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mgmason_author's Reviews (553)
This is the fifth in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series and here we see Uhtred back to his best. After an incident with a crazed monk, Uhtred is forced to flee Alfred's Wessex and strikes north to Anglia and looks to his ancestral home of Bebbanburg (Bamburgh Castle) where he encounters old friends and foes.
After some complications in the earlier books, Cornwell finally seems ready to start grasping the story as it affects uhtred instead of focussing on the grand history of the period. It is a plot device that works well as this one feels very much in keeping with the first two books. We see the return of Ragnar and Gisela and Uhtred returning to his pagan Viking roots away from the Christian piety of Wessex, a place that Uhtred clearly hates to be.
Of course, comparisons will always be drawn with 'Sharpe'. Both men are no nonsense, both are good soldiers, fearless fighters and both have an element of their character working against them when it comes to those in authority above them. For Sharpe, it is the fact that he is an Officer raised from the ranks. For Uhtred, it is that he is a pagan in Alfred's very Christian Wessex. Though the conflict between the two men was interesting, it was starting to feel a little stale in "Sword Song" so Cornwell has taken a wise step in getting Uhtred out of Wessex. You also get the feeling that he is starting to wind up the Saxon Stories.
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After some complications in the earlier books, Cornwell finally seems ready to start grasping the story as it affects uhtred instead of focussing on the grand history of the period. It is a plot device that works well as this one feels very much in keeping with the first two books. We see the return of Ragnar and Gisela and Uhtred returning to his pagan Viking roots away from the Christian piety of Wessex, a place that Uhtred clearly hates to be.
Of course, comparisons will always be drawn with 'Sharpe'. Both men are no nonsense, both are good soldiers, fearless fighters and both have an element of their character working against them when it comes to those in authority above them. For Sharpe, it is the fact that he is an Officer raised from the ranks. For Uhtred, it is that he is a pagan in Alfred's very Christian Wessex. Though the conflict between the two men was interesting, it was starting to feel a little stale in "Sword Song" so Cornwell has taken a wise step in getting Uhtred out of Wessex. You also get the feeling that he is starting to wind up the Saxon Stories.
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
This is a history book with a difference. Written literally as a traveller's guide (with sections "what to see", "the people", "customs", "what to eat" etc), this is an informative yet funny look at our medieval ancestors.
Dr. Mortimer has a superb way with words and conveys his subject with passion without feeling dumbed down and with information without feeling heavy. First obstacle over then, as some writers... especially academics... used to writing for the academic press tend to be information heavy with very little regard for entertainment. On the other side, those who write for entertainment are less concerned with detail and are rarely as well versed in the subject as they like to pretend.
Mortimer, who has a BA and PhD from Exeter (and made me feel nostalgic in the process of showing how that city would have looked in the 14th century), is very keen to make the people in this book feel alive rather than as a bunch of statistics. He regales us with their sense of humour, typical jokes, the risque of plays and fiction, Chaucer and tales of Robin Hood. He described social structure, dispels myths about "serfdom" and delights with anecdotes of kings and lords, of abbots and of paupers.
But there is a serious side and Mortimer also adds the human element to the widespread tragedy that came with The Black Death and how deaths in WWI pale in comparison.
Just occasionally it slips away from travel writing and delves into pure history, but it isn't long before Mortimer regains his composure and gets back to writing as though for travellers. The only complaint is that at 290 pages (paperback) it really could have done with being longer.
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Dr. Mortimer has a superb way with words and conveys his subject with passion without feeling dumbed down and with information without feeling heavy. First obstacle over then, as some writers... especially academics... used to writing for the academic press tend to be information heavy with very little regard for entertainment. On the other side, those who write for entertainment are less concerned with detail and are rarely as well versed in the subject as they like to pretend.
Mortimer, who has a BA and PhD from Exeter (and made me feel nostalgic in the process of showing how that city would have looked in the 14th century), is very keen to make the people in this book feel alive rather than as a bunch of statistics. He regales us with their sense of humour, typical jokes, the risque of plays and fiction, Chaucer and tales of Robin Hood. He described social structure, dispels myths about "serfdom" and delights with anecdotes of kings and lords, of abbots and of paupers.
But there is a serious side and Mortimer also adds the human element to the widespread tragedy that came with The Black Death and how deaths in WWI pale in comparison.
Just occasionally it slips away from travel writing and delves into pure history, but it isn't long before Mortimer regains his composure and gets back to writing as though for travellers. The only complaint is that at 290 pages (paperback) it really could have done with being longer.
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'Web' is a surprisingly pleasing addition to the career of John Wyndham. Published some ten years after his death, it follows similar themes to several of his better known works.
It is another familiar premise. After an episode of PTSD, our protagonist purchases an island in the south Pacific in order to create a utopia and get away from the strains of the western world. This is a very short book (140 pages) and a good 40+ at the beginning is taken up with a short history of the island, the first arrivals in the early 19th century, its annexation into the British Empire then onward to both world wars and its change of ownership during that time all the while the locals amuse themselves with the rare arrivals of the white man.
But it is in the aftermath of WWII that the story really begins to take shape. This was a period of testing nuclear weapons and an attempt is made to move the locals from the island and to another where they wouldn't be in the path of the fallout.
Years later our group arrivals on their utopia to discover that something isn't quite right. There are spiders all over the island and they are evolving. Far from being a utopia, the humans become trapped by the freak of evolution.
The metaphor of humans no longer being the pinnacle of evolution is one used several times by Wyndham and it doesn't feel tired or overused here, it is just presented in a different way in light of the era in which Wyndham was living in which he wrote it.
It comes to a sudden end but felt that it could have should have been longer. The ending itself is not typical Wyndham.
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It is another familiar premise. After an episode of PTSD, our protagonist purchases an island in the south Pacific in order to create a utopia and get away from the strains of the western world. This is a very short book (140 pages) and a good 40+ at the beginning is taken up with a short history of the island, the first arrivals in the early 19th century, its annexation into the British Empire then onward to both world wars and its change of ownership during that time all the while the locals amuse themselves with the rare arrivals of the white man.
But it is in the aftermath of WWII that the story really begins to take shape. This was a period of testing nuclear weapons and an attempt is made to move the locals from the island and to another where they wouldn't be in the path of the fallout.
Years later our group arrivals on their utopia to discover that something isn't quite right. There are spiders all over the island and they are evolving. Far from being a utopia, the humans become trapped by the freak of evolution.
The metaphor of humans no longer being the pinnacle of evolution is one used several times by Wyndham and it doesn't feel tired or overused here, it is just presented in a different way in light of the era in which Wyndham was living in which he wrote it.
It comes to a sudden end but felt that it could have should have been longer. The ending itself is not typical Wyndham.
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I ought to have liked this more than I actually did. It was well written and as the author says, it is designed to tell the story of the final Crusade from the point of view of both Christian and Muslim. I read a lot of historical fiction and it was much better written than some examples I can think of. The descriptions are good and the battles well handled. Overall it has the makings of a good quality historical novel.
However there are some severe flaws that I cannot forgive. The characters are flat, the text is too bloated, far too little happens and there is some boring subplot about a heretical book and the people trying to get hold of it. I simply cannot care about the people or the events and for that reason alone I will not be reading the other two in the trilogy.
Furthermore, Baybars (the real life slave who rose to become Sultan of Egypt) gets precious little time in the novel, so this isn't quite the 'equal time' novel that the blurb pretends it is. Perhaps the other two novels will contain more devoted to him, but I don't care enough to read them.
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However there are some severe flaws that I cannot forgive. The characters are flat, the text is too bloated, far too little happens and there is some boring subplot about a heretical book and the people trying to get hold of it. I simply cannot care about the people or the events and for that reason alone I will not be reading the other two in the trilogy.
Furthermore, Baybars (the real life slave who rose to become Sultan of Egypt) gets precious little time in the novel, so this isn't quite the 'equal time' novel that the blurb pretends it is. Perhaps the other two novels will contain more devoted to him, but I don't care enough to read them.
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This is arguably the funniest novel that Rankin has produced so far. It was the first novel of his that I had read and my copy is even more special that I had it signed personally by him when I met him for the first time at a Collector's Fair
Toytown has gone all "Hollywood" and been renamed "Toy City". It is populated by the entire cast of Who's Who of nursery rhyme land. And somebody is killing them off one by one. It seems a serial killer is loose in Toy City and the only thing linking the crimes is a hollow chocolate bunny left at each scene as a calling card.
Charged with solving the crime, Detective Bill Winkie (Wee Willy Winkie, get it?) and his sidekick Eddie Bear (Teddy Bear, get it?) set out on their investigation but soon after Bill goes missing and Eddie deputises Jack (the boy) to help him with the investigation.
Despite the childish tone to the novel, it certainly is not for kids. Rankin has been compared to Pratchett but to compare them to each other does a disservice to both men. They both have their own style and ideas of what will appeal to adults. In this case, it is tongue in cheek method by which many of these characters die. Humpty Dumpty is boiled in his own swimming pool for example.
There isn't much wrong with this novel and i'm struggling to find anything negative to say aside from that Rankin wrote an unnecessary sequel "The Toyminator" that was neither as clever or as funny as Hollow Chocolate Bunnies.
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Toytown has gone all "Hollywood" and been renamed "Toy City". It is populated by the entire cast of Who's Who of nursery rhyme land. And somebody is killing them off one by one. It seems a serial killer is loose in Toy City and the only thing linking the crimes is a hollow chocolate bunny left at each scene as a calling card.
Charged with solving the crime, Detective Bill Winkie (Wee Willy Winkie, get it?) and his sidekick Eddie Bear (Teddy Bear, get it?) set out on their investigation but soon after Bill goes missing and Eddie deputises Jack (the boy) to help him with the investigation.
Despite the childish tone to the novel, it certainly is not for kids. Rankin has been compared to Pratchett but to compare them to each other does a disservice to both men. They both have their own style and ideas of what will appeal to adults. In this case, it is tongue in cheek method by which many of these characters die. Humpty Dumpty is boiled in his own swimming pool for example.
There isn't much wrong with this novel and i'm struggling to find anything negative to say aside from that Rankin wrote an unnecessary sequel "The Toyminator" that was neither as clever or as funny as Hollow Chocolate Bunnies.
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So continues the exploits of Cato, Optio of the sixth century of Legio II Augusta in the attempts to conquer the Britons and battle for acceptance in the legions who looked unkindly on the unusual method by which he became their superior officer.
This second novel follows immediately on from the first "Under the Eagle" and we are thrown into the middle of the war against Caratacus and the Catuvellauni tribe. Along for the ride are a few familiar faces: Macro the Centurion, Vespasian the Legate, Vitellius the Tribune (both future Emperors) and a few other incidental characters from the first.
Fans of the first novel will slot in quite nicely without feeling too disjointed as we are reminded quickly and efficiently the events and people of the first. The writing style is very reminiscent of Bernard Cornwell and fans of his work would easily settle into this series.
First the good points. This novel has flow that is as good as the first. Cato is coming into his own as he copes with growing up in the legion in the middle of a campaign. His relationship with Macro is also coming along quite nicely. It also deals with the issue of the conquest of the Britons in light but effective detail. The plot flows well and is an easy read.
But there are drawbacks. The characters are pretty one dimensional with not much scope for development beyond the stereotypes to which they subscribe. Emperor Claudius is portrayed as an inept buffoon, a caricature obviously being made to contrast with the shrewdness and justness of Vespasian who is portrayed as wholly noble and all round perfect command of Legio II Augusta. There is no real depth to the plot and even the element of the mystery of a plan to assassinate Claudius is quite superficial. The mechanics of battle lack any real depth or focus on strategy and in that it comes off as the poor cousin to another series I have been reading recently (Warrior of Rome by Harry Sidebottom).
Overall it is a good read and well written but it is best not to expect anything too heavy. I will continue reading the series but in the hope that some depth is added in subsequent novels.
See more book reviews at my blog
This second novel follows immediately on from the first "Under the Eagle" and we are thrown into the middle of the war against Caratacus and the Catuvellauni tribe. Along for the ride are a few familiar faces: Macro the Centurion, Vespasian the Legate, Vitellius the Tribune (both future Emperors) and a few other incidental characters from the first.
Fans of the first novel will slot in quite nicely without feeling too disjointed as we are reminded quickly and efficiently the events and people of the first. The writing style is very reminiscent of Bernard Cornwell and fans of his work would easily settle into this series.
First the good points. This novel has flow that is as good as the first. Cato is coming into his own as he copes with growing up in the legion in the middle of a campaign. His relationship with Macro is also coming along quite nicely. It also deals with the issue of the conquest of the Britons in light but effective detail. The plot flows well and is an easy read.
But there are drawbacks. The characters are pretty one dimensional with not much scope for development beyond the stereotypes to which they subscribe. Emperor Claudius is portrayed as an inept buffoon, a caricature obviously being made to contrast with the shrewdness and justness of Vespasian who is portrayed as wholly noble and all round perfect command of Legio II Augusta. There is no real depth to the plot and even the element of the mystery of a plan to assassinate Claudius is quite superficial. The mechanics of battle lack any real depth or focus on strategy and in that it comes off as the poor cousin to another series I have been reading recently (Warrior of Rome by Harry Sidebottom).
Overall it is a good read and well written but it is best not to expect anything too heavy. I will continue reading the series but in the hope that some depth is added in subsequent novels.
See more book reviews at my blog
I decided to read this book after the fact of the well received TV series. I was quite surprised to see that there was very little in common between the two aside from the subject of the event giving everybody an insight into their future. In the TV series, I believe the period is 18 months hence but in the case of the book it is 21 years. I'm not going to dwell too much on the differences because they are irrelevant and each deserves to be judged on its own merit.
The book concerns a team at CERN in Switzerland working on the LHC that, when switched on, simultaneously sends everybody into a coma lasting two minutes. Many have images of events in their future while some do not and speculation quickly comes around that those people would be dead in 21 years. This comes as no great surprise to the elderly but when relatively young people have the same experience, they start to worry.
There are two stories in one here. The first deals with science fiction concepts and philsophical discussions on free will vs determinism. The other is a detective story. One of the characters discovers he is dead in the future and receives information from a stranger that he was murdered. He sets about trying to solve it.
Unfortunately, the book is too short to really explore anything too conceptual or to make a real mystery of the murder plot. It could have been double the length and not suffered. What we end up with is two half-arsed stories making one novel, and that is where it suffers. Perhaps Sawyer felt uncomfortable with concepts and philosophy or perhaps he was merely trying not to get too bogged down and wanted to write a popular novel for broad appeal.
I also felt a little let down by the ending that came off a little over the top. The events of the second Event cheapens the overall narrative, it is over-emotional and unnecessary. Overall, this is a good and interesting scifi novel but really lacks the depth that should have made it a SciFi classic.
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The book concerns a team at CERN in Switzerland working on the LHC that, when switched on, simultaneously sends everybody into a coma lasting two minutes. Many have images of events in their future while some do not and speculation quickly comes around that those people would be dead in 21 years. This comes as no great surprise to the elderly but when relatively young people have the same experience, they start to worry.
There are two stories in one here. The first deals with science fiction concepts and philsophical discussions on free will vs determinism. The other is a detective story. One of the characters discovers he is dead in the future and receives information from a stranger that he was murdered. He sets about trying to solve it.
Unfortunately, the book is too short to really explore anything too conceptual or to make a real mystery of the murder plot. It could have been double the length and not suffered. What we end up with is two half-arsed stories making one novel, and that is where it suffers. Perhaps Sawyer felt uncomfortable with concepts and philosophy or perhaps he was merely trying not to get too bogged down and wanted to write a popular novel for broad appeal.
I also felt a little let down by the ending that came off a little over the top. The events of the second Event cheapens the overall narrative, it is over-emotional and unnecessary. Overall, this is a good and interesting scifi novel but really lacks the depth that should have made it a SciFi classic.
See more book reviews at my blog
This is quite possibly one of the most amazing books I have ever read and that in spite of the all too familiar plot.
The story follows a young human girl, Ayla, at the end of the last Ice Age. After her family are killed in an earthquake she susequently survives against all the odds and is eventually found by a clan of Neanderthals. Slowly, she assimilates herself into the clan. Because of a feeling of negativity toward “The Others”, most of them are not particularly happy about the inclusion of one of them into their lives.
Like any story with this general idea (I’m thinking Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai etc) she soon comes up against problems as her human instincts, so very different from the ways of the Clan, come into conflict with the rigid male dominated heirarchy of the Neanderthal tribe. Despite being 600 pages long, it is not bloated and there always seems to be something happening. The characters are richly illustrated and you can really get an insight into the harsh world that the Clan lives in.
On the negative side, despite Auel’s research, there is a lot of conjecture because even now there is a lot about the Neanderthal that is a mystery to us. This is not the writer’s fault, but I feel this book will date with any substantial discoveries on the horizon. Despite keeping her feet firmly on the ground and avoiding spiritual and fantasy elements, there is one scene toward the end of the book that did unfortunately dabble in a vision that we would identify as modern technology. I felt it was out of place.
This book is a regular set text in schools around the western world. It has also courted controversy because of a single scene featuring the taboo of child rape. I must say that the act was never intended to be titillating and it is handled perfectly and fully in context of the wider story. Those who might turn away from a book on that basis would do well to realise that in the world that Ayla inhabits, it is common for females to give birth to their first child aged around 11 or 12.
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The story follows a young human girl, Ayla, at the end of the last Ice Age. After her family are killed in an earthquake she susequently survives against all the odds and is eventually found by a clan of Neanderthals. Slowly, she assimilates herself into the clan. Because of a feeling of negativity toward “The Others”, most of them are not particularly happy about the inclusion of one of them into their lives.
Like any story with this general idea (I’m thinking Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai etc) she soon comes up against problems as her human instincts, so very different from the ways of the Clan, come into conflict with the rigid male dominated heirarchy of the Neanderthal tribe. Despite being 600 pages long, it is not bloated and there always seems to be something happening. The characters are richly illustrated and you can really get an insight into the harsh world that the Clan lives in.
On the negative side, despite Auel’s research, there is a lot of conjecture because even now there is a lot about the Neanderthal that is a mystery to us. This is not the writer’s fault, but I feel this book will date with any substantial discoveries on the horizon. Despite keeping her feet firmly on the ground and avoiding spiritual and fantasy elements, there is one scene toward the end of the book that did unfortunately dabble in a vision that we would identify as modern technology. I felt it was out of place.
This book is a regular set text in schools around the western world. It has also courted controversy because of a single scene featuring the taboo of child rape. I must say that the act was never intended to be titillating and it is handled perfectly and fully in context of the wider story. Those who might turn away from a book on that basis would do well to realise that in the world that Ayla inhabits, it is common for females to give birth to their first child aged around 11 or 12.
See more book reviews at my blog
I'm writing this review despite the fact that this is one of only a handful of books I did not complete. it isn't very often I do that but I could see no point carrying on. I got about 2/3 of the way through and nothing was happening. I found the characters unlikable and the plot tedious and stationary. It wasn't even heavy going, just an unpleasat read that rambled on almost directionless while the world was falling apart
.The premise is good: Earth has been polluted and people have long since given up trying to cure the environment and decided to change the human genome to adapt ourselves to the environment. A good idea that should have opened up so many ethical questions and judging by the previous book I read by the same author, 'The Alien Years' I thought that was what we were going to get.
Unfortunately we don't get that, instead we meet some pretty mundane and often unlikable people with a few token references to scientific research. I don't even care enough about the end to look up the events on wikipedia. There is no real depth, but an illusion that something is happening... somewhere... but we see nothing of it. Is the writer trying to suggest that people are not noticing the urgency? Is he showing a people facing their doom but apathetic in their belief that it will all work itself out? Possibly, but if that is the case then it didn't work for me. It wasn't going anywhere so on page 288 I gave up.
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.The premise is good: Earth has been polluted and people have long since given up trying to cure the environment and decided to change the human genome to adapt ourselves to the environment. A good idea that should have opened up so many ethical questions and judging by the previous book I read by the same author, 'The Alien Years' I thought that was what we were going to get.
Unfortunately we don't get that, instead we meet some pretty mundane and often unlikable people with a few token references to scientific research. I don't even care enough about the end to look up the events on wikipedia. There is no real depth, but an illusion that something is happening... somewhere... but we see nothing of it. Is the writer trying to suggest that people are not noticing the urgency? Is he showing a people facing their doom but apathetic in their belief that it will all work itself out? Possibly, but if that is the case then it didn't work for me. It wasn't going anywhere so on page 288 I gave up.
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I'm not a great fan of biographies. Seriously, far too many non-entities these days are spewing the events of their event-less lives into books. Clearly, Sir Bobby Robson does not fit that description and I read this keenly to find out what he had to say about his time as England manager, what he thought of Maradona after "that" incident and the events surrounding his time as manager of Newcastle United.
This autobiography, poignantly named "Farewell, but not goodbye" was written shortly after he left Newcastle and wound down into retirement, was released as a commemorative edition with 2 extra chapters following his death in 2009 when cancer finally overtook him. In his life, he fought it - and beat it - five times. There is a lesson to us all in the fighting spirit but before that, Sir Bobby wants to take us on a journey. From his early life to his playing career and finally his meteoric career as a manager from Ipswich to England to the Continent and finally to his beloved Newcastle. Very few stones are unturned and many of the niggling questions are answered here, including a few stories that never made it into the public domain at the time.
A true gentleman of the game, football fans will read this with a hint of sadness of what he have lost in the game since the 1970s and how much has changed. You will also experience his managerial genius and critical eye for a good talent. The only complaint I have is that we don't hear much about his playing career, it is almost glossed over despite that he played for England. This could, and should, have been a longer book and I feel we deserved to hear about more of the on the pitch exploits for England, even though his career was as much about being what went on off the pitch as well as on.
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This autobiography, poignantly named "Farewell, but not goodbye" was written shortly after he left Newcastle and wound down into retirement, was released as a commemorative edition with 2 extra chapters following his death in 2009 when cancer finally overtook him. In his life, he fought it - and beat it - five times. There is a lesson to us all in the fighting spirit but before that, Sir Bobby wants to take us on a journey. From his early life to his playing career and finally his meteoric career as a manager from Ipswich to England to the Continent and finally to his beloved Newcastle. Very few stones are unturned and many of the niggling questions are answered here, including a few stories that never made it into the public domain at the time.
A true gentleman of the game, football fans will read this with a hint of sadness of what he have lost in the game since the 1970s and how much has changed. You will also experience his managerial genius and critical eye for a good talent. The only complaint I have is that we don't hear much about his playing career, it is almost glossed over despite that he played for England. This could, and should, have been a longer book and I feel we deserved to hear about more of the on the pitch exploits for England, even though his career was as much about being what went on off the pitch as well as on.
See more book reviews at my blog