me, I live in Denmark and they all say they ‘dream’ of going there, if they haven’t yet. And all the ugly, social misfit blokes go there and come back with wives. I’ve seen them, here, in the airport last weekend, everywhere. I’m guessing Norwegians are the same. So the publisher said “to get sales here off the ground, so we can put ’The New Stig Larsson’ on the cover, we need to sell a few copies here - set it in Thailand!” Ker-Ching! Then the subsequent ones are set in Norway, sales are set fair in Norway and people outside of Norway, who’ve heard of Stig Larsson, pick up his books thinking he’s the new one.
So, Norway’s ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a Bangkok brothel with a knife in his back. Murder is suspected, as it would be, dead in a brothel, knife in back. They shine the Norway sign on a cloud and whaddaya know, but Harry Hole duly is the only one they can spare to send out there. You’re gonna read that and read ‘Hole’ as ‘…in the ground,’ no amount of Holé, as it was in the first one, or ‘Holler’ as they try here, is gonna change that. There’s some interesting pieces about adjusting to the climate and the Thai way of ‘doing things’ and then investigation follows the lines of the first one. Lots of clues, maybe clues and not clues. Getting no where. Nearly time to go back. Breakthrough. There are some nice turns of phrase here and there, though it is of course in translation. Though you never know how much has been lost, or gained, in translation. And I've not read it in Norwegian. I probably could do. I read and speak Danish and Norwegian is largely the same, just with different in pronunciation. Trust me on that.
My problem here was that the final explanation for whodunnit and why, was so unnecessarily convoluted, turning as it did on the ins and outs of high finance, that I kind of glazed over. I was scratting around trying to find something for my mind to catch hold of and never really did. The fact is, I’d say that JN knows it and knows you won’t have figured out the why, even if you have at least figured out the who, because Harry H has to spend several pages explaining it to us…erm, I mean explaining it to the Thai police chief. Always both bad sign and a sign of a writer unsure if his reader can be trusted with going along with it all. Though, the angle I thought it would take, it didn’t, so I’ve got to give it marks for surprising me. But how much, I don’t really know, as I couldn’t tell you now who the perpetrator was. Never mind.
It does then all end a bit meh. It could have done without the free association and the talking about something completely different. Then the epilogue - two ‘chapters' of it - is pointless. All it does do is take the edge off me thinking this was much better than the first I really must get hold of number three. Now I'm not so sure. More substance, less style required next time out.
The Iron Castle by Angus Donald
4.0
Another really excellent, action-packed, riveting read from Angus here. Superbly well-planned and executed, with all the highs and lows you’re looking for in your fighting historical fiction. ‘The Iron Castle' certainly doesn’t disappoint (unless, perhaps, you’re looking for Robin, in Sherwood, the Sheriff of Nottingham et al). It begins in 1203, in what is now France, at the end of the time of England’s possession of the French territories that came with the Norman Conquest. There is an absolutely superb Historical Note at the end that you really should stay on for. Angus could easily write (a) wonderful Non-Fiction history book(s) in the future. The majority of the action, takes place in and around the siege of the ‘Iron Castle’ of Chateau Galliard as Alan and Robin are there to help save the castle from being captured by the French and thereby help King John save Normandy (Interestingly, only King John is the same as the character we know and loathe from the Robin Hood of legend, books and films). It is a tense struggle, full of incident and really well and effectively written for the action taking place in relatively confined spaces. It is also book looking at the concept of a man’s honour and the dependancy on it to the extent that someone hides behind their honour to cover their own shortcomings or to excuse their wrong-doings. Robin might say “A man’s honour is the most important of his possessions” but Alan (standing in for us) experiences it in quite a different, more realistic way.
I'd say you can read this as a stand-alone book and not think you needed to have read the previous five. But if you haven't read the previous five, this'll show you much of what you're missing.
I'd say you can read this as a stand-alone book and not think you needed to have read the previous five. But if you haven't read the previous five, this'll show you much of what you're missing.
The Emperor's Knives by Anthony Riches
2.0
There should be some sort of drinking game, the sort of thing I’m sure Anthony Riches would approve of, based on all the eyebrow raising going on in his books, Especially ‘The Emperor's Knives.' You take a drink every time a character raises his eyebrows (I say ‘his,’ because the affliction does seem to be limited to the male characters in the books. Not that there are many female characters here or in any of the books so far. Offhand, I can think of four. Marcus’s wife, the other wife who used to be a brothel owner, the sister of a character in ‘The Wolf’s Gold’ and assorted prostitutes who are not featured long enough to be named). The trouble with the game would be - you be pissed before you got out of the prologue. Okay, maybe that’s being a little harsh - Chapter 1 then.
Now that the shock of the new has worn off, it's clear that by now, book 7, the writing is really quite dreadful. Toe-curlingly, amateurishly bad in (many) places. Now that they're in Rome, it's not possible to have quite so many set-piece, pitched battles. So we're getting into the seamier side of Roman double-dealing. Words. Don't mean what they say, don't say what they mean. So, instead of swords and spears having the cutting edge, it's words and meanings. Or, it would have been in the hands of a better writer. I’m maybe being a little harsh on poor Anthony, having come to TEK off the back of a couple of almost exquisitely well written books (‘A Colder War’ and ‘Natchez Burning'), but even compared to some of the recent books I've read recently from his own genre ('Vespasian II' or 'The Lion & The Lamb'), then this really isn't up to it. Nowhere near.
And, I don’t do the whole Marcus haunted by his ancestors appearing several times a night, every night, in his dreams. And speaking to him. Not at his will, but theirs’. Doesn’t happen. Outside of books.
But, on with the bit I enjoy. The piss-taking. The raised eyebrow-count has, by book 7, reached epidemic levels. The characters in ’The Emperor’s Knives Strike Back’ haven’t progressed to the rolling of eyes, yet. That’s surely the province of the reader as he/she comes across YET another one, either as part of a cluster, or merely an isolated, inappropriate example, standing out like the balls on a bulldog.
Eyebrows this time out, include such beauties as;
“Scaurus raised an eyebrow at the younger man.”
“Sigilis raised an eyebrow.”
“He pondered Scaurus’ turned head and raised eyebrow for a moment before speaking again.”
“He raised an eyebrow and waited, keeping his face utterly immobile…” (You try that).
“Sigilis raised an incredulous eyebrow.”
“He shot Marcus a knowing glance and then raised a questioning eyebrow at Scaurus…”
“Albinus raised his eyebrows in mock terror.”
And those are just in the FIRST CHAPTER.
Best of the rest:
“His first spear raised a knowing eyebrow”
Even the kids are at it by Chapter 4. "The child raised an expectant eyebrow.”
"Dubnus raised an amused eyebrow..."
"His counterpart raised a disbelieving eyebrow."
“Cleander raised a conspiratorial eyebrow.”
“…his eyebrows raised for emphasis.”
Scaurus is still the one with the most raised eyebrows in the series, in fact, his eyebrows are rarely NOT raised. But he outdoes even his previous best, with, while pausing, “raising an interrogatory eyebrow.”
“Mortiferum raising an amused eyebrow as he slid his feet across the sand…” He’s not dancing, he’s making sure he doesn’t fall over anything in the arena.
Coupled with characters constantly inclining, bobbing and shaking their heads, often in recognition of each other’s ‘points’, sometimes inside the same conversation, it reads like watching the mating dance of the Great Crested bleeding’ Grebe at times.
“He raised an eyebrow Saurus, who acknowledged the point with a nod.”
“Cleander inclined his head in recognition of the point.”
Then, it just gets ridiculous:
On page 133: “Exingus waited for a moment, allowing Albinus to speak again if he so wished, but the other man simply fixed him with a hard stare and raised his eyebrows.
‘Continue.’
‘As I said, this was no suicide. Aquila and that brute of a centurion who accompanies him everywhere, jumped Centurion Dorso and his men on the street, killed the bodyguards, and dragged Dorso into his private residence. They murdered him in a most gruesome way, dousing him with oil before setting light to him.’
Albinus raised his eyebrows in horror, staring up at the trees above them.”
He was probably looking for wherever it was his eyebrows had flown off to, as there’s no indication that they had come down from the previous time they shot up, just a shade over 18 seconds previously as I read it. And the trees? Where else would they be, if not above them, given Albinus has stared upwards? But, that’s TWO times a character raises his eyebrows inside 9 lines! Not 9 chapters, pages, or even 9 paragraphs. 9 LINES. Tell me, in all honesty, that that doesn’t stand out like a turd in a swimming pool? Tell me you don’t think his Editor is missing something. Like their sight.
Actually, struggling to play catch up on the faces of Romans everywhere in Anthony Riches’ Rome, is now the ‘pursing’ of lips. They’re all at it as a sign of everything from deep thought, to inner turmoil, to estimation of how expensive that repair work is going to be (oh, wait, that was the plumber we had round recently). Pursing of the lips is obviously Anthony Riches’ new black.
“Sigilis pursed his lips.”
“He looked up at the four men around the table, pursing his lips in amusement…””
“Sigilis pursed his lips.”
(A slight variation) “The accusing finger turned to point at the senator, who pouted back at him…” POUTED?!
“The informer shrugged again and pursed his lips…”
“…and Scaurus pursed his lips as…”
“He pursed his lips and stared at Marcus for a moment.”
Most of those were in THE FIRST CHAPTER!
The constant eyebrow raising and pursing of lips (though to be fair, I can’t actually recall a character doing both at the same time, maybe I should give it an extra half-star for that?) is like the Roger Moore Fan Club, on a drunken night out, just wandered into a Larry fucking Grayson convention (you maybe need to be British to get that one). The rest of you, look at the pictures (you need to visit my website).
And what do I mean by ‘the repeats’, the repeats. Well, try this little gem (from the Arena announcer) on for size:
“We are watching a scene from the divine Emperor Trajan’s war against the Dacians, a piece of history well known to any man who fought in that bitterly fought campaign”.
Or; “Julianus allowed his breath to hiss slowly and almost imperceptibly from between his teeth, the tension slowly ebbing from his body as he realised…”
Oh, for FUCK’S sake!
Maybe the worst. Ever. The worst ever combination. Page 258, at the end of one scene, the start of another (hence the gap in the quote below):
“Come on, we can eat these as we go. Follow me and I’ll show you a place you only want to visit once.
Once outside the domus’s sprawling property, Scaurus raised an eyebrow at his first spear.”
The ultimate unholy alliance, the perfect storm. An eyebrow following a crazy, avoidable repeat.
But…even that George Clooney of a storm of inanity is bested by this:
P320: “…the champion threw himself into one last frenzied attack…”
Followed straight on with:
“His swords swinging almost incoherently as he stepped forward.”
(‘Incoherently’?! Incoherently; "incoherent |ˌinkōˈhi(ə)rənt, ˌiNG-, -ˈher-| adjective1 (of spoken or written language) expressed in an incomprehensible or confusing way; unclear: he screamed some incoherent threat.• (of a person) unable to speak intelligibly:I splutter several more times before becoming incoherent.• (of an ideology, policy, or system) internally inconsistent; illogical: the film is ideologically incoherent.2 Physics (of waves) having no definite or stable phase relationship.DERIVATIVES incoherence noun.incoherency noun (pl. incoherencies) .incoherently adverb.” How ironic)
Ahem… on with the show:
P320 (FOUR lines later): “…in what was left of Flamma in one last glorious, fleeting display…”
P320 (SEVEN lines later): “Parrying one last desperate lunge inside…”
P320 (SEVEN lines later): "…smashing one last titanic back-fisted blow…”
P321 (32 lines later): “…agreed to give Cleander one last fatal day in the arena.”
Thats FIVE inside 47 lines.
How on God’s green earth is someone writing that, someone checking that and letting it go and then someone else not noticing it whilst reading the whole sorry mess? AND keeping their job? Well, blogging isn’t actually a job, I know, but THE REST OF YOU?!!
Quite apart from the fact that Anthony Riches should notice, or at least get a slight tingle of déjà vu as he writes “*Insert character name, usually Scaurus, here* raised an eyebrow” (with or without a description of what kind - ‘jaundiced’ is becoming increasingly popular if the last two volumes are anything to go by), what about his editor of the publishing people? I have mused before about how I've read enough authors' Tweets and Facebook poses stating (something like) "book written, sending it off to editor.' Then there come posts describing how they’re now working through the list of suggestions changes and what even an author will more often than not describe as ‘improvements.’ So, why doesn’t Anthony Riches’ editor at Hodder and Whathaveyou, notice and pick him up on - at least - some of the eyebrows and repeats? Looking at Anthony Riches’ not exactly welcoming profile picture on the book jacket, maybe he/she’s too frightened of him to say anything. Or blind. There is NO WAY they couldn’t have noticed (there’s probably even a Braille version). I did and I work in a hospital. Cleaning (amongst other things, I hasten to add) cancer patients’ toilets. Writing or reading books isn’t MY ONE JOB. But, what about other reviewers? The Sunday Times has reviewed it (I think I saw), why didn’t THEY mention something that stands out like a pimple on your backside? DO they notice them? Not in any of the reviews I searched just now. But the things are on just about every bloody page. You’d have to be blind (or Anthony Riches’ Editor) not to notice them. Are they reading the books carefully enough? Are they reading the books? Or are they just re-typing out the press release that comes along with their review copy? I know what I think.
So, is it ‘just me’? No.
They are there, on the page, in black on white, in the book in front of us. Those I’m quoting are quotes from the book in front of me, I’m not making them up, they won’t go away. They are partly noticeable because they are NOT found in other books. I’m nearly finished with ’Natchez Burning’ and in 800-odd pages, ONLY THREE sets of raised eyebrows. NONE in Charles Cumming’s ‘A Colder War.’ That’s THREE in over 1200-odd pages. Here, we’ve sometimes got three A PAGE. It isn’t ‘just me,’ you know it. Sure, I do notice ’this sort of thing.’ To do so was a large part of my job back in Advertising. I had to - amongst other things - write copy, check copy, edit copy, check addresses, phone numbers and repeated words. They should not go through. Not if we wanted to get paid, that is. So, I notice them. But no more than you do, admit it. Read the book, open a page at random, tell me I’m wrong.
They DO matter. They DO tear attention away from an otherwise reasonably interesting story. Let’s get this straight. The idea and aims behind the story are good and well founded enough. It is in many ways a more developed, even intricate (well, intricate for the ‘Empire’ novels) story. It’s just that the execution, if you’ll forgive the pun, is so poor, that it serves to obscure, in a storm of eyebrows shooting here and there, a veritable Mexican wave of spreading arms (indicating supplication, apology and sometimes something else), a lemon-growers tasting-party of pursed lips and a Great Crested Grebe’s mating dance of inclining and nodding of heads, that it’s hard to take seriously. Despite the otherwise solid foundation.
From a possible five stars. Minus one for the eyebrows. Minus one for the pursed lips. Minus one star for the constant spreading of arms and hands. Minus one star for all the stupid repeats. Minus one star because the editor let them all go. Minus one star for falling back into the noble Gladiator, the ‘sheep.’ bastards,’ ‘rabble’ in the arena who watch them. Plus one star for the solid story foundations and one star for me, because I’ve made it all the way to book seven. One star for you if you read all this way. That’s 2 stars.
Look. What does he care? I bought this in hardback then listened to it on Audible. So I’ve paid twice. I’m fully entitled to my opinions. They’re based on OWNING the bloody thing twice - and MY EYES.
As I say, there does seem to be a decent semblance of a story and signs of an increase in confidence and ambition to the book, but it’s struggling to come to the surface. However, the inanity and laziness means it’s drowning, not waving.
Now that the shock of the new has worn off, it's clear that by now, book 7, the writing is really quite dreadful. Toe-curlingly, amateurishly bad in (many) places. Now that they're in Rome, it's not possible to have quite so many set-piece, pitched battles. So we're getting into the seamier side of Roman double-dealing. Words. Don't mean what they say, don't say what they mean. So, instead of swords and spears having the cutting edge, it's words and meanings. Or, it would have been in the hands of a better writer. I’m maybe being a little harsh on poor Anthony, having come to TEK off the back of a couple of almost exquisitely well written books (‘A Colder War’ and ‘Natchez Burning'), but even compared to some of the recent books I've read recently from his own genre ('Vespasian II' or 'The Lion & The Lamb'), then this really isn't up to it. Nowhere near.
And, I don’t do the whole Marcus haunted by his ancestors appearing several times a night, every night, in his dreams. And speaking to him. Not at his will, but theirs’. Doesn’t happen. Outside of books.
But, on with the bit I enjoy. The piss-taking. The raised eyebrow-count has, by book 7, reached epidemic levels. The characters in ’The Emperor’s Knives Strike Back’ haven’t progressed to the rolling of eyes, yet. That’s surely the province of the reader as he/she comes across YET another one, either as part of a cluster, or merely an isolated, inappropriate example, standing out like the balls on a bulldog.
Eyebrows this time out, include such beauties as;
“Scaurus raised an eyebrow at the younger man.”
“Sigilis raised an eyebrow.”
“He pondered Scaurus’ turned head and raised eyebrow for a moment before speaking again.”
“He raised an eyebrow and waited, keeping his face utterly immobile…” (You try that).
“Sigilis raised an incredulous eyebrow.”
“He shot Marcus a knowing glance and then raised a questioning eyebrow at Scaurus…”
“Albinus raised his eyebrows in mock terror.”
And those are just in the FIRST CHAPTER.
Best of the rest:
“His first spear raised a knowing eyebrow”
Even the kids are at it by Chapter 4. "The child raised an expectant eyebrow.”
"Dubnus raised an amused eyebrow..."
"His counterpart raised a disbelieving eyebrow."
“Cleander raised a conspiratorial eyebrow.”
“…his eyebrows raised for emphasis.”
Scaurus is still the one with the most raised eyebrows in the series, in fact, his eyebrows are rarely NOT raised. But he outdoes even his previous best, with, while pausing, “raising an interrogatory eyebrow.”
“Mortiferum raising an amused eyebrow as he slid his feet across the sand…” He’s not dancing, he’s making sure he doesn’t fall over anything in the arena.
Coupled with characters constantly inclining, bobbing and shaking their heads, often in recognition of each other’s ‘points’, sometimes inside the same conversation, it reads like watching the mating dance of the Great Crested bleeding’ Grebe at times.
“He raised an eyebrow Saurus, who acknowledged the point with a nod.”
“Cleander inclined his head in recognition of the point.”
Then, it just gets ridiculous:
On page 133: “Exingus waited for a moment, allowing Albinus to speak again if he so wished, but the other man simply fixed him with a hard stare and raised his eyebrows.
‘Continue.’
‘As I said, this was no suicide. Aquila and that brute of a centurion who accompanies him everywhere, jumped Centurion Dorso and his men on the street, killed the bodyguards, and dragged Dorso into his private residence. They murdered him in a most gruesome way, dousing him with oil before setting light to him.’
Albinus raised his eyebrows in horror, staring up at the trees above them.”
He was probably looking for wherever it was his eyebrows had flown off to, as there’s no indication that they had come down from the previous time they shot up, just a shade over 18 seconds previously as I read it. And the trees? Where else would they be, if not above them, given Albinus has stared upwards? But, that’s TWO times a character raises his eyebrows inside 9 lines! Not 9 chapters, pages, or even 9 paragraphs. 9 LINES. Tell me, in all honesty, that that doesn’t stand out like a turd in a swimming pool? Tell me you don’t think his Editor is missing something. Like their sight.
Actually, struggling to play catch up on the faces of Romans everywhere in Anthony Riches’ Rome, is now the ‘pursing’ of lips. They’re all at it as a sign of everything from deep thought, to inner turmoil, to estimation of how expensive that repair work is going to be (oh, wait, that was the plumber we had round recently). Pursing of the lips is obviously Anthony Riches’ new black.
“Sigilis pursed his lips.”
“He looked up at the four men around the table, pursing his lips in amusement…””
“Sigilis pursed his lips.”
(A slight variation) “The accusing finger turned to point at the senator, who pouted back at him…” POUTED?!
“The informer shrugged again and pursed his lips…”
“…and Scaurus pursed his lips as…”
“He pursed his lips and stared at Marcus for a moment.”
Most of those were in THE FIRST CHAPTER!
The constant eyebrow raising and pursing of lips (though to be fair, I can’t actually recall a character doing both at the same time, maybe I should give it an extra half-star for that?) is like the Roger Moore Fan Club, on a drunken night out, just wandered into a Larry fucking Grayson convention (you maybe need to be British to get that one). The rest of you, look at the pictures (you need to visit my website).
And what do I mean by ‘the repeats’, the repeats. Well, try this little gem (from the Arena announcer) on for size:
“We are watching a scene from the divine Emperor Trajan’s war against the Dacians, a piece of history well known to any man who fought in that bitterly fought campaign”.
Or; “Julianus allowed his breath to hiss slowly and almost imperceptibly from between his teeth, the tension slowly ebbing from his body as he realised…”
Oh, for FUCK’S sake!
Maybe the worst. Ever. The worst ever combination. Page 258, at the end of one scene, the start of another (hence the gap in the quote below):
“Come on, we can eat these as we go. Follow me and I’ll show you a place you only want to visit once.
Once outside the domus’s sprawling property, Scaurus raised an eyebrow at his first spear.”
The ultimate unholy alliance, the perfect storm. An eyebrow following a crazy, avoidable repeat.
But…even that George Clooney of a storm of inanity is bested by this:
P320: “…the champion threw himself into one last frenzied attack…”
Followed straight on with:
“His swords swinging almost incoherently as he stepped forward.”
(‘Incoherently’?! Incoherently; "incoherent |ˌinkōˈhi(ə)rənt, ˌiNG-, -ˈher-| adjective1 (of spoken or written language) expressed in an incomprehensible or confusing way; unclear: he screamed some incoherent threat.• (of a person) unable to speak intelligibly:I splutter several more times before becoming incoherent.• (of an ideology, policy, or system) internally inconsistent; illogical: the film is ideologically incoherent.2 Physics (of waves) having no definite or stable phase relationship.DERIVATIVES incoherence noun.incoherency noun (pl. incoherencies) .incoherently adverb.” How ironic)
Ahem… on with the show:
P320 (FOUR lines later): “…in what was left of Flamma in one last glorious, fleeting display…”
P320 (SEVEN lines later): “Parrying one last desperate lunge inside…”
P320 (SEVEN lines later): "…smashing one last titanic back-fisted blow…”
P321 (32 lines later): “…agreed to give Cleander one last fatal day in the arena.”
Thats FIVE inside 47 lines.
How on God’s green earth is someone writing that, someone checking that and letting it go and then someone else not noticing it whilst reading the whole sorry mess? AND keeping their job? Well, blogging isn’t actually a job, I know, but THE REST OF YOU?!!
Quite apart from the fact that Anthony Riches should notice, or at least get a slight tingle of déjà vu as he writes “*Insert character name, usually Scaurus, here* raised an eyebrow” (with or without a description of what kind - ‘jaundiced’ is becoming increasingly popular if the last two volumes are anything to go by), what about his editor of the publishing people? I have mused before about how I've read enough authors' Tweets and Facebook poses stating (something like) "book written, sending it off to editor.' Then there come posts describing how they’re now working through the list of suggestions changes and what even an author will more often than not describe as ‘improvements.’ So, why doesn’t Anthony Riches’ editor at Hodder and Whathaveyou, notice and pick him up on - at least - some of the eyebrows and repeats? Looking at Anthony Riches’ not exactly welcoming profile picture on the book jacket, maybe he/she’s too frightened of him to say anything. Or blind. There is NO WAY they couldn’t have noticed (there’s probably even a Braille version). I did and I work in a hospital. Cleaning (amongst other things, I hasten to add) cancer patients’ toilets. Writing or reading books isn’t MY ONE JOB. But, what about other reviewers? The Sunday Times has reviewed it (I think I saw), why didn’t THEY mention something that stands out like a pimple on your backside? DO they notice them? Not in any of the reviews I searched just now. But the things are on just about every bloody page. You’d have to be blind (or Anthony Riches’ Editor) not to notice them. Are they reading the books carefully enough? Are they reading the books? Or are they just re-typing out the press release that comes along with their review copy? I know what I think.
So, is it ‘just me’? No.
They are there, on the page, in black on white, in the book in front of us. Those I’m quoting are quotes from the book in front of me, I’m not making them up, they won’t go away. They are partly noticeable because they are NOT found in other books. I’m nearly finished with ’Natchez Burning’ and in 800-odd pages, ONLY THREE sets of raised eyebrows. NONE in Charles Cumming’s ‘A Colder War.’ That’s THREE in over 1200-odd pages. Here, we’ve sometimes got three A PAGE. It isn’t ‘just me,’ you know it. Sure, I do notice ’this sort of thing.’ To do so was a large part of my job back in Advertising. I had to - amongst other things - write copy, check copy, edit copy, check addresses, phone numbers and repeated words. They should not go through. Not if we wanted to get paid, that is. So, I notice them. But no more than you do, admit it. Read the book, open a page at random, tell me I’m wrong.
They DO matter. They DO tear attention away from an otherwise reasonably interesting story. Let’s get this straight. The idea and aims behind the story are good and well founded enough. It is in many ways a more developed, even intricate (well, intricate for the ‘Empire’ novels) story. It’s just that the execution, if you’ll forgive the pun, is so poor, that it serves to obscure, in a storm of eyebrows shooting here and there, a veritable Mexican wave of spreading arms (indicating supplication, apology and sometimes something else), a lemon-growers tasting-party of pursed lips and a Great Crested Grebe’s mating dance of inclining and nodding of heads, that it’s hard to take seriously. Despite the otherwise solid foundation.
From a possible five stars. Minus one for the eyebrows. Minus one for the pursed lips. Minus one star for the constant spreading of arms and hands. Minus one star for all the stupid repeats. Minus one star because the editor let them all go. Minus one star for falling back into the noble Gladiator, the ‘sheep.’ bastards,’ ‘rabble’ in the arena who watch them. Plus one star for the solid story foundations and one star for me, because I’ve made it all the way to book seven. One star for you if you read all this way. That’s 2 stars.
Look. What does he care? I bought this in hardback then listened to it on Audible. So I’ve paid twice. I’m fully entitled to my opinions. They’re based on OWNING the bloody thing twice - and MY EYES.
As I say, there does seem to be a decent semblance of a story and signs of an increase in confidence and ambition to the book, but it’s struggling to come to the surface. However, the inanity and laziness means it’s drowning, not waving.
Fire & Steel by C.R. May
5.0
There are some book covers that you see and think 'I just got to read that!’ You know it. For me, this was one of them. However, the real test, is can 'Fire & Steel' deliver on the undoubted high promise of its cover? Oh yes, it can. And then some.
'Fire & Steel' is an absolutely magnificent, thrilling, poignant, invigorating and inspiring book. The first thing you note is the quality of the writing. Rich and rewarding, clear and engaging, full of nuance and with an eye for the telling detail, whether it be in the landscape, actions, or conversation. It is books of this calibre, that will elevate Historical Fiction up to the literary level it deserves to be at. My first encounter with the work of C. R. May, but not the last, that I can promise you.
First, a word of warning: It will pay you to study the map at the front a while before you start the reading. Or have it bookmarked for quick reference. Might even be an idea to print it out to refer to now and again. Why? Well, that’s because while the book is based on real history, from a real historical period, he has kept/used the original place names. And 'original place names' means, as far as I can grasp, the names as they were known to the people of the areas involved in his story, at the time. Allowing for the changes in language and alphabet, etc, of course. So, for example, thanks to having lived myself in Denmark for close on 12 years now(!), I had to get the map out a couple of times to make sure when I read 'Harrow,' I thought Fyn (and it's not pronounced anything like how you've just 'heard’ it in your head). It is sometimes a little confusing and I wondered (mostly to myself) if he hadn’t made a mistake in doing it like this. However, further thought revealed, no, it isn’t a mistake. Why? Because the places and their names we know them by now, didn’t exist in the form we now know them, even from the history books, at the time he is writing of. So, doing it this way, is absolutely spot on and even a genius stroke, once you get used to it. I’m guessing that what he’s saying, by calling them ‘English’ and - while we’re in their original homeland of what is now southern Denmark, northern Germany - mentioning similar-sounding place names and other words, is, that these people brought much of what is seen as English culture, over to what was at the time Britannia, with them.
The story concerns, as I say, the people of Engeln, their king and the hero of this book, Eofer ‘King’s Bane’ (thanks to him killing a king up Sweden way). He has been over in Britannia, travelling around Britannia, looking at where they are thinking of moving their people to, the east, what is now East Anglia (think about it). However, it won’t be as easy as just packing up and moving lock stock and floating barrel over the North Sea, to a warm welcome from the inhabitants. There are those who are already resident in Britannia who would dispute, who are disputing, the English’s right to be there. However, that would seem to be for a future story, as this one moves back with Eofer to Engeln and concerns itself with their dispute with the Jutes and, especially, the Danes. The English can see which way the wind is blowing in the future and are taking a pragmatic decision to move over, however, there are certain matters that need sorting with the Danes before they can think about moving their peoples out of harm’s way.
As I said above, this is Historical Fiction of the very highest standard - an absolute all-enveloping pleasure to read and learn from. The period in which it is set can be a little tricky at first, I think. I’m guessing that most people who read books of this genre, will be reasonably well up on the Vikings, from the tv series, if nothing else. So, as with the other books I’ve read recently set in this period and concerning these peoples ('Wulfsuna' by E. S. Moxon and the first two in 'The Bernicia Chronicles' by Matthew Harffy), talk of the gods, Woden, Thunor, the ‘Allfather,' spirits and heroes that you thought were the Viking’s exclusive property, can cause some head-scratching. Until…you realise, what CRM, ESM and MH are saying and showing very well, is that this is, these are, the peoples who brought belief in those gods and spirits and heroes both to Scandinavia and Britain. To develop the learning-curve feeling, that in a way was how it was with reading this book. A little like my confused historical mist clearing and the story coming through. The added tantalising confusion for me, in the early stages at least, was the fact that 'Fire & Steel' mostly takes place on continental Europe, rather than in Britain, as were 'Wulfsuna' and 'The Serpent Sword.'
I really cannot overstate how wonderful 'Fire & Steel' is, or what an indecently good pleasure it was to read. Quite possibly the most enjoyment you can have with your clothes on. If he says he's invented time-travel and been back to 500-odd, I for one, will believe him.
What more can I say?
It's going to be a long time before I read another book set in a similar era and not picture the landscape, characters and world C. R. May has created here. There are going to be a lot more well-known Historical Fiction authors taking a look at this book and be wishing they’d written it. And if they don't, they should do. This is a book the likes of friends Cornwall, Kristian and Low, would give their eye-teeth to have written. I can not praise this book highly enough, and I cannot imagine I will read a better written, more involving, more inspiring, more everything, Historical Fiction book this year. These many years, probably. Not until the next in the series comes out maybe? Need to go lie down now. Do what you can, do what you must to get hold of this book, you won't regret it.
'Fire & Steel' is an absolutely magnificent, thrilling, poignant, invigorating and inspiring book. The first thing you note is the quality of the writing. Rich and rewarding, clear and engaging, full of nuance and with an eye for the telling detail, whether it be in the landscape, actions, or conversation. It is books of this calibre, that will elevate Historical Fiction up to the literary level it deserves to be at. My first encounter with the work of C. R. May, but not the last, that I can promise you.
First, a word of warning: It will pay you to study the map at the front a while before you start the reading. Or have it bookmarked for quick reference. Might even be an idea to print it out to refer to now and again. Why? Well, that’s because while the book is based on real history, from a real historical period, he has kept/used the original place names. And 'original place names' means, as far as I can grasp, the names as they were known to the people of the areas involved in his story, at the time. Allowing for the changes in language and alphabet, etc, of course. So, for example, thanks to having lived myself in Denmark for close on 12 years now(!), I had to get the map out a couple of times to make sure when I read 'Harrow,' I thought Fyn (and it's not pronounced anything like how you've just 'heard’ it in your head). It is sometimes a little confusing and I wondered (mostly to myself) if he hadn’t made a mistake in doing it like this. However, further thought revealed, no, it isn’t a mistake. Why? Because the places and their names we know them by now, didn’t exist in the form we now know them, even from the history books, at the time he is writing of. So, doing it this way, is absolutely spot on and even a genius stroke, once you get used to it. I’m guessing that what he’s saying, by calling them ‘English’ and - while we’re in their original homeland of what is now southern Denmark, northern Germany - mentioning similar-sounding place names and other words, is, that these people brought much of what is seen as English culture, over to what was at the time Britannia, with them.
The story concerns, as I say, the people of Engeln, their king and the hero of this book, Eofer ‘King’s Bane’ (thanks to him killing a king up Sweden way). He has been over in Britannia, travelling around Britannia, looking at where they are thinking of moving their people to, the east, what is now East Anglia (think about it). However, it won’t be as easy as just packing up and moving lock stock and floating barrel over the North Sea, to a warm welcome from the inhabitants. There are those who are already resident in Britannia who would dispute, who are disputing, the English’s right to be there. However, that would seem to be for a future story, as this one moves back with Eofer to Engeln and concerns itself with their dispute with the Jutes and, especially, the Danes. The English can see which way the wind is blowing in the future and are taking a pragmatic decision to move over, however, there are certain matters that need sorting with the Danes before they can think about moving their peoples out of harm’s way.
As I said above, this is Historical Fiction of the very highest standard - an absolute all-enveloping pleasure to read and learn from. The period in which it is set can be a little tricky at first, I think. I’m guessing that most people who read books of this genre, will be reasonably well up on the Vikings, from the tv series, if nothing else. So, as with the other books I’ve read recently set in this period and concerning these peoples ('Wulfsuna' by E. S. Moxon and the first two in 'The Bernicia Chronicles' by Matthew Harffy), talk of the gods, Woden, Thunor, the ‘Allfather,' spirits and heroes that you thought were the Viking’s exclusive property, can cause some head-scratching. Until…you realise, what CRM, ESM and MH are saying and showing very well, is that this is, these are, the peoples who brought belief in those gods and spirits and heroes both to Scandinavia and Britain. To develop the learning-curve feeling, that in a way was how it was with reading this book. A little like my confused historical mist clearing and the story coming through. The added tantalising confusion for me, in the early stages at least, was the fact that 'Fire & Steel' mostly takes place on continental Europe, rather than in Britain, as were 'Wulfsuna' and 'The Serpent Sword.'
I really cannot overstate how wonderful 'Fire & Steel' is, or what an indecently good pleasure it was to read. Quite possibly the most enjoyment you can have with your clothes on. If he says he's invented time-travel and been back to 500-odd, I for one, will believe him.
What more can I say?
It's going to be a long time before I read another book set in a similar era and not picture the landscape, characters and world C. R. May has created here. There are going to be a lot more well-known Historical Fiction authors taking a look at this book and be wishing they’d written it. And if they don't, they should do. This is a book the likes of friends Cornwall, Kristian and Low, would give their eye-teeth to have written. I can not praise this book highly enough, and I cannot imagine I will read a better written, more involving, more inspiring, more everything, Historical Fiction book this year. These many years, probably. Not until the next in the series comes out maybe? Need to go lie down now. Do what you can, do what you must to get hold of this book, you won't regret it.
Thunder God by Paul Watkins
5.0
Being captured by Viking raiders as a boy, was clearly something of a problem in Viking times, because as with 'The Long Ships,' this is how Hakon's story starts. What follows, is an extremely interesting, powerfully affecting and very hard to put down journey through several key points and themes of the Viking world. If you are aquainted with any of the more interesting Viking legends, you'll find them referenced here. For instance, the Swedes who journeyed east, leaving rune stones behind to mark their progress. The 'Halfdan' who was with them and and is noted on those rune stones, features, and it was he who carved his name in runes on the base of the column in St. Sophia. On this level, it reminded me of Tim Severin's 'Viking' series, (which are very good, I hasten to add), however, the incidents as told here, fit more with the flow of the story, rather than checking them off on a list as Severin's books did sometimes feel like they were doing. Severin's book(s) - as 'The Sea Road' by Margaret Elphinstone - dealt with the Viking's voyages to North America, this one doesn't, quite. I don't want to give anything away, though if you are at all interested in such things, 'cutting edge' theorising about who went where and when, back then, perhaps the later stages won't be so strange. Read it, you'll be entranced and satisfied, that's all I'll say.
'Thunder God,' is probably the book Robert Low thought he was writing when he was struggling with finding (yet) another way to describe bad weather's evil portents in with the quite dreadful 'Crapbone.' And, unfortunately for anyone who slogged through that mire and wants to go knocking on Low's door asking for that time back, someone known as 'Prince Crowbone' does come disturbingly close to putting in an appearance here. Well, we knew Low was basing, however loose and dull, his books on real events I suppose.
However, 'Thunder God' is really good. It is a compelling, enthralling, perfectly written, poignant, illuminating, satisfying read. As mentioned above, there are clear echoes of 'The Sea Road,' (there's something in the Celtic waters, when they turn their hand to Thunder God Reversewriting about Vikings), in the way the Norse are fatalistically melancholy. Historical Fiction writers are agreed that they were like this anyway. It's hard to say what the book's overall theme might be. Perhaps not so much about the inevitability of Christianity coming to forceably replace the power the Viking gods held for the Norse people - though that 'peaceful,' 'turn the other cheek' Christianity effectively brought an end to the Viking age just when it was starting to get interesting, always bugs me in novels and non-fiction. Don't know about you. Perhaps it's that the characters in the book are slowly coming to the realisation that really the only 'gods' they need, that they can depend on, are themselves. The main character(s) seem to want the old gods to continue, but it's never at the expense of this new 'White Christ.' They never seem to want to defeat the new religion, unless it wants to attack them. Which it does. It always seems that the Vikings were pragmatic enough to envision this new god fitting in to their own system, with the potential of being turned to by them when his expertise is needed, like they did with their own. They can't understand why he is thought so all-powerful to not need help from other gods. Their gods basically tell them 'sort it out yourselves,' when followers of the new god pray that their new god will sort it out for them. The Norseman/woman in the street, converted to Christianity for practical, down-to-earth reasons. In order to continue doing business with their trading partners, these partners demanded the Vikings to be Christan, so they changed. The 'demanding' nature of the Christian god, is what most authors pick up on and turn it into a black against white fight that can only have one winner. And the Vikings 'lost.' The book seems to be at one with the practicality of this thought and (in my opinion) says the Viking people generally, will only progress once they come out from under the shadow of over reliance on the belief in their, or any, gods. Which in a way, to come away from the fatalistic melancholy of dependence on the gods and do it yourself, is what their gods were all about...
'Thunder God' is one to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best, most entertaining, effective and rewarding Vikings novels I've had the pleasure to read, no doubt about it.
More, equally as good as this on Speesh Reads
'Thunder God,' is probably the book Robert Low thought he was writing when he was struggling with finding (yet) another way to describe bad weather's evil portents in with the quite dreadful 'Crapbone.' And, unfortunately for anyone who slogged through that mire and wants to go knocking on Low's door asking for that time back, someone known as 'Prince Crowbone' does come disturbingly close to putting in an appearance here. Well, we knew Low was basing, however loose and dull, his books on real events I suppose.
However, 'Thunder God' is really good. It is a compelling, enthralling, perfectly written, poignant, illuminating, satisfying read. As mentioned above, there are clear echoes of 'The Sea Road,' (there's something in the Celtic waters, when they turn their hand to Thunder God Reversewriting about Vikings), in the way the Norse are fatalistically melancholy. Historical Fiction writers are agreed that they were like this anyway. It's hard to say what the book's overall theme might be. Perhaps not so much about the inevitability of Christianity coming to forceably replace the power the Viking gods held for the Norse people - though that 'peaceful,' 'turn the other cheek' Christianity effectively brought an end to the Viking age just when it was starting to get interesting, always bugs me in novels and non-fiction. Don't know about you. Perhaps it's that the characters in the book are slowly coming to the realisation that really the only 'gods' they need, that they can depend on, are themselves. The main character(s) seem to want the old gods to continue, but it's never at the expense of this new 'White Christ.' They never seem to want to defeat the new religion, unless it wants to attack them. Which it does. It always seems that the Vikings were pragmatic enough to envision this new god fitting in to their own system, with the potential of being turned to by them when his expertise is needed, like they did with their own. They can't understand why he is thought so all-powerful to not need help from other gods. Their gods basically tell them 'sort it out yourselves,' when followers of the new god pray that their new god will sort it out for them. The Norseman/woman in the street, converted to Christianity for practical, down-to-earth reasons. In order to continue doing business with their trading partners, these partners demanded the Vikings to be Christan, so they changed. The 'demanding' nature of the Christian god, is what most authors pick up on and turn it into a black against white fight that can only have one winner. And the Vikings 'lost.' The book seems to be at one with the practicality of this thought and (in my opinion) says the Viking people generally, will only progress once they come out from under the shadow of over reliance on the belief in their, or any, gods. Which in a way, to come away from the fatalistic melancholy of dependence on the gods and do it yourself, is what their gods were all about...
'Thunder God' is one to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best, most entertaining, effective and rewarding Vikings novels I've had the pleasure to read, no doubt about it.
More, equally as good as this on Speesh Reads
Hereward: The Immortals by James Wilde
5.0
Before I opened the book, I really didn't want to like it. I didn't want them to think I could be bought by putting my (blog) name on the back. Did I mention they'd printed a quote from my review on the back? Well, that ‘SPEESH’ there, that’s me, that is.
And yet, I failed. They won.
Well, you know the kind of book you know is going to be a beast right from the first sentence? This.
All the old memories and pleasure from previous outings with Hereward come flooding back right from the start. 'The Immortals' really is everything you want from - not just a Hereward book, but from - a book. And, that's a full stop back there.
That Hereward left England and later journeyed to Constantinople to join the Varangian guard, seems to be common, almost accepted, knowledge amongst Historical Fiction authors, well, those I’ve read anyway. I’m doubtful that there is any hard evidence for this, though to be fair, there’s little hard evidence for anything to do with Hereward. The way I see that, is that it means there’s plenty to get your teeth into, for the writer and a reader. Only stick-in-the-muds are gonna get all po-faced on our asses and poo-poo certain ‘liberties’ but, as I pointed out to one, if you can’t show evidence that it didn’t happen and it is possible, then shut the fuck up and go back to writing your historical romances (Mr Wilde does address some of the source material's limitations at the end of the book).
So, if you’ve been with James Wilde's story so far, you’ll know that after being on the losing side at Hastings, and later at Ely, Hereford made a deal with William the Bastard, to leave England and never come back. Hereford seems intent on upholding his side of the bargain and, over the last couple of books, has made his way to Constantinople, intent on joining, with his loyal band of followers, the Emperor’s Varangian guard. They are prevented from joining by the animosity of certain guards with long memories and because they haven’t got the signing-on fees. This book sees the rage at the injustice of their situation, explode in glorious fury.
Hereward's small band of Ely rebels, has got even smaller over the course of the last couple of books and continues that way here. However, the really interesting ones, Kraki, Guthrinc, Herrig ‘The Rat,’ for instance, seem to develop and fill out a little more here, come more out of the background, prove they are not the ‘Enterprise' landing party member in the red shirt, and sometimes almost take equal billing with our main man. And, where there are good, honest warriors, there will always be…Ragener. What’s left of him anyway. He was the one that scared us shitless in the original trilogy and while he may have lost a few body parts, he’s certainly lost none of his menace. He is a superb adversary for the story, an unpredictable, predictably evil homicidal maniacal mirror to the well-meaning character of Hereward.
I’m not sure how old Hereward is here (I’m sure I could figure it out if I put my mind to it), but the point is there’s still lots of life in the character, literally and physically. Both in this story and, hopefully, for plenty of stories to come (#6 is out in July). There’s passion a-plenty, there are do-or-die, breathless, white-knuckles gripping the book battles, that will get the pulse racing, the heart beating, the nerves a-jangling. Desperate last minute, backs against the wall, no end in sight rescues and escapes against all the odds. The story itself feels like it’s balanced on a knife- an axe-edge, the whole way through. Like their fate could go either way at any time. 'Hereward The Immortals' has it all…and is quite probably the most complete, certainly the most enjoyable, since the series began. Probably was as enjoyable to write as it was to read. Certainly hope so.
They can quote me on that. Again.
I'll stop now...
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And yet, I failed. They won.
Well, you know the kind of book you know is going to be a beast right from the first sentence? This.
All the old memories and pleasure from previous outings with Hereward come flooding back right from the start. 'The Immortals' really is everything you want from - not just a Hereward book, but from - a book. And, that's a full stop back there.
That Hereward left England and later journeyed to Constantinople to join the Varangian guard, seems to be common, almost accepted, knowledge amongst Historical Fiction authors, well, those I’ve read anyway. I’m doubtful that there is any hard evidence for this, though to be fair, there’s little hard evidence for anything to do with Hereward. The way I see that, is that it means there’s plenty to get your teeth into, for the writer and a reader. Only stick-in-the-muds are gonna get all po-faced on our asses and poo-poo certain ‘liberties’ but, as I pointed out to one, if you can’t show evidence that it didn’t happen and it is possible, then shut the fuck up and go back to writing your historical romances (Mr Wilde does address some of the source material's limitations at the end of the book).
So, if you’ve been with James Wilde's story so far, you’ll know that after being on the losing side at Hastings, and later at Ely, Hereford made a deal with William the Bastard, to leave England and never come back. Hereford seems intent on upholding his side of the bargain and, over the last couple of books, has made his way to Constantinople, intent on joining, with his loyal band of followers, the Emperor’s Varangian guard. They are prevented from joining by the animosity of certain guards with long memories and because they haven’t got the signing-on fees. This book sees the rage at the injustice of their situation, explode in glorious fury.
Hereward's small band of Ely rebels, has got even smaller over the course of the last couple of books and continues that way here. However, the really interesting ones, Kraki, Guthrinc, Herrig ‘The Rat,’ for instance, seem to develop and fill out a little more here, come more out of the background, prove they are not the ‘Enterprise' landing party member in the red shirt, and sometimes almost take equal billing with our main man. And, where there are good, honest warriors, there will always be…Ragener. What’s left of him anyway. He was the one that scared us shitless in the original trilogy and while he may have lost a few body parts, he’s certainly lost none of his menace. He is a superb adversary for the story, an unpredictable, predictably evil homicidal maniacal mirror to the well-meaning character of Hereward.
I’m not sure how old Hereward is here (I’m sure I could figure it out if I put my mind to it), but the point is there’s still lots of life in the character, literally and physically. Both in this story and, hopefully, for plenty of stories to come (#6 is out in July). There’s passion a-plenty, there are do-or-die, breathless, white-knuckles gripping the book battles, that will get the pulse racing, the heart beating, the nerves a-jangling. Desperate last minute, backs against the wall, no end in sight rescues and escapes against all the odds. The story itself feels like it’s balanced on a knife- an axe-edge, the whole way through. Like their fate could go either way at any time. 'Hereward The Immortals' has it all…and is quite probably the most complete, certainly the most enjoyable, since the series began. Probably was as enjoyable to write as it was to read. Certainly hope so.
They can quote me on that. Again.
I'll stop now...
More back-slapping on Speesh Reads
The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the second of Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy - also the second of his long-running Bernie Gunther series. I think I'm coming to like Bernie Gunther more as a character as he, or rather Kerr, isn't trying so hard as he did in March Violets, to out-do every other tired, cynical, wise-cracking, Private Eye in film and/or literature. Kerr has calmed down and so has Bernie, I mean. And both are a lot better for it. The fact that Bernie is a Private Eye in (soon to be) war-time Germany, is enough, I feel. And it is that that now is taking the upper-hand in the story. The evocation of time and period and place, is now effortless and convincing (having read many of what must be the yard-stick of this sort of thing, namely David Downing's books).
Bernie Gunther is a tricky character. He's not cynical, he's a realist. He's not an idealist, he's doesn't believe in the Nazi's propaganda, he sees it as what it is, manipulation. He's not come out against it, he's just dealing with the shit that comes his way, whoever throws it. He's not a white knight standing up for what is right, though he will do what is needed when it is needed. He can see what is happening and about to happen with the Jews, so why doesn't he (or people like him at the time) do anything about it? What could he do? The movement was so strong, so all enveloping, one person couldn't have done anything to the big picture. But they could and Bernie does, help those around him, those he can help. Without getting himself killed.
The war hasn't begun yet in Germany, but the preparations are there for all to see. The book deals with the absurdity of the mind-set of the top Nazis who were leading their own people to slaughter for their idiotic, ideals. It seems that everyone s watching and waiting to see what will happen. The resulting slaughter and destruction that we in the 21st Century know all about, hasn't been seen as a consequence. Not that the German people are arrogant enough to think they won't be affected or their mighty country will be destroyed. I think it's more they can't really believe anyone would be so stupid as to lead them and the world into such a position.
The search for the child serial murderer, had shades of the 'no crime possible in a Communist State, situation of Stalin's USSR in Child 44. Which again is a paradox, in that the extreme right-wing National Socialists, were plagues by the same sort of paranoid mentality, that the extreme left-wing Communists were. So, all dictatorships are the same. Whatever the colour.
A thoroughly well-written, well-plotted and interesting book. All the right things in all the right places, now for number three.
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Bernie Gunther is a tricky character. He's not cynical, he's a realist. He's not an idealist, he's doesn't believe in the Nazi's propaganda, he sees it as what it is, manipulation. He's not come out against it, he's just dealing with the shit that comes his way, whoever throws it. He's not a white knight standing up for what is right, though he will do what is needed when it is needed. He can see what is happening and about to happen with the Jews, so why doesn't he (or people like him at the time) do anything about it? What could he do? The movement was so strong, so all enveloping, one person couldn't have done anything to the big picture. But they could and Bernie does, help those around him, those he can help. Without getting himself killed.
The war hasn't begun yet in Germany, but the preparations are there for all to see. The book deals with the absurdity of the mind-set of the top Nazis who were leading their own people to slaughter for their idiotic, ideals. It seems that everyone s watching and waiting to see what will happen. The resulting slaughter and destruction that we in the 21st Century know all about, hasn't been seen as a consequence. Not that the German people are arrogant enough to think they won't be affected or their mighty country will be destroyed. I think it's more they can't really believe anyone would be so stupid as to lead them and the world into such a position.
The search for the child serial murderer, had shades of the 'no crime possible in a Communist State, situation of Stalin's USSR in Child 44. Which again is a paradox, in that the extreme right-wing National Socialists, were plagues by the same sort of paranoid mentality, that the extreme left-wing Communists were. So, all dictatorships are the same. Whatever the colour.
A thoroughly well-written, well-plotted and interesting book. All the right things in all the right places, now for number three.
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Blood Tracks: A New Action Adventure Series Set in Louisiana by Matt Hilton
4.0
I'm a big Matt Hilton fan. He is an excellent writer and a really nice person on what the young people of today seem to be calling 'social media.'
I've read three of his Joe Hunter books, got many more waiting and been consistently impressed. This book is a new venture, and different from the Joe Hunter books, in that there are two main characters sharing the limelight - and one of them is a woman.
He (Matt) is back on familiar ground, the USA, though with a story set a little further south than the Joe Hunter ones I've read so far. And my initial feelings were, that his feel for and communication of the nuances of the southern States, was excellent. In the initial stages, it was this that captured and exited me. As with all new ventures, books that are clearly destined to be the starts of series, there is some background work to be done. Filling in of character and motive. However, from my point, Matt wisely keeps this to a minimum. So it doesn't block up the story and of course, gives him some wiggle room in later books.
The story fair rattles along and there's barely a moment wasted in getting us where we need to be. Once they get down to Mississippi, you can fairly feel the heat and the tension rising accordingly. There are enough twisty-turney bits and interesting additional characters to stock several volumes. Maybe some of them will.
He is of course taking a chance writing a woman lead character after the Joe Hunter books, which are very masculine. OK, there is a little skirt-interest in those stories, but there's never any doubt about who is wearing the trousers in those books. He pulls it off with great style, 'Tess' is an interesting character, with a background and plausible motives. She could let herself go a bit more, but that'll come, I've no doubt. Po, is another matter. He's a strong male character and the hard part writing him, must have been not to make him Joe Hunter 2.0. He's not. Another one with an intriguing and interesting background and ripe for development further down the line.
There are some points where character development could have been a little less clumsy. Kind of like letting actions speak louder than words. Letting what the character does signal what they are like, rather than the author stating it openly, again and again, just to make sure you got the point. And...the romance...I'm giving nothing away, you've figured what the possibilities might be, in reading the synopsis. I didn't go for it. And I can't see where it's going to go over the course of several further volumes. It's too soon and too constricting for the rest of the series. I could sketch out two or three possibilities here and now - and I shouldn't be able to. It wasn't really believable enough, too inevitable and too TV series got-to-fit-it-all-in-an-hour's-show (minus advertising breaks)-like, Stockholm Syndrome-lite.
Having said that, this book actually says several very important things: Matt Hilton can write. Very well. He can write just what he wants to, he and his books are/were not a flash in the pan. And the Grey and Po series is going to be one that will build into a series as exciting and essential as Joe Hunter.
More world-class reviews on Speesh Reads
I've read three of his Joe Hunter books, got many more waiting and been consistently impressed. This book is a new venture, and different from the Joe Hunter books, in that there are two main characters sharing the limelight - and one of them is a woman.
He (Matt) is back on familiar ground, the USA, though with a story set a little further south than the Joe Hunter ones I've read so far. And my initial feelings were, that his feel for and communication of the nuances of the southern States, was excellent. In the initial stages, it was this that captured and exited me. As with all new ventures, books that are clearly destined to be the starts of series, there is some background work to be done. Filling in of character and motive. However, from my point, Matt wisely keeps this to a minimum. So it doesn't block up the story and of course, gives him some wiggle room in later books.
The story fair rattles along and there's barely a moment wasted in getting us where we need to be. Once they get down to Mississippi, you can fairly feel the heat and the tension rising accordingly. There are enough twisty-turney bits and interesting additional characters to stock several volumes. Maybe some of them will.
He is of course taking a chance writing a woman lead character after the Joe Hunter books, which are very masculine. OK, there is a little skirt-interest in those stories, but there's never any doubt about who is wearing the trousers in those books. He pulls it off with great style, 'Tess' is an interesting character, with a background and plausible motives. She could let herself go a bit more, but that'll come, I've no doubt. Po, is another matter. He's a strong male character and the hard part writing him, must have been not to make him Joe Hunter 2.0. He's not. Another one with an intriguing and interesting background and ripe for development further down the line.
There are some points where character development could have been a little less clumsy. Kind of like letting actions speak louder than words. Letting what the character does signal what they are like, rather than the author stating it openly, again and again, just to make sure you got the point. And...the romance...I'm giving nothing away, you've figured what the possibilities might be, in reading the synopsis. I didn't go for it. And I can't see where it's going to go over the course of several further volumes. It's too soon and too constricting for the rest of the series. I could sketch out two or three possibilities here and now - and I shouldn't be able to. It wasn't really believable enough, too inevitable and too TV series got-to-fit-it-all-in-an-hour's-show (minus advertising breaks)-like, Stockholm Syndrome-lite.
Having said that, this book actually says several very important things: Matt Hilton can write. Very well. He can write just what he wants to, he and his books are/were not a flash in the pan. And the Grey and Po series is going to be one that will build into a series as exciting and essential as Joe Hunter.
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Good As Dead by Mark Billingham
3.0
I can't say where this one figures in Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne series, for good or bad, as it's one of those I've not really paid much attention to getting or reading in sequence. Not like me at all. As with the previous one I read and the other one I have, I've got them on special offer. And because I thought the covers looked good as a series.
It's a good solid Police story. I hesitate to say 'Thriller' as, for me, it doesn't quite get there, despite the set-up. It is a good, well put together plot, not a real cliff-hanger with twists, but strong with a few surprising angles to it. I did feel, and it's not giving anything much away, that the 'other' hostage cracked a bit too quickly. Might have worked when the plot was on the back of an envelope, but really irritated me in book form. All in all, it really did feel like there was something holding the whole back, something missing maybe. It could have and should have gone up a notch. Turned the tension up, looked a little more at some of the issues raised.
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It's a good solid Police story. I hesitate to say 'Thriller' as, for me, it doesn't quite get there, despite the set-up. It is a good, well put together plot, not a real cliff-hanger with twists, but strong with a few surprising angles to it. I did feel, and it's not giving anything much away, that the 'other' hostage cracked a bit too quickly. Might have worked when the plot was on the back of an envelope, but really irritated me in book form. All in all, it really did feel like there was something holding the whole back, something missing maybe. It could have and should have gone up a notch. Turned the tension up, looked a little more at some of the issues raised.
More world-class reviews on Speesh Reads