The Iron King ~ Maurice Druon

How does one start a war of succession that will last over 100 years? Set a trap that will reveal unforgivable indiscretions committed by your three sisters-in-law of course. You might also consider fanning the flame by setting a couple Crusader Knights alight and imprisoning cart loads more. Oh, and pick your own pope, move him to your country and hope he doesn't die at inconvenient moment.



This is the first instalment in a series of seven books translated from the much beloved French versions...finally. This particular book is the set up for the Hundred Years War. The key characters are introduced and the foundation set for the devastation the lack of a butt in a throne caused an entire continent and the land beyond the English Channel. Add the fact that it begins with the Philip the Fair's decimation of the Knights Templar - thus doing away with the Code of Chivalry, and his insistence in controlling the papacy and there you have it; jealousies all 'round.

One would never know this book is nearly half a century old. The writing is fresh and void of that mid-century stylised verbiage. It's a relatively easy read, chock-a-block with intrigue, murder, mayhem and the kind of plotting that requires a heady constitution. This will certainly make one wonder if it's really worth living in the lap of luxury.

The novel has certainly captured my attention and I'm looking forward to the arrival of the follow up in the autumn.

Review originally appeared on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.

Pompeii ~ Robert Harris

My first memory of a huge volcanic eruption was Mount St. Helens in 1980. Though I didn't know anyone affected by it, I remember feeling badly for the 57 lives lost. Clearly we've come a long way with our knowledge of volcanoes and their impact on human mortality since 79AD, when Pompeii blew it's top annihilating not one, but two towns, Herculaneum and Pompeii, as no lives were lost when Eyjafjallajökull erupted on Iceland in the spring of 2010.



I really enjoy historical fictions that no only entertain but teach. I had some knowledge of volcanoes prior to reading this, so the new information was less about the eruption and the devastation than how aquaducts work and how any malfunction might signify something of great import. That is how confident the Romans were about their water works. One improper function was quickly identified and solutions attempted. The brilliance of these engineers still amazes, not because we should think them 'primitive' but because nearly two thousand years later we are still trying to get this water business thing right. We have much to learn.

Harris's ease with words and narrative made this novel such an enjoyable read. The characters were so believable that I felt I was there, a fly on the wall, witnessing these important moments between the different classes and the prejudices held between towns. The addition of Pliny and his witnessing of the eruption only added to the atmosphere of the day.

What worked best for me, in a book where most things well anyway, was the main characters walk from safety to Pompeii to save a mate. The description of the heat and the dust-like ash chocking, slowly asphyxiating already stressed lungs; each exhausting step knee deep in ash that simply kept coming and the snaking waves of lava flowing ever more quickly until the end. The fear, the anxiety, the urgency and the final moments of lost hope are so well written that the final chapter, the weakest part of the book, seemed to undo all that intensity. However, this will not dissuade me from taking up another Harris novel.

Review originally posted on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.

True Soldier Gentlemen ~ Adrian Goldsworthy

A Wickham, a Bennett, and Darcy Fitzwilliams would suggest a little pride, or perhaps some prejudice is in hand. Alas, no. This text written 198 years after the literary classic, incorporates a 'what happens after' sub-plot in the larger tale of young men sent off to fight Napoleon's troops in Portugal. This ain't your momma's Jane Austen folks.



It had been some time since I'd taken a romp through Napoleonic battlefields and was ready for a rollicking adventure, but found myself asking where the action is after the prologue. I will plagiarise myself as this was what I posted as my initial reaction to the book:

"Right, well the prologue starts off a bit Giorgio Armani, but ends up Captain Correlli's Mandolin."
I'm not certain if it is because it's the first instalment of a trilogy and should be treated as a part rather than a whole, but I found that while the character development was good, I was impatient for battle. Then it occurred to me that I was more anxious, tense and fearful than the characters.

This lack of a sense of impending doom, of being harried to get fit or to get things done, or of cementing a love affair made the whole book feel flat for me. Even Wickham's lack of enthusiasm didn't really catch up to me. After a long thing I felt that perhaps the author had tried to fit too much into the story. Trying to make the overall work a central feature for the dozens of sub-plots, some popping up unexpectedly and in the most random locations, some seemingly altogether out of place and adding no discernible input to the story.

I admit that there is no love lost between me and the likes of Austen, the Brontës, Hawthorne et al..., and as Goldworthy indicates this was an attempt at recapturing the essence of those writers, I suspect this type of narrative is simply not for me. It may very work for those who do enjoy the above noted classics as the writing itself has a lovely cadence and the language is quite nice. I just didn't have the overall pace I was expecting from a book about the Napoleonic wars.

Review originally appeared on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.

The King's Agent ~ Donna Russo Morin

Prior to 2013 I could have counted the number of books I've read set in, or partly set in Florence using my thumbs. Already this year, I've had to use both, plus a finger! By definition, this would also suggest that I'm not particularly versed about the Renaissance. Turns out I know a bit more about that than I'd thought. I will admit here that I am woefully ignorant of art, and with the exception of the controversy created a few years back about the Da Vinci's The Last Supper, I had not realised how significance between art and religion or faith.



Forence's artistic world is in the cross-hairs as France and Spain tussle for power and control of the papacy. Art collector, Battista della Palla, who has thrown his lot in support of François, is challenged to find a talisman that would ensure the French monarch's supremacy. Aurelia, an aristocrat who had never mingled with the public escapes her shackled life and finds herself embroiled in Battista's procurement scheme.

In a thriller-esque way, the members of Battista's group and Aurelia go through steps to locate a piece of artwork from clues found on other pieces and Dante's Divine Comedy. As one would expect, there is tension, romance, deception, distrust, friendship, camaraderie and a secret society so well hidden, few have heard of it.

As this is not set in an impossibly short twenty-four hour period, the author has time to really explore the legends, the geography and the characters, which makes the book a delight to read. While I really enjoyed the book I found Battista's reaction to Aurelia's disclosure to be out of character, given his feelings on prior betrayals and deceptions. While I accept his understanding of the circumstances, I wasn't convinced that he could just accept it. There is an imbalance in the book, in that Aurelia gets everything and he, ultimately, nothing. I didn't buy it in terms of the plot. However, if I were to alter my thinking about what type of book this is, and consider it an adventurous romance, rather than an historical thriller, then I can see why it works. I'm not really sure how the author defines her novel.

Overall I think that the mystery and connections between Dante's work and those of artists during his time or shortly thereafter is well rounded and plausible. Setting it during the latter part of the Renaissance, provides an interesting twist as there are no modern gadgets, or ease of communication to help along the way. Everything is based on wits, what one's own surroundings and by listening to those who know.

My reservations about the ending notwithstanding, I'll likely read another of Donna Russo Morin's books. ETA: I was asked by the author to provide and honest review in exchange for a copy of the book. While I still await the book that I suspect has been lost in transit, I have procured another copy and given an honest review nonetheless.

Review originally appeared on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.

The Traitor's Emblem ~ Juan Gómez-Jurado

One of the challenges I am attempting to complete this requires that I read a book that has dual story lines, one in the present or near-present and one at least 50 years prior. Reading the back cover of this novel, I thought I had a winner with a Spanish ship rescuing Germans off the coast during WWII, and a son who decades later is informed of the story behind an object given to his father by one of the rescued. The description was a definite draw.



The author weaves an interesting tale that includes secret societies, Nazis, Jews, and the poor in a system filled with animosities between classes and cultures. A young man and his mother are taken in by their wealthy relatives who treat them as servants, unworthy of connection. Due to an horrific incident, they are thrown out into the Munich streets as the Nazis increase their power. As he ages, he seeks out the story of his father, a subject no one is willing to discuss with him. As time progresses and war draws ever nearer, Paul Reiner must make decisions that will change the course of not only his life, but those around him.

Gómez-Jurado wrote this story by connecting a few events and wondering what would happen if they were actually connected. The premise is great and the story is quite good. Not to mention, that it never felt like a translation (which for some is equally important). I liked the adventure of it, and the felt for Paul whenever he had to overcome some new catastrophe. I found myself cheering the lad on more than once. The other characters are equally well written and relateable, as is the tension of the time. Especially the inclusion of Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch, probably the first real violent episode by Nazis against Jews.

My one criticism is that this is not really a dual storyline tale. Only the prologue is set partially in the present, the rest is in the past. Not that I regret reading the book, just that I have to find another to fulfil my challenge.

Review originally appeared on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.

The Hangman's Daughter ~ Oliver Pötzsch

When I think of historical fictions set in Germany, my mind automatically thinks 1914 to 1946, usually it's the inter-war period. When I think of witch trials, first I think Salem, Massachusetts in America or 17th and 18th century Scotland. On occasion I think of the Elvira film, but it never occurred to me to look east past the Alps and into mid-seventeenth century Bavaria. I know three things about Bavaria: they speak a slightly different German than those in other areas (and if this is wrong, I need to have a word with a couple of mates), Oktoberfest, and beard growing contests.

I know a bit more than that when it comes to hangmen.



Set around a decade after the end of the Thirty Years War, a 'modern' physician, the local hangman and his daughter work together to work out who is killing the children of Schongau. Through these three characters one gets a real sense of how a society recovering from a war that began without a real cause and ended with less, functions as its members walk a fine line between caution and suspicion. Fearing the unknown, they blame the things they do know about - witches and devils.

It could be difficult for an author to find a way to describe sentiment, fear, morals and ethics with empathy and without ridicule about a world so far removed from our own but Pötzsch does it with finesse. There is a real sense of the conditions, geography and attitudes that lack in some books. Granted my copy is a translation, but I think for the most part the observations and feelings are still the author's.

There are a couple little criticisms, but nothing that would prevent me from reading more of the series. The first is that the fight scenes might have been lost in translation. Perhaps the descriptions are as tangled as the movements, but it's not so bad. The other is the Hangman's "neener-neener" approach to mystery solving. That "I know what step we should take next (or I know who did it), but can't tell you now, because the book would be too short" teasing gets a bit annoying after a while. But again, I can get past it, probably because I'm right there along with him. However, someone less familiar with mysteries might be turned off.

Originally posted on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.

Watersheds of World History: From Monarchies To Democracy And From Myth To Reason ~ John L. Taylor

Who doesn't want a book that concisely goes over major moments in history in a simplified way? I certainly like books of this sort, as I often want to locate a date quickly and have difficulty remembering the chronological order of leaders, sometimes their names and dates. A question on one history exam asked to list five reasons why Jean Jacques Rousseau was an important personage. The professor generously gave me 50% for my answer; while it was 100% correct in detail it was 0% correct in terms of historical personage - I had written about Robespierre. So, for someone like me, a book about watershed moments seems a brilliant idea.



I don't know whether to complement the author on his courage or deride him for being extremely misleading. I am not particularly fond of titles that skirt the truth about what the book actually contains. This is one of those cases. This is not a book about the watersheds of history, it is a thesis about important moments of religion's impact on the Western world, chiefly the three largest monotheistic ones: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Had I known that this was a book about the history of religion I would not have agreed to read and review it at the author's request. I may have still read it, but I would never comment on such a hot topic, even if written as an historical and largely sympathetic text. I care not to share my knowledge or feelings about religion and as a result choose not to comment on the content.

Unfortunately, I do have one criticism about the text. There are bolded paragraphs throughout the book. There is no explanation as to why this is done, nor did there seem to be a pattern for doing this. On a good note, I don't recall any glaring typos or grammatical issues.

If someone is looking for a book on watershed moments of religion, this might be a good starting point. If, however, you're seeking a book about key moments in history that are devoid, or not credited to religion, this might not be the perfect fit

Originally appeared on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.