Tag: Saxon Warrior

Sunday Summary – 6th August 2023

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Happy Sunday everybody and welcome back to my weekly Sunday Summary update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week, wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

This week has been a very productive one when it comes to reading progress and on my blog. The end of the month/beginning of a new month are always busy for me. Both my Monthly Wrap-Up post for July and my Monthly TBR for August were shared this week. They are both chunky blog posts in themselves – to prepare and publish.

Not only that, but I also shared a blog tour review on Friday for Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. If you haven’t already checked out that post, and are a fan of historical fiction novels such as Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom, then Brothers of the Sword should be right up your alley!

 

Books Read

Brothers of the Sword

As I mentioned in last week’s Sunday Summary post, my priority this week was to finish Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. As I’ve already mentioned above, I took part in the blog tour for this book on Friday. With just a handful of days left until that post, finishing Brothers of the Sword was a must.

I went on to enjoy this book as much as I thought I would! This historical fiction novel, along with the rest of the series, is full of action. There is plenty going on at any given time in order to keep our interest. Not only that, but this isn’t done to the detriment of character development or world-building. Both of these elements are also very much present and make for a well rounded tale. I’ve already shared my thoughts in full in that blog tour post. Rather than giving you a full write up here, I’ll leave the link to that post.

 

The City of a Thousand Faces

Next, I picked up the first book of my August TBR, The City of a Thousand Faces by Walker Dryden. This particular book was drawn out of my TBR Jar on my bookshelf. It has been on my reading list for some time. I’m pleased to say that not only did I start the book this week, but I made my way through all 530 pages of it!

The City of a Thousand Faces ended up being a mixed read. Whilst I enjoyed the setting and political machinations between several characters throughout, there were elements that weren’t so well executed. My main gripe is around characterisation.

The book is told across 100 chapters from a variety of perspectives. Most of these are fine; I actually enjoyed the different perspectives and the insight they gave into a lot of the character relationships. However, there were a few incidences of getting characters mixed up with each other. Daniel and Wolf, for example, had very similar narrative voices and circumstances. I’ve also finished the book being not entirely sure about who the antagonist in the story even was, which is a bit disappointing.

Overall, I the book received a three star rating.

 

Spike: The Virus vs The People

The last book I picked up and made progress with this week was Spike: The Virus vs The People. In my aim to pick up more non-fiction books this year, I have no less than three on my August TBR. The first of those I decided to pick up is, as the title would indicate, about the recent pandemic. It is strange to think that the pandemic kicked off over three years ago now. In some senses, it seems like ages ago, and in others, like yesterday.

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I have made 29% progress through the book. I made the majority of that reading progress just this morning. It’s compulsive reading! Whilst I’m sure there are plenty who wouldn’t feel comfortable reading about the pandemic just now, I am really interested in digging into the detail. It’s weird to think that I have lived through an event that will go down in history and will be talked about for years to come. Not only that, but I’m curious to find out some of the insights the author can give that wasn’t public knowledge at the time events were unfolding.

Given how quickly I’ve been able to make the reading progress I have, I expect I will fly through the rest of this book.

 

Books Discovered

When reading around the book blogosphere earlier today, I found a First Lines Friday post with a featured book that caught my eye. I hadn’t noted down where I saw that post, but fortunately I was able to find it again. The post was originally shared over on Read to Ramble.

I enjoyed the introduction, and the synopsis appealed to me as well. I take part in the First Lines Friday feature on a regular basis myself, so it’s good to see that these posts do inspire books to be added to the reading list. At least, it works for me!

 

Coming Up…

Next week, I will be returning to my usual three post schedule. Whilst I can manage a full post week now and then, it’s quite a lot to juggle!

The first post I will be sharing with you next week goes live on Tuesday. It’s been a while since I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post, and I’m excited for this week’s topic. This week’s theme is to share my top 10 books that I want to pick up as a result of the Top Ten Tuesday Series. The ‘why’ is that my discretion, I just have to share my top ten. I’ll obviously detail each ‘why’ in that post! 

This week’s Friday feature will see the return of a Shelf Control post. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I take a look at my reading list and feature one that’s coming up. I’ll share the details of that book and why I’m looking forward to picking it up. For this week’s post, I will be featuring a book that revolves around one of my favourite periods of history, the Tudors. This will also be a new author for me to explore, but one who is well known and esteemed in the genre.

Last, but certainly not least, I will be back with another Sunday Summary update at the same time next week. I expect to have a lot more reading progress to share with you, as I seem to be on a good run at the moment.

That’s all from me for today’s Sunday Summary update. What have you been reading this week? Are there any books that have caught your eye?

 

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Blog Tour Review: Brothers of the Sword – Peter Gibbons

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In today’s blog tour post, I have the privilege of sharing my thoughts by reviewing Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons.

As always, I’ll take the opportunity here to thank both Peter and Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising the blog tour and giving me the chance to be a part of it. I had a great time taking part in the blog tour for the first book in the series, Warrior and Protector!

Now, let’s find out more about this latest book in the Saxon Warrior series.

 

Brothers of the Sword – Peter Gibbons

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 312

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 02 Aug 2023

Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

 

Goodreads – Brothers of the Sword

An epic battle where heroes fight and die to protect a Kingdom from Viking invasion…

991AD

King Aethelred the Unready’s Kingdom of the English is threatened. Olaf Tryggvason and his fleet of Viking warships snap at the coastal edges like ravenous wolves, and Sweyn Forkbeard, King of the Danes, has landed in East Anglia with an army of battle-hardened warriors.

Ealdorman Byrhtnoth of Essex must stand against them faced with overwhelming odds, forging his legend in the blood of his deadly enemies.

By his side, his Thegn, Beornoth, a brutal warrior and savage Saxon fighter is torn between his need to protect his loved ones, and his duty to fight for his Lord.

As the Vikings raid and slaughter, Beornoth is forced to fight for the survival of his oath sworn

brothers, his Lord, and the Kingdom itself when all roads lead to the fateful Battle of Maldon.

Can Beornoth protect his people and survive one of the most famous battles of the Viking Age?

A thrilling story, packed with war, vengeance and visceral combat.

 

Purchase Link

 

My Thoughts…

Plot

Following on from the earlier books in the series, Warrior and Protector and Storm of War, we are once again thrown into an action-packed novel. The life of a Saxon warrior is never a quiet one. Especially not for someone as reputed as Beornoth.

As ever, Vikings continue to raid and plunder throughout the kingdoms of now England. Despite attempts to pay the Vikings off to leave, these bloodthirsty men keep returning to English shores. It is Beornoth’s duty to cast them back into the sea.

I’m sure it goes with the territory with this book and setting, but it’s only fair to mention that the narrative in places is quite violent and in some places, graphic. I personally enjoyed this level of description, although I appreciate it may not be for everybody. I knew going into this book that it was going to feature a lot of war and battle scenes.

 

Setting

If Viking troubles weren’t enough, ongoing internal political conflict throughout the kingdoms divert the attention of those warriors who would protect the innocent. The particular time period this book’s set in is around the time when England first started to operate as a single country rather than independent kingdoms. It is apparent that this is still a recent development in the books as there are still shadows of division present, both in the events of the book, as well as the attitudes of characters. Although a work of fiction, Peter Gibbons incorporates historical elements in an interesting, but still informative way.

There is a lot of travelling that takes place throughout these books, and that gives us the opportunity to appreciate how vastly different locations were at the time. From established, fortified burhs to small villages on the roadside, a slightly geeky side of me enjoyed experiencing the architectural and technological advancements ongoing at the time. Compared to our modern day life, it seems very primitive. Even still, the descriptions are beautifully vivid, and so help immerse you into Beornoth’s world.

 

Characters

Beornoth was established as a multi-dimensional character from the first book. Even still, he continues to grow throughout the series. He is a well-known Saxon warrior, renowned for his skill and courage in fighting to protect Saxon land. He has his fair share of troubles. Having suffered at the hands of Vikings as a younger man, he detests those who would cause harm to others. And he fights against them savagely, and doesn’t shy away from putting himself in danger in order to try and protect others.

Even so, he is far from an altruistic character. Hellbent on revenge, a character from the second book (whom Beornoth deliberately debilitated in the previous book), makes a real appearance in Brothers of the Sword. Beornoth’s actions in Storm of War come back to haunt him, as the circumstances of the maiming of this character have spurred the Vikings into trying to dominate the Saxons for good… more savagely than ever!

As with all people, Beornoth is multifaceted and at times, morally grey. It makes him a very plausible character in terms of motives and understanding how he thinks, as well as allowing for growth in learning from his mistakes. Overall, I really enjoy Beornoth’s perspective on events. Whilst he may not be perfect, he more often than not has the best of intentions.

 

Summary

Brothers of the Sword is an exciting sequel to the Saxon Warrior series. I’m really enjoying the amount of action and conflict present throughout each of the books. The events of this particular book show that the author does not pull his punches – something I really enjoy. It’s more exciting to read a book if you don’t know if everything will work out in the end. In every battle scene, I was questioning whether my favourite characters were going to make it out alive. After the heat of battle, I couldn’t help but wonder what was next on the horizon for the survivors!

 

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. He originates from Liverpool and now lives with his family in County Kildare.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petergibbonsauthor

Twitter https://twitter.com/AuthorGibbons

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/petermgibbons/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/PeterGibbonsNews

Sunday Summary – 30th July 2023

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It’s the end of another week (and sadly, weekend) so you know what time it is! It’s time for this week’s Sunday Summary post! Let’s dive into my review of the week just gone.

My first published post of the week was a review of one of my favourite reads in 2022 (and ever, to be honest). Although I’m not a vampire girly, I really enjoyed Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. If you check out my review, you’ll see why you might just love it too!

On Friday, I shared my next Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. The topic of this week’s post was a little bit different; I discussed my feelings regarding Twitter and the upcoming changes to the social network site, and how I may be re-considering my use of the site in future.

 

Books Read

 

Cytonic

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I had just finished my previous read, Storm of War. So, I started this week with a brand-new book! I decided to pick up Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson as I was keen to continue with the Skyward series. I picked up the second book of the series, Starsight, earlier this year and really enjoyed it. As I’m looking to try and read up on more sequels this year, Cytonic fit the bill.

I enjoyed the plot of this latest instalment, more so than the earlier books. This is in part because we’ve already laid out the foundation of the world and events in prior books. They have all worked together really well, and I’ve enjoyed how they’ve taken a different slant each time. This latest book had plenty of action and a story arc and characters that I was invested in.

I finished this book on Friday this week, so I am officially up-to-date with the series… at least until November. In November, the sequel Defiant is due to be published. I can imagine I’ll be picking it up before too long!

 

Brothers of the Sword

The next book I picked up this week is Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. You may recall that I read another book by Peter Gibbons earlier this month, Storm of War. That’s because I am due to be reviewing Brothers of the Sword next week. In order to do so, I had to catch up with events in the second book of the series before I could read and review the third.

As of this Sunday Summary update, I am 54% into the book. I’ve made quite a lot of progress with this just over Friday night and through the weekend. I really enjoyed the events that have taken place so far in the book, and I’m invested to see what happens next. Obviously, I need to shake a leg and finish this book in time for my review on Friday. As things stand, I have every confidence that I will finish this book in the next day or two. My Kindle gives an estimated reading time of just two and a half hours to finish the book. I’m hoping to get half of that done tonight before turning in. 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve added no less than three books to my reading list this week. I don’t feel so bad about one of them, as it is a sequel to series I am already reading (and may have just alluded to above). The other two books I’ve added are both non-fiction books, but are very different in topic and were found by very different means.

 

Defiant

The first book I’ve mentioned is of course Defiant by Brandon Sanderson. On the one hand, it is good to be able to tick Cytonic off my TBR. However, it wouldn’t be an accurate reflection to leave Defiant off the list. I definitely want to read this book, so I this addition will net off Cytonic’s completion.

 

The Success Code

The next book added to my reading list is as a result of a cheeky browse through WHSmith’s book sale in my local store on Monday. There wasn’t over much that caught my eye, and my wallet is grateful for that.

However, I was intrigued by The Success Code. As well as trying to finish and/or read more sequels this year, I’m also trying to read more in the way of non-fiction. I’m not averse to a bit of personal development, and I’m hopeful I can find some advice in this book, that will prove useful to me.

 

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia

The origin of this book recommendation is a little unusual. I follow a brand called Snag Tights on Instagram. Something I value about them is how body inclusive they are. It’s rare to see products modelled by larger women… and I mean genuinely larger women. Media is full of stick thin models, or at an absolute push, a size 16 or 18 women who in my not so humble opinion, shouldn’t even count as ‘plus size’. You never see bigger than that.

Snag are different. They aim to advertise their products using models in the same proportions as represented in society. For example, if 40% of women in society are obese, that percentage is used in their marketing. I think it’s a great idea. As a larger woman myself, it gives me the opportunity to look at different products on models that are actually my size. Not only that, but I like how their products are designed with size 24 as the baseline. Normally clothes are designed on skinny people and then scaled up, and that doesn’t always work.

This is kind of besides the point, because I’m here to talk about the book that they recommended earlier this week. In their Instagram feed, they shared a great write-up on Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. I can’t say that this idea has ever crossed my mind before, although I have no trouble believing it either. Given that I am clearly uneducated on the subject, I decided to add this book to my list to change that! It also happens to be another non-fiction – again, a focus for this year.

 

Coming Up…

Next week I’m in for a marathon run. The end of the month, and the beginning of a new month, is always busy for me. Not only do I have the usual wrap-up and new reading list to share, but this month I also have a blog tour book review to share!

I’ll be kicking off the week on Tuesday with my reading wrap-up for July. As always in these posts, I’ll be talking about the books I read throughout the month and telling you some of my thoughts on those!

On Thursday, a day earlier than I would usually, I am going to share my reading list for August. I can’t believe we’re nearly in August already … but there we are! As always, I’m going to share an ambitious reading list in the hopes that I can make a dent in it. I have some great books coming up, and also some time off the 9-5 in which to enjoy them. I hope you can join me for that post!

On Friday, it is my scheduled slot for the blog tour of Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. As I’ve already mentioned in this post, I will be reviewing that book for the tour. If you’re interested in historical fiction novels around 10th century Britain, full of clashes between Saxons and Vikings, then you’ll definitely want to read my review on Friday.

Last, but certainly not least, I will be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary update.

For now though, that’s all for me in today’s Sunday Summary post. What have you been reading this weekend?  Do you have any reading recommendations for me?

 

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