Book Reviews

The Crow Dark Sea, Book I: The Heretic by Duncan Bourne

2024-03-10 This was advertised on sffchronicles.com and I idly took a closer look as I was intrigued by the title and cover – and was immediately impressed by the opening enough to buy a copy. What we have here is a fascinating genre mix of Welsh historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. Bourne handles the balance between them deftly, so while there’s a good flavour... Continue reading

I Am Taurus by Stephen Palmer

2024-03-10 One of my frustrations reading archaeology is how little archaeologists dare to infer what people believed in the prehistoric past. This is ironic, because every archaeological find requires interpretation and speculation in the first place. Additionally, books on mythology tend to focus on the matured stories in classical literature rather than examine their origins and development before this. Therefore I hoped a book dedicated... Continue reading

Up To The Throne (Dark Renaissance, #1) by Toby Frost

2022-05-06 The Renaissance setting of this fantasy novel made for a fresh and interesting backdrop, and there’s a rich and detailed sense of culture which made the world and story really come alive. Sometimes I would have liked to have seen the pace slowed a little to spend more time on the deeper complexities of the characters. Overall, though, an enjoyable read, and I’d be... Continue reading

Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures and Innovations by Mary Beard

2021-03-13 Just a selection of republished reviews where she briefly touches on a topic, then derides whichever academic’s work she’s reviewing. A single sentence in a book that she disagrees with results in the entire work being dismissed. Came across as personal and vindictive point-scoring to me. That’s also the one where she also laments that sexual predation by academics is no longer allowed! Rating:... Continue reading

The Fens: Discovering England’s Ancient Depths by Francis Pryor

2021-03-06 This book proved to be something of a disappointment. The first half covers the prehistory of the Fens, the second half is a travelers guide to pubs, cafes, and churches. There’s also a lot of inconsistency: for example, in the half about prehistory, there’s a section break and a new section about Pryor visiting a local aviation museum, which was completely out of place.... Continue reading

The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland by Vicki Cummings

2021-01-17 Cummings provides a good, broad introduction to the Neolithic period in Britain and Ireland, that makes for accessible reading for a general interested audience as well as students looking to familiarize themselves better with the period. Although the focus is on the Neolithic, Cummings does cover the end of the Mesolithic and the start of the Bronze Age for context. Each chapter opens with... Continue reading

A Rain of Fire (The Great War Book 1) by Ralph Kern

2021-01-14 A Rain of Fire effectively re-imagines Dunkirk in a space setting, in which the Hegemony has invaded a planet of the Republic, and the Kingdom needs to retrieve its expeditionary force from one of the continents. The story is told from a handful of characters: a private on the frontline, a battleship captain, an admiral, fighter pilot, and mech warrior. Kern’s prose is fluid... Continue reading

Dark Moon by David Gemmell

2021-01-02 Didn’t enjoy this book as much as other David Gemmell novels. The story began interestingly enough, but as it progressed it seemed to increasingly lose focus. The opening character, Tarantio/Dace seemed to drift away from his own story and end up with nothing resolved. Instead, other characters were introduced who spent a lot of time talking about themselves, and talking about other characters, then... Continue reading

Echoes of the Great Song by David Gemmell

2020-12-26 The intense moral relativity in this novel is surprising – most every character begins as morally reprehensible and at odds with one another, but over the course of the story they recognize their flaws and try to work together, and become willing to sacrifice themselves for each other if required. Yet it manages to remain a very enjoyable fantasy novel, filled with all the... Continue reading

Making Money (Discworld, #36; Moist Von Lipwig, #2) by Terry Pratchett

2020-10-13 After Going Postal I had high expectations for Making Money, but ended up disappointed. Whereas Moist von Lipwig had driven the story in the previous book, in this one he simply gets dragged into one situation after another where he doesn’t really do anything. The first 25% is mainly him being told to run a bank and then touring it. There are also a... Continue reading