Current Non-Genre Reading III

[Decrepit&Senile]

At 1428 this afternoon, 24 Jun 2022, I concluded an initial read of the fourth book in Edward Marston's The Railway Detective series; The Iron Horse. In this entry, railways play only a minor, incidental role, the title having more to do with the plot being centered around nefarious events leading up to and including Derby Day and its major horse race. Unlike at least one prior entry, here we are kept in the dark as to the guilty party until almost the very end. That said, my assumption of who the perpetrator, or at least an important accomplice, most likely was proved correct. Not normally drawn to the Detective / Crime genre, I've no idea how this book compares to its stablemates. For me it was an enjoyable, quick read.

 

[Windshadow]

I took a branch line to victorian mystery stories with this series a few years ago and found the first 4 or 5 to be great fun for a change of pace. the Protagonist is a

Jim Stringer

Visit Amazon's Jim Stringer Page and shop for all Jim Stringer books. Check out pictures, author information, and reviews of Jim Stringer

www.amazon.com

 

[Agent Cormac]

The Pagan Lord

After a ten year period of relative peace, the Danes plot to take control of Mercia whilst its army is preoccupied in an attempt to subjugate East Anglia. Only Uhtred sees this, of course, but his killing of a bishop has made him an outcast and plagued with indecision he returns to Bebbanburg to try to regain his inheritance.

Being the seventh book in The Last Kingdom series, Uhtred is around fifty years old and has, if anything, become even more gruff and set in his ways than before. In fact, he comes across as a darker character than he does in the previous books, particularly during the first half of the book when he is worrying about what the future holds. Needless to say, this is only temporary and it isn’t long before he’s back on track and doing what he does best. Even so, The Pagan Lord borders on grimdark in style and tone - which is something I didn’t mind, but possibly marks a sea change in Uhtred’s character for the rest of the series.

Much of the story takes place in Mercia which was then what is now my part of the country, so I found it fascinating to read of events in places I am very familiar with. It’s semi-fictionalised, I know, but the major historical event in the book took place not many miles from where I live and was an event I had no knowledge of. Overall, the book was another worthy entry in the series and was an informative and enjoyable read. Onto The Empty Throne next.

 

[Raf]

Mostly finished up the Tyrant series. King of the Bosporus and Destroyer of Cities by Christian Cameron. Started and then put down for the time being, "Force of Kings". Maybe come back to it later.

This series looks to have been written in tandem with the Long War series. But it is disjointed and inconsistent with the story line. There were some times in Destroyer of Cities where I thought the series might pull it off, but the lead in to Force of Kings had nothing to do with what happened in the previous book. The protagonist (Satyrus) "won" the last battle and sent his opponent packing.

But then I read in the first chapter of "Force of Kings" that there had been a agreed upon exchange of captives between the winner and loser of the last book. But there wasn't. So maybe the author is playing literary games with his storyline to get to an already crafted ending.

I suspect, though, that with 2 storylines running in tandem with one of them taking off like a rocket (The Long War series) and maybe just trying to finish the other? I don't know really. But this series is a DNF for me. For now anyway.

 

[Agent Cormac]

The Empty Throne

When Aethelred the Lord of Mercia dies, a power vacuum leaves Mercia in a state of flux. Uhtred, injured and weakened by an injury that refuses to heal, does his best to manipulate events and ensure that Mercia gets the ruler it needs to keep carrying the fight to the Danes. Meanwhile, the Danes are being pushed out of Ireland and looking to find new lands in England.

This book contains more political intrigue than others in the series but is tempered by Uhtred’s journey to Wales to find the sword that caused his injury (in the belief that it will provide a cure) and his resistance against an incursion of Irish Danes. Which all comes together to make another enjoyable read and keeps the story of Uhtred and England moving along nicely. I’ll read the next book or two, then have a break before reading the final books in the series.

 

[Agent Cormac]

Warriors of the Storm

When a large number of Irish Danes and Norse invade Northumbria, Uhtred leads the fight against them. Although the events are mostly fictional due to a scarcity of real historical evidence, the story does reflect what was actually happening at the time.

While reading this book and others in the series, I found myself often wondering at the shield wall tactics used by the Saxons and Danes, and their similarity to those employed by the Greek hoplite phalanx more than 1400 years earlier, as seen in the Christian Cameron books. Bows were used by the Saxons and Danes but hardly get a mention in Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series, and from that I can only assume that they didn’t play a decisive role in the battles of the time, at least not until three or four hundred years later (though in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings the last Saxon king, Harald Godwinson, died from an arrow in the eye). For anyone interested in the huge impact of the longbow during The 100 Years War, I highly recommend Cornwell’s Grail Quest series and what is a kind of companion novel, Azincourt.

As for Warriors of the Storm, it was another great read.

 

[Agent Cormac]

The Flame Bearer

This the tenth book in the series is the one where Uhtred finally realises his lifelong ambition by regaining his ancestral home of Bebbanburg. It’s not a straightforward task by any means and is preceded by a fair amount of deception, political manoeuvring and the involvement of competing Scots, Norsemen and West Saxons. These add some complications and do slow things down at times, but the story ends with another well told and rousing battle. As for the real historical figures who make up the antagonists, Cornwell freely admits that he has taken a fair bit of historical license with their timelines, hence the story is fictional. Which is perhaps why The Flame Bearer is not one of the best books in the series; but still, it was another entertaining read.

There are three books to go and I am still fired up enough to be looking forward to reading them. For now, however, it’s time for another break and something different.

 

[Decrepit&Senile]

At 1530 yesterday, 01 Jul 2022, I concluded an initial read of The New Achilles, book one of Christian Cameron's Commander. Unlike The Long War, this series is not told as reminiscences of an aged protagonist. Where Long War takes place during the beginnings of what is now seen as Greece's classical-period, this series documents events several hundred years later. The new Achilles, who is not the character whose point-of-view we are given, is, according to Cameron, a real-life figure who bought the Greeks several generations of freedom before their subjugation by Rome. I had trouble sustaining enthusiasm until around 30%, after which I enjoyed it quite a lot.

 

[Randy M.]

The Rightful Future (A Cadence Mystery) by Dianne L. Hagan

I read this in manuscript, testing our 40 year friendship by giving Dianne a hard time every chance I got. Which is to say, this review is probably biased.

It's a strong debut, an entertaining, frequently funny novel. Marion, the narrator of much of the novel, is a strong voice, and with her husband, Lester, and their friend, Enoch, all come across as believable human beings. What's outlandish is the premise of the novel, yet that, in my reading experience, isn't really any more outlandish than most "cozy" mysteries I've read (I'm thinking here of Christie, Sayers, Marjorie Allingham, John Dickson Carr and some other "Golden Age" writers). Beneath that outlandishness, as structural support, is a grappling with the issue of race in American history, what the stakes and the consequences are for individuals and families in a microcosm of the country as a whole.

A book like this, juggling an entertaining premise while tackling a long-standing and often divisive issue, is no small achievement for a first time fiction writer.

 

[Decrepit&Senile]

At 1150 today, 07/07/2022, I concluded an initial read of The Last Greek, second and final book in Christian Cameron's Commander duology. As previously mentioned, these books are set near the end of Greece's Hellenistic Period. They chronicle the exploits of an actual historic figure, Philopoemen, who is credited with buying Greece a few extra generations of independence ere their subjugation by Rome. The tale is told from the perspective of a one-time Rhodian marine turned Healer Priest who finds himself a semi reluctant military sub-commander / companion to Philopoemen. Unlike book one, The New Achilles, which took me a while to get in to, this entry captured my interest from the start and maintained it to the end. While I continue to see The Long War as Cameron's "masterpiece", there is much to like here. Recommended.

 

[Agent Cormac]

Good one DS, I'll get round to this at some point. Thanks!

 

[Raf]

Cameron (writing as Miles Cameron) has a new one out as well. Not historical fiction per se. Looks to be a fantasy /alternate history bronze age world complete with Gods.

"Against All Gods"

Looks interesting

 

[Decrepit&Senile]

At 1409 today, 10 Jul 2022, I concluded an initial read of Murder on the Brighton Express, book five in Edward Marston's The Railway Detective series. After a compelling start, I began to think this would be one of the series' more blasé entries. Then, past a certain point, it morphed into some of Marston's best writing; the plot became rather complex, with several unexpected twists. I wish Marston had thrown more railway trivia into the mix, but suspect readers without my strong interest in early British steam locomotives/railways will find the amount of such trivia on display here amply sufficient.

 

[Agent Cormac]

Camino Winds

Needing something short and sweet after the Hamilton 1100 pager I’ve just finished, this Grisham novel I picked up at the local charity shop looked just the ticket. Set on an island off the coast of Florida and featuring Bruce Cable, the book shop owner who featured in the earlier Camino Island, this one was more of a thriller than the usual legal dramas Grisham is known for. Basically, a murder is committed while Storm Leo sweeps across the island and Cable and his friends are the only ones with the conviction to see the perpetrator sought out and brought to justice. The investigation leads to a major case of mistreatment and banned drug use on elderly catatonic Alzheimer’s patients in the nursing home industry, all designed to keep their hearts beating (despite inducing blindness) and to milk the Medicare payment system for as long as possible, which is scary stuff and all too believable in my book. Anyway, it was a quick and fun read, if not anything groundbreaking.

 

[Agent Cormac]

Aurora

Another one I picked up at the local charity shop last week, Aurora is written by an author new to me but whose work as a scriptwriter you will be very familiar with: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, Carlito’s Way, Mission Impossible, Spider-Man, to name but a few. After a huge CME (coronal mass ejection) hits earth head on, most of the planet’s electricity generation is destroyed or massively disrupted and humanity faces an uncertain future. But rather than painting the bigger picture, the book focuses on brother and sister Thom and Aubrey and their immediate friends and relatives. And it does a very good job of it, too. It’s not a long read but packs plenty into its 288 page length with well-drawn characters, a smattering of dark humour, and a neatly packaged story that manages to convey the uncertainty and dangers of the time without descending into the horrors of a complete breakdown of society. I enjoyed it a lot.

Just looked at the copyright page and apparently Aurora was only released in hardback last month, and I have no idea why my £1 copy ended up in a charity shop so soon. My gain, though. Recommended.

 

[pogopossum]

Looks interesting.
AC. Why did you list it on non-genre thread?

 

[Agent Cormac]

Hmmm...I did think about putting it in the SF thread, pogo, but the premise is a real one - apparently a CME event occurs approximately every 150 years and we're due one at any time, which makes it science fact rather than science fiction. However, if one of the moderators wants to move it, no problem.

 

[Agent Cormac]

Pharaoh

Only 30 pages in and I decided to put this down. I used to be fan of Wilbur Smith and was looking forward to reading it but the clunky voice of Taita, the storyteller, just turned me right off. It could be I've been spoilt by the storytelling of Cornwell and Cameron, but I'd like to think I would have given up on this even before reading those authors. On Amazon, this book rates 4.5 from almost 3000 readers, so what do I know?

 

[Raf]

I read the first 3 of this series back in the 90's and remember liking the

Pharaoh

Only 30 pages in and I decided to put this down. I used to be fan of Wilbur Smith and was looking forward to reading it but the clunky voice of Taita, the storyteller, just turned me right off. It could be I've been spoilt by the storytelling of Cornwell and Cameron, but I'd like to think I would have given up on this even before reading those authors. On Amazon, this book rates 4.5 from almost 3000 readers, so what do I know?

I read the first 3 of this series back when they were published (90's) and liked them then. Loved his Ballantyne & Courteney series as well. To the point that I lost track of any of his later works past the 80's and 90's. Haven't read anything of his since.

But the early Africa books were my favorite.

You should check out Robert Ruark for similar stories, AC.

Robert Ruark - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Agent Cormac]

I liked his early Courtney novels a lot, but I read one of the newer ones about 7 or 8 years ago and wasn't as impressed. Pharaoh was published in 2016 so is much more recent than the ones from the 60s and 70s that I remember with fondness. Some of the negative reviews I looked at were much like my own, and several of them even questioned whether Smith had written it at all. Ah, well, you can't win them all.