Personal blog of freelance writer MGMason
I talk a lot about science fiction books on here and I realise that despite posting quite a few book reviews on the genre, I’ve neglected discussion of novels set in the past. I have read quite a few set across a diverse range of periods with different approaches and ranging in quality. Continue reading “History Boys and Girls – Noteworthy Historical Fiction”
Looking back through my reviews, I realised it had been several years since I read the last Saxon Story by Cornwell so I thought I probably ought to get on with the next one!
Uhtred is in Mercia, he still doesn’t have his castle of Bebbanburg (Bamburgh) after attempting to seize it back from his duplicitous uncle. The fragile peace between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the Vikings who live beyond the Danelaw is holding – but only just. South of the border, both Wessex and Mercia prepare for a war that is inevitable yet rumours about that the sickly King Alfred is on his deathbed. Can the fragile alliance and the expected unity of the two crowns go ahead? Continue reading “Book Review: Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell”
And so onto the third book in the Warrior of Rome series featuring the very real historical figure of Ballista, an officer in the third century Roman army, a man of Germanic birth sent to defend the eastern borders against the growing threat of the Sassanid empire.
Ballista and the Emperor Valerian are in a bit of a pickle. Betrayed by Macrianus the Lame, they are captured by Sassanid forces and sent before Shapur himself. As the story begins, Valerian has been forced to prostrate himself before The King of Kings and Ballista is sworn to an oath that he must break if he is to see his family again and assist Valerian in taking back his empire. He is reminded of another oath that he broke many years before, one that is covered at the beginning of the first book.
I was disappointed with the second book, Continue reading “Book Review: Lion of the Sun by Harry Sidebottom”