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What are you reading? May 2012
I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince by Rosanne E. Lortz because I feel like reading a short book.
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/
[quote=""annis""]Posted by SGM
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.[/quote]
Maybe the Raven setting suited him. All I can say is he doesn't seem to have understood the social context and the episodes he creates are to, quote an old friend "Good and original -- the good bits aren't original and the original bits aren't good".
I bet that if Brilliana Harley knew how often her stand against the Royalists would appear in historical fiction, she would have given up the fight within an hour. I have seen it all so many times in Civil War fiction, some better than others.
His rendition of the battle might be good if you go for that sort of thing, I can't say as far as that is concerned because it's the causes and the consequences of war that I find interesting. The details of the actual fighting to do nothing for me apart from making me deploring the futility and the horror.
I can't swear I am correct in this but I know that the term "crypto-Catholic" is the term we use today but I am not at all sure it was the term they were using then. It just sounds like he is regurgitating his research and dropping in "buzz" phrases.
But, of course, I could be wrong.
And I am very disappointed. I was hoping for good things from this writer.
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.[/quote]
Maybe the Raven setting suited him. All I can say is he doesn't seem to have understood the social context and the episodes he creates are to, quote an old friend "Good and original -- the good bits aren't original and the original bits aren't good".
I bet that if Brilliana Harley knew how often her stand against the Royalists would appear in historical fiction, she would have given up the fight within an hour. I have seen it all so many times in Civil War fiction, some better than others.
His rendition of the battle might be good if you go for that sort of thing, I can't say as far as that is concerned because it's the causes and the consequences of war that I find interesting. The details of the actual fighting to do nothing for me apart from making me deploring the futility and the horror.
I can't swear I am correct in this but I know that the term "crypto-Catholic" is the term we use today but I am not at all sure it was the term they were using then. It just sounds like he is regurgitating his research and dropping in "buzz" phrases.
But, of course, I could be wrong.
And I am very disappointed. I was hoping for good things from this writer.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith
[quote=""annis""]Hurray, scored Slash and Burn, the latest in Colin Cotterill's Dr Siri series, before anyone else at the library spotted it. I'm sure I've raved on about these before. Not quite HF, (though getting scarily close to the 50 year mark) Colin Cotterill's wonderfully out there, quirky set of mysteries are set in Communist Laos in the mid-1970s. The main character is an elderly doctor appointed State Coroner due to lack of anyone else remotely suitable. (They've all hopped it over the Mekhong to capitalist Thailand). Dr Siri is an ornery old cuss who doesn't suffer politburo fools gladly, but is sharp as a tack, compassionate and possessed of a hilarious, dry sense of humour. Oh, and he is visited in his dreams by his "patients", who provide him with cryptic clues about their deaths. Fabulous stuff.[/quote]
Big thanks for the recommendation annis. This is lots of fun
Reading now book #2 Thirty-Three Teeth. ("Did I mention I have thirty-three teeth?" omg looool)
Big thanks for the recommendation annis. This is lots of fun

"So many books, so little time."
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa