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Anyone else tired of Tudor HF?

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Lisa
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Joined: August 2012
Favourite HF book: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Preferred HF: Any time period/location. Timeslip, usually prefer female POV. Also love Gothic melodrama.
Location: Northeast Scotland

Post by Lisa » Thu November 29th, 2012, 9:52 am

[quote=""Antoine Vanner""]"By What Authority?" by R.H. Benson[/quote]
DianeL wrote:"When Knighthood Was In Flower"
Excellent, thanks guys! I hadn't come across either of those before, and since they're both out of copyright they're free on Kindle on Amazon UK. Now I just hope Santa Claus brings me that Kindle I've been hinting about all year...

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Brenna
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Location: Delaware

Post by Brenna » Thu November 29th, 2012, 1:35 pm

[quote=""Lady of Bennachie""]Excellent, thanks guys! I hadn't come across either of those before, and since they're both out of copyright they're free on Kindle on Amazon UK. Now I just hope Santa Claus brings me that Kindle I've been hinting about all year...[/quote]

I picked both of these up as well! Thanks for the insight and suggestions
Brenna

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Nefret
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Posts: 2994
Joined: February 2009
Favourite HF book: Welsh Princes trilogy
Preferred HF: The Middle Ages (England), New Kingdom Egypt, Medieval France
Location: Temple of Isis

Post by Nefret » Thu November 29th, 2012, 8:52 pm

I had a Tudor phase a few years ago. The novels (I still have several) were entertaining, as I hadn't read much in that era before. Now I've decided that I'm most interested in the ancient world (still!), and 5th to 14th century Europe.
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}

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Margaret
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Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Fri November 30th, 2012, 7:47 am

As with any historical period that becomes suddenly popular with readers, a lot of mediocre novels set during the Tudor period have been published. I think that's why readers get really tired of a particular historical period - if one were to read only the really outstanding Tudor-era novels (which are also to one's personal taste), I don't think one would get tired of the Tudors. I thought I was pretty tired of them, myself, until Hilary Mantel came along with Wolf Hall and now Bring Up the Bodies. She made them fresh and new again for me. I also really enjoyed Margaret Irwin's trilogy about Elizabeth I (before she became queen), starting with Young Bess (see review).

That said, I particularly enjoy a well-written novel set in a time period that is new to me. I've just posted David Maclaine's reviews of Harry Sidebottom's "Warrior of Rome" series (see series review, which has links to the individual reviews), set during the third-century crisis period of the Roman Empire, which to my knowledge has not been the setting for any other novels. It takes a daring novelist to tackle some of these settings, because publishers generally want "marquee" names that are familiar to readers - Cleopatra, Caesar, Napoleon, Mata Hari - and those familiar historical figures are naturally absent from the unfamiliar settings. Sidebottom has been successful because of his excellent research (he's a classics scholar who also publishes nonfiction) and the you-are-there battle scenes in his novels, which are breathlessly suspenseful. One can't entirely blame publishers for wanting to focus on publishing the novels that will sell best, but it's always nice to see a novelist succeed who writes well about the less trampled settings of history, because we get to read his/her novels!
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Sun December 2nd, 2012, 3:40 pm

[quote=""Margaret""]As with any historical period that becomes suddenly popular with readers, a lot of mediocre novels set during the Tudor period have been published. I think that's why readers get really tired of a particular historical period - if one were to read only the really outstanding Tudor-era novels (which are also to one's personal taste), I don't think one would get tired of the Tudors. I thought I was pretty tired of them, myself, until Hilary Mantel came along with Wolf Hall and now Bring Up the Bodies. She made them fresh and new again for me. I also really enjoyed Margaret Irwin's trilogy about Elizabeth I (before she became queen), starting with Young Bess (see review).

That said, I particularly enjoy a well-written novel set in a time period that is new to me. I've just posted David Maclaine's reviews of Harry Sidebottom's "Warrior of Rome" series (see series review, which has links to the individual reviews), set during the third-century crisis period of the Roman Empire, which to my knowledge has not been the setting for any other novels. It takes a daring novelist to tackle some of these settings, because publishers generally want "marquee" names that are familiar to readers - Cleopatra, Caesar, Napoleon, Mata Hari - and those familiar historical figures are naturally absent from the unfamiliar settings. Sidebottom has been successful because of his excellent research (he's a classics scholar who also publishes nonfiction) and the you-are-there battle scenes in his novels, which are breathlessly suspenseful. One can't entirely blame publishers for wanting to focus on publishing the novels that will sell best, but it's always nice to see a novelist succeed who writes well about the less trampled settings of history, because we get to read his/her novels![/quote]
I'm hoping I can start a new trend with my alternate history series-- maybe a women's alternate history genre! :D

annis
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Post by annis » Wed December 5th, 2012, 4:25 am

Posted by Margaret
..the third-century crisis period of the Roman Empire, which to my knowledge has not been the setting for any other novels
Nick Brown has done a couple of historical adventures set in the East around the time of the Palmryan rebellion. They are more lightweight than Sidebottom's books, though, more in the traditional macho blood 'n' guts style.

SCW
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Preferred HF: Lately World Two or the time immediately before and after this period
Location: Australia

Re: Anyone else tired of Tudor HF?

Post by SCW » Wed January 27th, 2016, 10:48 am

The Tudors are still more interesting than the Hanoverians....

Prove otherwise- I dare you

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