Review – Peter TREMAYNE – “The Council of the Cursed”

Publ: 2008
Pensby Library
ISBN: 978 0 7553 2840 6
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 308p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: ***** **


What led you to pick up this book?
It was on the ‘New Books’ shelf in the library. Being subtitled ‘a novel of Ancient Ireland it automatically caught my eye. However – it turned out not to be a novel of ancient Ireland – a case for the Trades Descriptions Act???

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
Sister Fidelma – a lawgiver of ancient Ireland – and her partner, the Saxon Eadulf, are in France attending a council of church leaders set in AD670. When one of the delegates is murdered the Bishop of the segregated abbey suspends the rules to allow Fidelma into the men’s part to investigate. Not only do further murders follow but a number of the female members of the abbey also disappear.

What did you think of the characters?
The characters are well-delineated and there is an adequate mixture of villains and apparently good-guys to make the real villains not easy to spot.

What did you think about the style?
I loved the plentiful Latin tags but I suspect they might be a bit OTT to some people. Overall I found some of the narrative a bit stilted.

What did you like most about the book?
It was a good mystery.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
I would have rather it had been set in Ireland, as advertised, rather than in France.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Good art work. But it lied!

Would I recommend it?
Just about – not the nest book I have read from that era but I enjoyed the mystery. although it is set nearly a millennium later I prefer Cora Harrison’s Burren series with the Brehon Mara.

Quotations:
“Every wise man in courteous, every idiot is a bully.”
“Fidelma was able to identify the pungent smell of rosemary. She had encountered the unusual fragrance in Rome and had especially asked what it was, with its trailing green foliage and purple, pink or blue flowers. she had been told it was called ‘dew of the sea’ – rosmarinus – and had discovered that apothecaries used it to help improve the memory.”


PETER TREAMAYNE (b 1943) is a pseudonym of Peter Beresford Ellis, an authority on the ancient Celtic peoples.

Hopes for Osmosis

There are times when I want to have read a book without devoting the time and trouble to reading it. Does that make sense? My current example is ‘Stephen Fry in America’. I would like to understand a little bit more about each of the States but instead of imbibing the whole book page by page I want to guzzle it down in one go and only take ten seconds doing so.

Often when I reach this stage with a book – usually about three chapters into it – the volume sits on my bedside table gradually working its way down the pile until it drops off and gets, metaphorically speaking, swept under the carpet. During that period I guess I am hoping that some sort of osmosis will allow the contents to slip into my brain as I sleep.

Another example that I have on the go at the moment is ‘Buried Treasure – Travels through the jewel box’ by Victoria Finlay. I would like to know all the facts it contains but am not sure I can summon up the will to read its 482 pages of small print. Escapist fiction seems a much easier and more sensible option to lull me to sleep so I think this may be another that works its way below Bernard Cornwell’s ‘Sharpe’s Enemy’ and Peter Tremayne’s ‘The Council of the Cursed’....

Review – Simon SCARROW – “Fire and Sword”

Publ: 2009
Pensby Library
ISBN: 978 0 7553 2437 8
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 520p
Found by serendipity
Rating: ***** ***


What led you to pick up this book?
I like Simon Scarrow’s works and I also like the Napoleonic wars era. This combined both.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
This is the third part of a quartet of novels about Napoleon and Wellington – preceded by Young Bloods and The Generals. This covers the period 1804 to 1809; moving back and forth between the activities of Napoleon and Arthur Wellesley as the latter helps to convince the British government to land troops in the Peninsula to attack Napoleon on the continent.

What did you think of the characters?
Well delineated and credible. In their own way both are made out as heroes, despite the overwhelming ambitions of Napoleon one sympathises with him every time he is let down by others. Wellington, meanwhile is not perfect and his ambition is no less great than that of his enemy.

What did you think about the style?
Easy to read with plenty of natural dialogue. I do enjoy a book that manages to go from narration to dialogue and back without causing a break in one’s thought pattern.

What did you like most about the book?
The way in which these two great men of history are made credible and human.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Smart. A smart and attractive design by Tim Byrne.

Would I recommend it?
Yes.

SIMON SCARROW (b. UK 1962) was for many years a lecturer at a leading Sixth Form College. He has run a Roman History programme taking parties of students to a number of ruins and museums across Britain. He lives in Norfolk.

Review – Bernard CORNWELL – “Sharpe’s Regiment’

Publ: 1986
My own
ISBN: 0 00 617452 3
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 350p
Continuing the series
Rating: ***** ***


What led you to pick up this book?
Continuing the series. (Actually this is slightly out of sequence because I hadn’t got the next two – Sharpe’s Enemy and Sharpe’s Honour – to hand.)

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
Sub-titled “Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of France, June to November 1813”, this takes Sharpe – now a Major of the Light Company of the South Essex into a fight against the bureaucrats and high profile politicians who are abusing the system to deprive his men in Spain of a relief battalion. Sharpe’s brings his battle across the marshes of Foulness and into Hyde Park in front of the Prince Regent.

What did you think of the characters?
Typical Cornwell characters...

What did you think about the style?
See all my previous reviews – One of Cornwell’s attractions is his easy to read style.

What did you like most about the book?
The novelty of Sharpe and Harper taking off their uniforms and allowing themselves to be recruited back into the army.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Typical wonderful artwork. This time it is from The Girl I Left Behind Me by Charles Green.

Would I recommend it?
Yes, to all Sharpe fans and readers of historical fiction or students of the Napoleonic Wars.

BERNARD CORNWELL – see ‘Sharpe’s Havoc’

Review – Bernard CORNWELL – “Sharpe’s Sword’

Publ: 1983
Pensby Library
ISBN: 0 00 616834 5
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 318p
Continuing the series
Rating: ***** **


What led you to pick up this book?
Continuing the series.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
Sub-titled “Richard Sharpe and the Salamanca Campaign Jun and July 1812”, this takes Sharpe – now a Captain of the Light Company of the South Essex into a personal fight against a vicious and devious Napoleonic Colonel Leroux. Sharpe’s job is to safeguard the British spy El Mirador and in so doing is entangled in the Spanish aristocratic world of La Marquesa, a woman with secrets.

What did you think of the characters?
Typical Cornwell characters...

What did you think about the style?
See all my previous reviews – One of Cornwell’s attractions is his easy to read style.

What did you like most about the book?
As always there is a hint of doubt as to who are the good guys and who are the bad guys once Sharpe gets involved in politics.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Typical wonderful artwork from the Battle of Waterloo by Henri George Jacques Chartier.

Would I recommend it?
Yes, to all Sharpe fans and readers of historical fiction or students of the Napoleonic Wars.

BERNARD CORNWELL – see ‘Sharpe’s Havoc’