What are you reading? May 2012

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Sat May 5th, 2012, 4:45 pm

I'm just about to start "The Somnabulist" by Essie Fox.

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Sat May 5th, 2012, 4:52 pm

The Spanish Match by Brennan Pursell
Novel about Charles Stuart's 1623 trip to Spain.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat May 5th, 2012, 7:02 pm

Posted by Village

I might give Insurrection a chance then or otherwise the Lion Wakes by Robert Low. Has anyone read this? I feel I can probably only stomach one Scots being uppity saga so its probably either/or.

I read Lion Wakes when it first came out and thought it excellent, but it did receive a mixed reception at the time. Low makes extensive use of Scots dialect and some readers found this difficult to handle. I personally didn't have a problem with it, and felt it added greatly to the atmosphere. The Wars of Scottish Independence were much more complex than the straightforward Scots v English conflict they're often shown as, Braveheart style. They were as much civil war exacerbated by power struggles between rival clans. It's a convoluted, bloody period and Low tosses the reader in at the deep end, so you do need to keep your wits about you.

Here's the review I wrote for the Historical Novels Info website:
http://www.historicalnovels.info/Lion-Wakes.html

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Sat May 5th, 2012, 7:06 pm

[quote=""Village""]Robyn Young's "Crusade", having finished Brethren a few weeks back. Unlike CW Gortner I am not really enjoying it. It's not a bad book but there is so much padding and waffle. My main bugbear though is the fact that the characters speak and act like 21st century people dressed in medieval costumes. I shall push on through to the end but no current plans to bother with Requiem which judging by the reviews on Amazon is the weakest of the 3 books.[/quote]

Yeah, I agree that "Crusade" is the weakest of the trilogy. It does pick up with "Requiem" but this is not serious fare on the Templars by any means. I enjoyed them for the entertainment value; I wasn't expecting more.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Sat May 5th, 2012, 7:17 pm

Started The Young Lion by Laura Gill as my ebook. Good so far!

Tanzanite · Post by **Tanzanite** » Sat May 5th, 2012, 10:24 pm

An OOP from the late 60s - The Black Plantagenet by Pamela Bennetts. Not too far into it yet.

SGM · Post by **SGM** » Sun May 6th, 2012, 2:59 pm

The Bleeding Land by Giles Kristen.....Oh dear. Oh dear.

He has rather fallen into a quagmire of his own making and does not appear to understand his historical context. I can understand that what he really wants to cover is the battle of Edgehill and has researched that meticulously. But to get to the position where the brothers are fighting on different sides, he has come up with a plot contrivance which is little short of ludicrous.

It's a shame because I was looking forward to the period being handled by a writer of some experience. So many new novels covering these events have been handled by first-time writers who are still developing their expertise (and hopefully will be given the opportunity to do so) but I wanted to read a novel by an experienced writer however, this novel was a great disappointment.

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Sun May 6th, 2012, 3:42 pm

Taking a break from Wolf Hall to read Thomas Penn's The Winter King since I got it from the library and only have a week to read it (I have to return it before we leave for California since it's due while we are away and it has many holds on it). It flip flops all over the place but at least I know enough about the time period to understand what is happening. I could see it being difficult for others to follow though.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sun May 6th, 2012, 5:44 pm

Posted by SGM

The Bleeding Land by Giles Kristen.....Oh dear. Oh dear.

I've got this on order. I enjoyed Kristian's vivid and vigorous writing style when I read his Raven series and read a postive review of BL at the Historical Novel Society site. This is a radical shift in period for him.

Currently reading non-fiction, Tyburn: London's Fatal Tree by Alan Brooke & David Brandon, an intriguing if rather grusesome potted history of England.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sun May 6th, 2012, 5:45 pm

Posted by SGM

The Bleeding Land by Giles Kristen.....Oh dear. Oh dear.

I've got this on order. I enjoyed Kristian's vivid and vigorous writing style when I read his Raven series and read a postive review of BL at the Historical Novel Society site. This is a radical shift in period for him.

Currently reading non-fiction, Tyburn: London's Fatal Tree by Alan Brooke & David Brandon, an intriguing if rather gruessome potted view of English history.