Category: book reviews

Shelf Control #56 – 11/11/2022

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Happy Friday and welcome to my Shelf Control post to wrap up the working week!

Shelf Control is a regular feature on my blog. It’s a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies… a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

Today’s featured book is a historical fiction novel from a time period I have dabbled in, but not read loads on. When I purchased my copy of this book based on the synopsis, I didn’t realise it was part of a series.

Shall we jump into today’s Shelf Contol feature?

 

Eagles in the Storm – Ben Kane

Genre: Historical-fiction

Pages: 352

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Arrow

Publication Date: 01 Jan 2015

 

 

Goodreads – Eagles in the Storm

AD 15. The German chieftain Arminius has been defeated, one of the lost Roman eagles recovered, and thousands of German tribesmen slain.

Yet these successes aren’t nearly enough for senior centurion Lucius Tullus. Not until Arminius is dead, his old legion’s eagle found and the enemy tribes completely vanquished will he rest.

But Arminius – devious, fearless – is burning for revenge of his own.

Charismatic as ever, he raises another large tribal army, which will harry the Romans the length and breadth of the land.

Soon Tullus finds himself in a cauldron of bloodshed, treachery and danger.

His mission to retrieve his legion’s eagle will be his most perilous yet…

 

My Thoughts…

Historical fiction is a genre I enjoy going back to, time and again. When I purchased my copy of Eagles in the Storm, it was having read books about Roman warriors before. What I hadn’t realised is that it is not a standalone novel – rather, the final book of a trilogy! 

I won’t let that stop me from picking this up. If I go on to enjoy this relatively short historical fiction novel, I will go back to the beginning and read its predecessors.

One of the things I like about Eagles in the Storm is that it is quite a short book. It is the kind of read you can pick up in between longer ones with ease. Or, if you really just need a change of genre, you can scratch that itch quite easily with this book!

Given the topic of the book, it promises to be full of action. I fully expect this to be a quick read and one that I enjoy thoroughly!

 

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Blog Tour Review: Warrior and Protector – Peter Gibbons

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  1. Hello everybody and welcome to today’s blog tour review of Warrior and Protector by Peter Gibbons.

I am a big fan of historical-fiction set in this time period. If you read my blog, you will know that I am currently working my way through Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories series and M.J. Porter’s Wolf of Mercia series. I have also read and enjoyed The Abbot’s Tale by Conn Iggulden as a standalone. So, when Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources was looking for a reviewer for Warrior and Protector, I would have been daft to pass up the opportunity! I’ve been looking forward to reading this book ahead of the tour – and I have plenty of reasons why you should read this book to share with you!

Before we jump into my review, here are some details about the book itself: –

 

Warrior and Protector – Peter Gibbons

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 316

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 31 Oct 2022

Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

 

Goodreads – Warrior and Protector

The start of a brand NEW series – an unputdownable fast paced adventure, filled with unforgettable characters.

989 AD.

Alfred the Great’s dream of a united England has been forged by his daughter Aethelfaed and grandson, King Aethelstan.

The Vikings have been expelled from York following the death of Erik Bloodaxe, and for two generations there has been peace between Saxon and Dane.

A new Viking warlord Olaf Tryggvason seeks revenge for Bloodaxe’s death and the slaughter that followed, and has set his sights on a fresh assault on England’s shores. With Skarde Wartooth they set sail for Saxon lands, hungry for glory, conquest and vengeance.

Beornoth, a brutal and battle-hardened Saxon Thegn, is called to arms to fight and protect the Saxon people from the savage Norse invaders. On a personal crusade, he joins the army of Byrthnoth, Lord of the east Saxons in a desperate fight against the bloodthirsty Vikings.

Beornoth must lay his own demons to bed, survive vicious attacks and find redemption for his tragic past.

If you like Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden, and David Gemmell you will love this epic Saxon adventure packed with battles, Vikings, and adventure.

 

Purchase Link – Amazon

 

My Thoughts

If you enjoy fiction based on English history, then Warrior and Protector is an approachable fictional novel exploring 10th-century Britain. It is a turbulent period; conflict is rife and political instability has made England ripe for plundering. At just over 300 pages, Warrior and Protector is a comfortable size novel for somebody wanting to explore the genre. Or, as I found, it’s great to pick up and delve into a quick palette-cleanser read. I temporarily set aside a more dense dark-academia novel to read this. The pace and tone make for easy reading and a refreshing change.

One of the aspects I enjoyed most about this book is the pace. There is plenty of action driving the narrative forward at all times. Beornoth is a man who wants to be in the thick of the fight. Scarred by his past, he jumps at the opportunity to take vengeance for the wrongs against his family. But, in order to do so, he has to fight his own personal battle in the first place. After the attack that devastates his family, he will do anything to blunt the pain. Only when the Vikings return does he clean up his act and vow to do what he can to protect others from the same fate.

Of course, this is not easy, and something he struggles with throughout the book. It might be easy to assume that Beornoth is a shallow character, hell-bent on vengeance and war, but otherwise hollow. That is not the case at all. He is a man who does not shy away from taking up a blade, but he does so in the defence of others as much as for vengeance. Beornoth is actually a well-rounded and developed character, and I expect we can see more from him in subsequent books.

Naturally, you can expect a lot of violence and all the unpleasant things that go along with it from this narrative. The book is easy to pick up and read. However, there are some difficult subjects broached within the text. In particular, death, abuse, and references to torture are themes that come up throughout the book. If this is something that would be difficult for you to read, then perhaps this book is not for you. I would say that the content isn’t really unexpected in a novel of this type and setting.

The books are set a little later than Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories, (aka The Last Kingdom). Even if you have read these books before, you are not going over well-trodden ground in Warrior and Protector. The overall setting is familiar. References to significant individuals in that period of history ( Alfred the Great and his daughter Ethelflaed for example) help give some grounding. Otherwise, this is a unique story in its own right; it is well worth a read if you are a fan of the genre!

I can’t wait to read further into this series. Peter Gibbons also has another historical fiction series already published. I have a sneaking suspicion it is going to end up on my TBR!

If you want to find out more about warrior and protector, there are details at the beginning of this post about other bloggers who have taken part in the Blog Tours.

If you want to find out more about Warrior and Protector, here are details of other bloggers who have also taken part in the blog tour. Please go and check out their thoughts on the book as well!

 

Author Bio

 

Peter Gibbons is a financial advisor and author of the highly acclaimed Viking Blood and Blade trilogy.

He comes to Boldwood with his new Saxon Warrior series, set around the 900 AD Viking invasion during the reign of King Athelred the Unready. The first title of the new series, Warrior and Protector, will be published in October 2022. He originates from Liverpool and now lives with his family in County Kildare.

Social Media Links

Facebook: Peter Gibbons Author – Home | Facebook

Twitter: Peter Gibbons Author (@AuthorGibbons) / Twitter

Instagram: Peter Gibbons Author (@petermgibbons) • Instagram photos and videos

Bookbub profile: Peter Gibbons Books – BookBub

Shelf Control #55 – 21/10/2022

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It’s Friday and that can only mean one thing; it’s time for my Shelf Control post!

Shelf Control is a regular feature on my blog. It’s a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies… a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

Today’s book is a historical fiction novel set in one of my favourite periods of history. It is tumultuous and full of strife, but it is a part of history that fascinates many. Myself included. I have already read books on the topic (including The Lady of the Rivers and Songbird), but it is one that I will never get sick of!

Shall we jump into today’s feature?

 

Anne Boleyn: A Novel – Evelyn Anthony

Genre: Historical-fiction

Pages: 320

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Open Road Media Romance

Publication Date: 17 Nov 2015

 

 

Goodreads – Anne Boleyn: A Novel

Set against the intrigue and pageantry of the sixteenth-century English court, Evelyn Anthony’s novel tells the love story of Henry Tudor and Anne Boleyn, who would become his wife, his queen, and the mother of one of Britain’s greatest monarchs.

On a lovely midsummer afternoon, Henry Tudor rides to Hever Castle. There, he feasts his eyes on Anne Boleyn, who caught his roving attention at court a few months earlier. Anne is in no mood to receive her king. He has torn from her the one man she loved: Harry Percy, who was forced to marry another. But King Henry VIII is not a man who gives up—the thrill of the chase only excites him more. Yet the woman he desires so passionately is no fool. Educated at the French court, Anne vows that she will not share the fate of her naïve younger sister, Mary, who after bearing Henry a bastard son was cast away and married off to a country squire. No, Anne will settle for nothing less than the crown of England, even if Henry has to break with Rome in order to marry her.

History comes thrillingly alive in a novel that features a teeming canvas of iconic real-life characters: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the enemy Anne vows to destroy; Henry’s first wife, the proud and pious Queen Catherine of Aragon; and Thomas Cromwell, who engineers Anne’s downfall. From the halcyon early days of courtship to her imprisonment in the palace tower for treason, this is a tale of love, ambition, and the tragic destiny of Anne of the Thousand Days.

 

My Thoughts…

Described as the love story of Anne Boleyn and Henry Tudor, this book is set during one of my favourite periods of history.

The infamous Henry VIII and his multitude of wives (and their various fates) leaves plenty for readers to pore through. I enjoy reading about this complex period of history, and I can’t wait to learn more about Anne Boleyn specifically from this book.  From the early days to her tragic end, Anne is a centrepiece in English history. In order to become Henry the eighth’s Queen and second wife, vast political and religious shifts must occur.

Anne Boleyn is often conveyed as an ambitious and conniving individual. She is often demonised as the reason for a lot of the reforms in England during the period, as well as being unable to provide the King with a son. Eventually, this led to her downfall just a few short years after she married Henry.

I’m interested to see if this particular book heralds the same tone, or if we get to see a different take on who she was as a political figure, but also a woman. The synopsis of this book suggests it is more of a romance. Whether this is just a different take on their story, or whether the whole saga is romanticised remains to be seen. 

That is all from me in today’s Shelf Control post! Have you read this book… or any other books on the Tudor period that you would recommend?

 

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Book Review: The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

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I’ve been really looking forward to sharing my thoughts on The Book Thief with you. This was a very easy five-star read, and it was far more emotional than I imagined it was going to be! I enjoyed this book so much that I went on to purchase a physical copy. If I’m not sure about books, I tend to get them on my kindle. However, books by authors that I know and love, and will read again, end up on my physical shelf. That’s also the case if I go on to love something new, as was the case with The Book Thief. If that doesn’t tell you how much I enjoyed this book then I don’t know what will!

 

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 552

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publication Date: 14 Mar 2006

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

 

Goodreads – The Book Thief

Amazon – Purchase Link

 

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

 

My Thoughts…

I find it more common to find books about the Second World War written from an English or American perspective. It is rare that we see the effects of the war from the perspective of Germans. The Book Thief is refreshing in that aspect because it fills a gap that isn’t explored enough. It peels away any stigma that all Germans supported and contributed to the war activity. On the contrary, a lot of them objected to it and actively tried to help those of Jewish faith, who were victimised. 

I also enjoy how the book is told from the perspective of death. It is a challenging narrative to write, but it is one I have enjoyed by other authors in different contexts. An author who has been similarly bold in writing from this character perspective is Terry Pratchett, in his Discworld series. It would be remiss of me to imply that these books were similar, however. On the contrary, the tone is very different. That said, I appreciated both for different reasons. In The Book Thief, it emphasises how prevalent death is throughout such a tragic, heartbreaking narrative.

This is a book that will tug at your heartstrings. The ending is especially emotional, and whilst extremely personal to one of our main characters, Liesel, it fits with the events of the book. I shed a few tears. However, this book is not all doom and gloom. If anything, it only goes to emphasise the goodness of the human spirit in times of hardship. Liesel, who tragically loses her brother at the beginning of the narrative, and whose mother is taken away, is taken in by another family. Not only do they raise her when they have very little to offer in the first place, but they help inspire a fierce love – of reading.

Perhaps it is the quality time that learning to read gives her with her foster father. Perhaps it is because books are a ‘forbidden fruit’. Whatever her reasons, Liesel is a character that all book lovers can understand and come to love. She is a wilful, passionate child, growing up in a difficult time and turning to books and writing to escape. I think that is something we can all understand!

I don’t really want to discuss the finer points of the narrative and spoil the book for anyone. However, there is a lot that happens in this book. It is not the shortest at around 550 pages, but it is worth the investment of time. This is a book that I will be going back and reading again at some point in the future. It is one of those where you can do so and take away something new every time.

 

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***This post contains an affiliate link to Amazon if you wish to purchase the book. Note that if you follow this link, I will earn a small commission from that purchase at no cost to you. 

If you wish to obtain a copy of the book based on this review, I would really appreciate you following this link and showing my content some support by making your purchase***

Sunday Summary – 16th October 2022

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Good evening – welcome back to another Sunday Summary update!

This week has been considerably better than last week. However, as a consequence of my working overtime last week, I’ve only shared one blog post with you this week. It isn’t the end of the world, but it is a deviation from my usual blogging schedule. I hope you can understand and that you enjoyed my light-hearted book tag post – The Cozy Autumn Book Tag.

 

Books Read

Thankfully, I have also had a lot more reading time this week. As of my last Sunday Summary update, I was 183 pages into Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb. Don’t get me wrong, 183 pages is reasonable progress. However, when you take into account this book is nearly 840 pages long, it’s not as much as you think.

This week I have done considerably better. I am now 466 pages into the book (which is just over halfway) and I’m really excited about where the plot is leading at the moment! A lot has already happened so far, but I feel like we’re finally getting into the main action of the story. 

I was avidly reading this book earlier this morning and I can’t wait to jump back into it soon as this post goes live! Fortunately, I have a lot more free time next week as I am on annual leave from my job. I’m going to be making a real push to finish Assassin’s Quest next week – wish me luck!

 

Books Discovered

Good news is I haven’t added any new books to my reading list this week! I have been fluctuating at roughly the same number of books on my reading list for quite some time. Whilst it’s good but it’s not growing, I would like to try and whittle it down some!

 

Coming Up…

You’ll be glad to know that I will be back to my usual schedule of sharing two posts midweek, and a Sunday Summary to wrap up events at the end of the week.

My first post of next week is a book review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I really enjoyed my read of this historical-fiction novel. Whereas we normally read narratives of World War II from the perspective of British or American characters, I found the book me refreshing in as it focused on the lives of German and Jewish individuals. The Book Thief was a very easy five-star read for me, and if you want to find out why, check out my post on Tuesday.

Later in the week, I will be back with a Shelf Control. In that post, I am featuring another historical-fiction novel; this one is from a very different, but equally loved time period. If you like reading and learning about the Tudors, I recommend you check out my post on Friday!

As always, we will round off the week with another Sunday Summary update. How much reading can I do during a week off work? Let’s find out!

 

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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, together with the rest of the series, holds a very special place in my heart. Firstly, I grew up with these books. I read them starting as a teenager through until becoming a newly minted adult and I loved these books! I enjoy how the story and complexity scales throughout the series. That worked really well with how I read them initially, and also how I ‘aged’ with them.

I wanted to re-read these books as an adult. Mainly, I wanted to see if my experience of the books differed now that I was reading them from a more mature perspective. For the most part, I can’t say that they did; I enjoyed them just as much as I did back then!

 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 251

Audience: Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication Date: 02 Jul 1998

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Amazon – Purchase Link

 

Ever since Harry Potter had come home for the summer, the Dursleys had been so mean and hideous that all Harry wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange impish creature who says that if Harry returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls’ bathroom. But then the real trouble begins – someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects… Harry Potter himself!

 

My Thoughts…

After the magic and drama of his first year at Hogwarts, you would think that going home for the summer would be a break for Harry. However, his aunt and uncle, and their son, treat him so awfully that he cannot wait to go back. Thankfully for us, it doesn’t take too long in the narrative and we get to dive into the magic and nostalgia of going to school very quickly.

This year is a little bit different, as they are no longer the newbies. However, the events that take place at the school or even stranger than the last. Students (and Mr Filch’s cat, Mrs Norris) are found petrified in school corridors. Tension rises and speculation begins on what is happening to them. Harry himself falls under suspicion. But, as we can only expect from these books, Harry ends up getting to the bottom of the matter. Not only that, but he finds himself in danger once again.

As with the first book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a very quick read. I enjoyed the pacing of the book. It is full of action to keep the narrative moving along, but at the same time, we still get to see world-building and character development. I prefer the books towards the end of the series because I enjoy depth and complexity in my fantasy books. However, the fact that this book doesn’t necessarily fit into this category didn’t matter at all. The fact is, I knew going into it that these early books set a lot of foundation for the later books.

Whilst we don’t necessarily realise that at the time, significant events in this book or the introduction to a wider storyline come into play later on. When I think about where these events begin, it is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that immediately comes to mind. 

Whilst there is a lot of controversy around J. K. Rowling, I would recommend these books to anyone wanting to start out with reading fantasy, or anyone wanting to read a series without too much mental commitment. These books are really easy to digest. They are the kind of books that you could always get more out of with the next re-read. Equally, you can take them as you read them first time. They have a lot to give, and it is a series that I will go back and read again and again throughout my lifetime, I am sure! I know one of my friends re-reads these books regularly!

Have you read the Harry Potter series? Have you not read them? Let me know what you think in the comments.

 

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***This post contains an affiliate link to Amazon if you wish to purchase the book. Note that if you follow this link, I will earn a small commission from that purchase at no cost to you. 

If you wish to obtain a copy of the book based on this review, I would really appreciate you following this link and showing my content some support by making your purchase***

Shelf Control #54 – 23/09/2022

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Happy Friday everyone and welcome to today’s Shelf Control post!

Shelf Control is a regular feature on my blog. It’s a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies… a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

by the time this post goes live, I may actually be reading today’s featured book. This has been on my reading list since 2018. I am excited to pick up this science-fiction-style thriller novel.

Keen to find out what today’s feature is? Here are the details: –

 

Dark Matter – Blake Crouch

Genre: Science-fiction

Pages: 352

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Crown

Publication Date: 26 Jul 2016

 

 

Goodreads – Dark Matter

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream?

And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human–a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

 

My Thoughts…

Described as a science-fiction thriller, dark matter is the kind of book that you can dive into and enjoy regardless of your reading habits. At just over 350 pages, it is neither too big, nor so short that it lacks any plot to hold the story together.

Dark Matter has a high rating on Goodreads, and a number of reviewers I follow and look to for their opinions have really enjoyed this book. It has been sometime since I read a book marketed as a thriller. Given the time of year, I think it is the perfect time to finally pick this up.

Based on the synopsis and reviews, I have read, the narrative is cleverly written, so it is difficult to determine what is going on, and what is significant in the narrative until we reach the crux of the story. Personally, I really like a book and a narrative to try and unpick and work out for myself. So, you can see why this particular book really appeals to me!

As you may know, I have this on my reading list for September as part of Bookoplathon. I may be reading this particular book by the time this post goes live. In any case, I can’t wait to let you know what I think of this one.

Have you read Dark Matter? Do you like the sound of it based on the synopsis?

 

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Sunday Summary – 18th September 2022

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Hello everyone and welcome to… you guessed it, another Sunday Summary post! Every Sunday I share my latest bookish updates – what I have been reading and books I have added to my reading list. I also cover the posts you can expect to see on my blog in the following week.

Before diving into that though, let’s quickly recap what I have shared with you this week. I wanted to finally commit my thoughts on Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin. With the ongoing prequel series, House of the Dragon, currently airing, I thought this was perfect timing. A little fun fact for you – the events in House of the Dragon don’t begin until 340 pages into Fire and Blood. There is a lot of ground not covered in the show. It remains to be seen as to whether any of this is used either for a pre-prequel or a second season. If you want to find out my thoughts on the whole book, which spans a far greater time period the series, you can check out that post here.

Later in the week, I shared a First Lines Friday post. In that post, I shared a short and snappy introduction to a book currently sitting on my bookshelf and begging to be read. I have already read several books by this author, all part of another series he has written. However, I am yet to read anything of his set in the time period. I have read another similar book by a completely different author recently; I’m interested to see if there’s any commonality or whether it is just a certain famous character and setting that overlaps. If you want to check out what that book is, here is a link for that one as well.

 

Books Read

In last Sunday’s Sunday Summary update, I was reading Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. As I shared in that post, I wasn’t overly enamoured with the book. I made the decision that I was going to continue reading until at least 33% of the book before making a decision on whether to continue or not.

Unfortunately, my initial impression didn’t change in the additional 10% I read. I didn’t hate the book by any stretch of the imagination. However, I didn’t love it either. It just didn’t grip me or hold my interest particularly. With that in mind, I didn’t want to invest in a further 5 to 6 hours for a book that was just… meh. There are so many books out there, (God knows I have enough of them on my TBR already!). So, I really don’t need to waste my time if I know I’m not loving a book. I made it a third of the way through, I gave it a very good chance. However, this one just didn’t hit the mark. It is disappointing as I loved another series of Mark Lawrence as a teenager – The Broken Empire. Oh well, you can’t win them all!

Next, I moved on to my third read of my September TBR. I must admit I went into this not really knowing what to expect. It is not a typical read for me at all; romance isn’t really a genre I go for. However, I am really enjoying In Case You Missed It by Lindsey Kelk! I think it’s fair to point out that this is a romantic comedy, and it’s the comedy element that really works for me. The writing style is really easy to read, and the narrative and characters are hilarious!

I think maybe this book came at a good time. Clearly, my ‘typical reads’ aren’t meeting expectations at the moment. Perhaps going for a complete change is something I needed. In Case You Missed It is providing that for me. As of today’s Sunday Summary post, I am 132 pages into the book. That equates to about a third of the way through. It’s not the most reading progress in the world, but I do plan to read more of this tonight and tomorrow.

 

Books Discovered

I have added one book to my TBR this week, and you will probably understand why. You would have to be living under a rock to not know that Queen Elizabeth II passed away by now. There has obviously been a lot of talk about her and the British monarchy. As a result, it has made me realise that I would like to learn more.

So, I have decided to pick up a biography about her, and one that was published as recently as April this year. I want to learn more about her, her life and family to truly appreciate what she has done for us over the last 70 years of her life.

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post will be a Top Ten Tuesday post next week. I had an idea in mind for a similar type of post anyway, and so I decided to take part in this week’s theme. If you want to find out what I plan to read in the next few months, check out my post on Tuesday. In that post, I will be talking about 10 books on my autumn to-read list. You may just find the one I just mentioned above on that list!

As usual, I’ll be sharing another Shelf Control post later next week. In the post, I feature a book that I may be reading this time next week, as it is on my September TBR for Bookoplathon.

That’s the latest from me. I hope you have enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary update post! Have you read anything good this week that you would like to share?

 

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Book Review: Fire and Blood – George R.R. Martin

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I’m really looking forward to sharing today’s book review with you all for Fire and Blood. It is well documented that I am a huge fan of George R.R. Martin, and with the current airing of the prequel show, House of the Dragon, I wanted to share my thoughts on the book that inspired the series!

If you are unfamiliar with the book, Fire and Blood is the first of a two-part history of the Targaryen family line. The book begins with Aegon the Conqueror’s conquest of Westeros, and from there, history only gets, well… bloodier.

 

Fire and Blood – George R.R. Martin

Genre: Epic fantasy

Pages: 706

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Publication Date: 20 Nov 2018

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Fire and Blood

From the masterly imagination behind A Game of Thrones – one of the greatest fantasy epics of all time and an unmissable HBO hit series – comes a definitive history of Westeros’s past as told by Archmaester Gyldayn.

Unravelling events that led to A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire and Blood is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros. Revealing long-buried secrets and untold lasting enmity, it sets the scene for the heart-stopping series conclusion, The Winds of Winter.

300 years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire, long before the schism that set the houses of Westeros at each other’s throats, one house ruled supreme and indomitable. House Targaryen, the house of the last remaining dragonlords.

After surviving the Doom of Valyria the Targaryen’s established themselves on Dragonstone. This volume traces their legendary lineage from Aegon the Conqueror to the bloody Dance of Dragons; a civil war that pitted Aegon II and his half-sister Rhaenyra in a bitter conflict for the throne of their father, nearly wiping out the Targaryen dynasty forever.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel.

With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the ultimate guide to Westeros’s past. Featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley this is an essential volume for any Game of Thrones fan’s library. For the first time the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.

 

My Thoughts…

If you are watching House of the Dragon and wonder how it compares to Fire and Blood, you may be interested to learn that the events of the TV show don’t start until approximately 340 pages into the book. Those events are the passing over of Rhaenys as heir in favour of Viserys I (because God forbid a woman sits on the Iron Throne!). It was touched upon very briefly in the first few minutes of the TV show, and from there the rest unfolds.

Naturally, that means there is a good deal of history that the prequel show doesn’t even touch upon. Granted, I can see why that is the case. A significant portion of the book prior to these events covers the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen. By all accounts, Jaehaerys was a well-suited ruler and lived to a ripe old age. If you are unfamiliar, that’s about as rare as hen’s teeth in the Targaryen bloodline! Whilst good Kings are good for the realm, they don’t make the most interesting of stories!

My copy of this book is the illustrated hardback edition, illustrated by Doug Wheatley. The pictures are interspersed throughout the narrative and really bring the characters to life. Some of my favourite illustrations in the book are of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters Rhaenys and Visenya, the portrait of Maegor the Cruel, as well as a number of the action scenes and dragon fights within.

I would be lying to you if I said that this first instalment of the Targaryen histories wasn’t dense. There are a lot of characters in this book. As a result, I benefited from taking a break and splitting reading the book into two. It gave me the opportunity to digest what I had read so far. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I absolutely did! George R.R. Martin went to a great deal of trouble to incorporate the histories of both Westeros and Essos throughout the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I am glad that it made it into its own book(s), as the depth of detail deserves its moment in the limelight.

As I thoroughly enjoyed this first book so much, I cannot wait for the second half of this history. If it is anything like the first then there will be plenty of tension, drama, and conflict to look forward to. As we can only expect from George R.R. Martin, I am sure it will not be a short book either. There is nothing superficial about the world or characters he creates. For fans of epic fantasy like me, that leaves us a lot to dive into. These are the sorts of books to find some new detail in with every re-read.

If I had one wish about Fire and Blood, it is that it went further back in history. The book begins with the conquest of Aegon the Conqueror, which happens approximately 100 years after an event referred to in this book and the main series as the ‘Doom of Valyria’. Personally, I would like to finally understand what this mysterious event is. We don’t know what happened, other than Valyria is destroyed as a result. It is written into the lore of the world as to why we don’t know about what happened, but it’s an itch I would love to scratch one day. Surely he can come up with a loophole to finally leak the story somehow?!

Have you read Fire and Blood? Are you a fan of the A Song of Ice and Fire series? I would love it if you let me know and we could have a chat in the comments!

 

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Discussion Post – Diversity Matters!

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Diversity matters. There are billions of people on this planet, and every single one of us counts. We are all unique, and have our own experiences… some good, others not so much. 

What is the best way to enable us to see things from a different perspective to our own? How do you put yourself in someone else’s shoes; experience something you could never possibly do in your own lifetime? Well, perhaps an obvious answer is to read a book!

Truly being able to empathise with others can be tricky. How do you understand what it is like to experience something when you have never experienced it for yourself? How do you imagine living in a life of fear and slavery, when you were born free and privileged?

It is important to read out of your comfort zone and experience new things. It is how we learn. Some people may be lucky enough to be able to garner such things from the experience of those they have grown up with. If someone can tell you, candidly, about an experience, it can enrich you. But, for a lot of people, we don’t have access to these perspectives.

 

We have books.

Reading a book from somebody else’s perspective, whether fiction or non-fiction, offers an intimacy that is rare to find anywhere else.

I have been making more of an effort to read books from different perspectives. One of the most recent I have read is The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. When we think of Greek mythology and war, we immediately think of the male perspective/experience. Fighting, clashes, conquering. The Silence of the Girls flips this on its head. Rather than focusing on the role of men in the war, we instead look at the women who are enslaved within the war camp. The women who weave cloth and prepare food – are bed slaves to the men, who work in the hospitals and prepare the dead for burial. This is not the typical narrative of war, and it was enriching to read.

There is a very poignant bit at the end of this book. So often the narrative is about victory and people being conquered. But what is often overlooked is that those peoples are not really conquered. The men may have died in battle, but the women live on. They may be the children of their captors, but their mother’s stories, histories, and identities are taught to their children. In this particular book, a mother sings an old nursery rhyme to a child… prompting this revelation. The contrast in narratives was startling, but appreciated!

 

Diverse voices are out there.

As much as I am making an effort to read different perspectives, there are so many more out there to choose from! Now more than ever we are able to access books from ethnic or minority perspectives that weren’t readily accessible until quite recently.

With radical shifts in society, namely movements around LGBTQ+ and equality, it is far easier than before for authors to write diverse characters without prejudice or stigma. Whether these characters are from an #ownvoices perspective or not, it is a pleasure to see the drastic shift we have made regarding attitude towards others.

Take LGBTQ+ as an example. Earlier this year I read Dune by Frank Herbert; it is definitely a book written in its time. One of my biggest gripes about one of the characters (Baron Harkonnen), is that he is further demonised by being made to be so grossly fat he can’t support his own weight, but also by being gay. It may not have been so scandalous to characterise somebody in such a way back in 1965, but it certainly doesn’t sit well now.

I haven’t read so much recently from authors of ethnic minorities, but I do have them on my reading list. This isn’t a deliberate choice; rather, it is as a result of historic bias in the publishing industry. More recently I have added books to my reading list from diverse authors. I have books by Michelle Obama, N.E Davenport and Christina Soontornvat on my list. I have just read The First Binding by R.R. Virdi, which is an epic fantasy book but has themes of Asian mythology. I have also historically read children of blood and bone by Tomi Adeyemi (a series I need to continue with).

In a way I have struggled to write this post. Who am I to talk about the difficulties experienced by those in social minorities? I don’t fall into any of these categories. But just because we don’t fall into these categories, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about the experiences of those who do. It is only by being open and transparent that we can acknowledge the history and difficulties experienced, even sadly to this day.

It is important that we learn of these experiences, in order that we can empathise with those who have suffered so terribly and treat others with kindness.

Just because we have never had to go through the struggles ourselves, it doesn’t mean we are entitled to ignorance.

 

My pledge

I am going to be making even more effort to read books that explore the lives of ethnic minorities, those from an LGBTQ+ perspective, and to learn more about the history and culture of other countries. Because diversity matters! I have read Greek and Norse mythology so far, but something I have never explored is Asian mythology. It is every bit as rich, and so I can’t wait to read about it.

Here is my pledge. What is yours?

 

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