Missive #410 Published 19 December 2024
Dos Passos tried to write this book in the same style as his USA trilogy that has hailed by the liberal left when he was a liberal. Unfortunately, he moved right and this right leaning book, published after his death, has been virtually ignored. I didn't like the USA trilogy style very much. This book would have been better if published as two separate books; one a fiction and a second one as a series of essays.
Missive #409 Published 16 December 2024
Sigwulf, a minor Saxon prince, is saved from execution after his family is slaughtered by the ruthless King Offa of Mercia. Thanks to his Devil's Mark - his eyes of different colors — Sigwulf is exiled to the Frankish court of King Carolus, the future Charlemagne. There Sigwulf survives on his wits while at the same time trying to come to terms with disturbingly prophetic dreams.
Missive #407 Published 14 December 2024
A rumor campaign threatens to thwart London barrister Leo Davies's hope of election to that rarefied strata of the British legal hierarchy, the Queen's Counsel. The rumors are based on truth, for Leo's sex life is hardly conventional. In a typical mystery novel, such a scenario would lead to blackmail or murder…or both. But Caro Fraser's new novel is neither typical nor a mystery. All of the drama in this character study of a fascinating protagonist comes from Leo's interior struggle with issues of sex, love, class, and ambition. The real mystery is how erroneously this book has been cast as a legal thriller.
Missive #405 Published 11 December 2024
The Customer review that I have quoted got it right; it is hard to keep track and I was tempted to give up. The story progresses from character to character then returns to each one of them to pick up their part of the story; very hard to keep track. The author did this in his other alternative history books but this is even more difficult because it is fantasy.
Missive #404 Published 9 December 2024
Not much of a book promo and very few customer reviews. I thought it was a decent history of the Rocky Mountain area and deserved more. This is the second book by this author that I have read and since I enjoy history I'll be reading more of his.
Missive #401 Published 2 December 2024
I read this book as a substitute for Golden Gate Country that is the sixth in the American Folkways series which I think was written especially for the series since the author was more of a novelist versus a non fiction writer. If you read The Californians for its history it is not a bad book; somewhat historical fiction mixed with what I think was some autobiography. I have included below the book promo for Golden Gate Country which describes what was in the book that I could not find to borrow.
Missive #398 Published 28 November 2024
This was the third book that Dos Passos wrote that is included as #8 in the Mainstream of America Series with all of them being easy reading history. I read his first book in the series which was #5 then read #18 in the series not knowing it was part of it. I like his non fiction much more than his novels.
Missive #397 Published 27 November 2024
Adams was an early pioneer of the post-holocaust novel. His Horseclans novels are precursors to many of today's attempts at this type of story, many of which do not exhibit his painstakingly detailed world view or extraordinary plot follow-through (many of his Horseclans books are so interlinked that they make sense only when read in order; he did not create many "stand alone" books in the series).
Hallmarks of Adams' style include a focus on violent, non-stop action, meticulous detail in matters historical and military, strong description, and digressions expounding on various subjects from a conservative and libertarian.
Missive #396 Published 26 November 2024
It is the autumn of 1367. Master Hugh is enjoying the peaceful life of Bampton, when a badly beaten man is found under the porch of St. Andrew's Chapel. The dying man is a chapman — a traveling merchant. Before he is buried in the chapel grounds an ancient, corroded coin is found in the man's mouth. Master Hugh's quest for the chapman's assailants, and his search for the origin of the coin, makes steady progress – but there are men of wealth and power who wish to halt his search, and an old nemesis, Sir Simon Trillowe, is in league with them.
Missive #395 Published 25 November 2024
Sharpe’s first story as an officer takes him to the daunting fort of Gawilghur. This is also the last of his Indian adventures. Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) was never at his shining best when he had to lay siege to great fortresses…