Tag: Warrior and Protector

Blog Tour Review: Sword of Vengeance – Peter Gibbons

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I feel especially privileged to bring you a review of Sword of Vengeance on both publication day and for the opening leg of this blog tour!

I’ve had the pleasure to feature two out of the three previous books in the series as part of tours – Warrior and Protector and Brothers of the Sword. I would have featured the second book in the series, Storm of War as well, if not for my oversight of missing the tour invite! This is a great historical fiction series to pick up if you love your Viking era literature.

Before we get into my review, I always take the opportunity to say thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources, and to the author, Peter Gibbons for the opportunity to review the book as part of the tour.

 

Sword of Vengeance – Peter Gibbons

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages:

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 02 Feb 2024

Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

 

Goodreads – Sword of Vengeance

In the aftermath of the great battle of Maldon, justice is demanded and vengeance will be served!

992AD

King Aethelred’s the Unready’s army has been defeated at the historic Battle of Maldon by Viking invaders led by Olaf Tryggvason and King Sweyn Forkbeard.

The strategic turning point of the battle was when Godric, an East Saxon Thegn, fled the battlefield taking with him the Saxon army, leaving behind his brothers to be massacred in a welter of blood and Norse axe blades.

Saxon warrior Beornoth emerges from the ashes of defeat with his heart aflame with vengeance and when King Aethelred sends for Bernoth with orders to punish those traitors responsible for the crushing defeat, he heeds the king’s call.

With a small band of loyal warriors, Bernoth embarks on an unforgiving journey across the perilous landscape to seek out Godric and exact his bloody revenge. They must fight their way through a world teeming with political intrigue, shifting alliances and the ever-present threat of the Vikings.

Can Beornoth triumph over insurmountable odds in this pulse pounding quest for retribution?

If you enjoyed The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell, you’ll love Beornoth’s Quest for Vengeance!

 

Purchase Link

 

My Thoughts

 

Plot

Sword of Vengeance is a fact-paced and action-packed narrative. That’s hardly surprising as the precedent was set from the get-go in this series, Warrior and Protector.

Events of the book pick up immediately after the conclusion of book three. I’m not giving away any spoilers here, so rest assured. What I can say is that the consequences of that battle, and the drama, are the driving forces of events in this book.

Beornoth and his brave warriors demand vengeance, and these bloodthirsty men have no qualms in seeking it out themselves! As with previous books though, there is an element of underlying politics and a wider plot which still touches on this very personal narrative. As a prominent warrior, Beornoth cannot wholly serve himself, and his ties to some of the most powerful men in the country ensure his actions have both impact and repercussions across the country.

 

Characters

The narrative of Sword of Vengeance is a very personal one in nature. Through this, we find ourselves investing heavily in characters such as Beornoth and Brand. They are the favourites we have come to know throughout earlier books in the series. In particular, I love their individual intricate stories and relationship with each other.

I never quite know or trust what will happen to characters in these books. Peter Gibbons doesn’t spare characters from rough treatment and puts them in the firing line time and again. After the events of previous books, I cannot be sure that the characters we have come to know and love will come unscathed. It’s both terrifying and exhilarating!

 

Setting

Beornoth and his band undertake a fair degree of travel in the book. New settings are beautifully and vividly described. If you are the type of reader visualise such things as you read, you will not find the narrative or descriptions wanting.

Although the main focus of the plot centres around Beornoth and his quest for vengeance, we still get to enjoy the wider setting of turmoil and conflict. Vikings continue to plague the Saxon peoples. The solution presented by the church to deal with this problem is to try and pay off the Vikings. Naturally, this harbours resentment from those who ultimately end up paying the bill. The people. Warriors like Beornoth know that this is only a temporary solution, and will likely beget a larger problem once word of Saxon riches gets out.

On the whole, the depth of the narrative and setting in which events take place makes for full and comprehensive immersion in the storyline.

 

Narrative Style

What I’ve found really helpful when reading Sword of Vengeance is that main plot points in the earlier books recapped as the narrative goes along. They serve as a great reminder of what has gone before, so if it has been a while since you’ve picked up the series, or indeed, if you haven’t picked up those books yet at all, you still know what’s going on. The only reason I wouldn’t recommend reading Sword of Vengeance as a standalone is because you would miss out on three fabulous books before this one. You absolutely could though, if you wanted to. But why would you want to do yourself dirty like that?

Despite plenty of action, Sword of Vengeance is very easy to read. The action compels you to read on, and the narrative style itself is approachable for all readers. I love historical fiction, especially about this time period. As a result of this, and the ease of reading, it was a book I found myself easily getting lost in!

Peter Gibbons strikes up a great balance in these books between chapter length and descriptive detail. Neither one compromises the other, and we can appreciate both in equal measure. Some people love action in their books… others are more character driven. Sword of Vengeance brings both together in a healthy balance, meaning there are elements of this book for all readers.

 

Summary

If you love action-packed narratives full of conflict and detailed battle scenes, Sword of Vengeance will not disappoint! As a huge fan of the genre and time period of both this book and the wider series, it is very much what I hoped for!

I’ve enjoyed this series every bit as much as other books I’ve read by both big names like Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, as well as upcoming authors like M.J Porter and J.C. Duncan. If you have read any of my reviews of books by these authors and are looking for something similar, then I cannot stress enough how much you should pick up books by Peter Gibbons.

Although I haven’t read his Viking Blood and Blade series myself, I will share that it comes highly recommended to me by a work colleague of mine. Either of these series are great for fans in the genre, and I’ll be picking up that second one in my own time. If that isn’t testament to how much I enjoy Peter Gibbons writing, then I don’t know what is!

 

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

Sunday Summary – 6th November 2022

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Good evening readers and welcome to another regular Sunday Summary update!

Last week’s Sunday Summary post was a bit of a boring one – I had very little to report. I’m pleased to say that I have plenty more reading progress to share with you this week. Before we get into that though, let’s recap the blog posts I shared with you earlier this week.

On Tuesday, I shared my Monthly Wrap-Up post for October. Overall, I made a decent amount of reading progress. My first read of the month was the particularly chunky Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb. From there, I went on to pick up another couple of books in the month. If you want to find out what I read throughout October, you can do so with a link to my wrap-up post above.

On Thursday, I shared my Monthly TBR for November. In addition to that list, I’ve carried over my current read of Babel by R. F. Kuang. It is not the smallest of reading lists, but when are they ever? I’ve already made a solid start, and you’ll see why in just a moment! Again, if you want to check out that post, there’s a link above.

The reason I had to get a wriggle on with my first read of November because I shared my review of that book in yesterday’s blog tour post. Having had a bit of a slow month last month, I think it helped to have a deadline to get my first book read and done. I can only hope it has set the pace for the month! If you are a fan of historical fiction, and in particular, authors like Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, my blog tour review for Warrior and Protector is something you should check out!

 

Books Read

Babel

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I shared measly reading progress of Babel by R. F. Kuang. I didn’t really define that progress in my post because I was a bit disappointed with it if I’m entirely honest. I decided to pick up the book again on Sunday night for one last push before I put the book aside to read Warrior and Protector. By the end of Sunday night, I was up to page 154. Over the course of the week, that was just 120 pages read. 

 

Warrior and Protector

From there, I moved on to Warrior and Protector by Peter Gibbons. As you now know, this was because I was sharing my review of the book for the blog tour yesterday. I really enjoyed this relatively short, palate-cleansing read. Historical fiction is a genre I go back to time and again. I have a love of the particular setting of this book from reading/watching The Last Kingdom and other books by other authors I have toured with. I signed up for the tour relatively last minute, to replace another blogger.

I’m really glad I stepped up for this one. I started this book at the beginning of the week and finished it early Friday night. At just over 300 pages, it is quite a short and fast-paced read – at least for me! The book was full of action and a lot more in the way of character development than you might expect from our main character, Beornoth. I enjoyed some of the overlaps and references to well-known characters of the period. It helped ground the story in a setting. I was already familiar with but offers a new and unique perspective.

Going forward, my intention is to pick up a Babel again for a couple more days before I set aside again for a second blog tour commitment. That tour is for a similar genre and book, so I want to pick up Babel again to give myself some separation between the two books. As at drafting this post, I am yet to do that, but my intention is to make some progress with it again tonight.

 

Queen of Our Times

I also have an audiobook update for you this week. It has been a little while since I put my headphones in, but today I started listening to Queen of Our Times by Robert Hardman. This book was originally on my October TBR. However, having had some issues with ordering a physical copy of the book, I canceled that order and instead downloaded the audiobook. Because I made this decision quite late on in the month, I didn’t get a chance to start listening to Queen of our times in October.

That is why I have added it to this month’s TBR. It also contributes to my goal of trying to read more non-fiction books. It is not very often that I read or listen to biographies. However, Queen Elizabeth II is such a poignant figure and I wanted to fill in the gaps in my knowledge about her and the Royal family.

This audiobook is 25 and a half hours long. It is not a small one by any means, but I have already chipped away at an hour and a half of listening time this morning. Now that I’ve started it, I’ll try and listen to a little bit of it every day, as much as I can. Even if it is just whilst commuting to and from work – it all adds up! Fingers crossed I’ll have another update on this in next week’s Sunday Summary! 

 

Books Discovered

I confess that I have added a book to my TBR this week, and it is all my sister’s boyfriend’s fault. I can totally blame him, right? It’s not my lack of control or anything…

On a serious note, he is currently reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. When I spoke to them both on FaceTime this week, he recommended the book to me as he was really enjoying it. Having looked into it for myself, I can see this is something that I would enjoy as well.

It is a chunk of a book though. At just over 1000 pages, it is not a light addition to my reading list!

 

Coming Up…

Next week, I am back to my usual three-post schedule.

The first of those posts will be a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme is about book series. As somebody who has a lot of ongoing series at the moment, I have decided to share my list of series I would like to finish. I don’t need to talk myself into starting any more; I do a good enough job of that already! If you want to check out just a handful of the series I would like to finish, check out my post on Tuesday. And, as an additional note, if you would like me to share a separate post confessing all the ongoing series I have so you can laugh at my expense, let me know! 

Later in the week, I am back with a Shelf Control post. The feature of next week’s Shelf Control post is ironically also a series – although I didn’t realise this at the time I purchased a copy. I decided that I will pick up this historical fiction book anyway, then decide if I want to go back to the beginning based on my experience of that book. This is a new-to-me author, but the setting is one that I have read before.

As always, I will be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary post to share my reading progress with you. As has been the case this week, I will have a deadline that I’m working towards next week. So, I should have plenty to share with you in that post.

Tonight, my plans are to pick up Babel again briefly, before watching the first episode of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here before bed.

What are your plans?

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – October 2022

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I cannot believe I am writing my monthly wrap-up post for October. We are now most of the way through the year, and I have no idea where it’s gone!

The one good bit of news is that in October, I completed my Goodreads goal of reading 40 books this year. It was also quite a special one, as it was from an author and series I have both discovered this year and come to love fiercely!

Before I go ahead and spoil anything for you, let’s just dive into the books I read in October, and share with you my reading progress!

 

Assassin’s Quest

Usually, I start the month with any ‘fixed reads’ on my reading list. This month I decided to change things up and pick up Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb first.

I had originally wanted to pick this up in September, but there was absolutely no way I was going to fit it into my Bookoplathon TBR. I’m glad I didn’t even try, as this month I spent the majority of my time reading Assassin’s Quest. Whilst extremely good, Robin Hobb’s fantasy is not something you can pick up and devour quickly. There is a lot of detail, world-building and character development that intertwine and make for a world that requires investment. Equally, you want to savour every moment.

I started Assassin’s Quest very early in the month, but even so, I didn’t finish this until around about the 20th of the month. Even then, I only managed to achieve this feat by reading over 400 pages during a week off work. Without that, I would probably have taken the whole month to read the book, and that is no exaggeration!

I’m really happy with the way the storyline panned out, and how poor Fitz is struggling to find his place. The ending was absolutely fantastic and everything I hoped for. It makes me look forward to revisiting these characters and places later on in the Realm of the Elderlings series.

 

Blink of the Sun

If I’m entirely honest, I’m glad I didn’t start this month with my ‘fixed read’, as it ended up being a bit of a flop. It is not a promising start to reading list, so thankfully I avoided that by not picking it up first!

I was hoping Blink of the Sun would be a captivating urban fantasy that was right up my street (excuse the pun). It has a lot of good elements, but it just wasn’t quite doing it for me. I gave it a good chance, as I was intending to read this book and review it for the author and to give the book some publicity. As it stands, I have given some private feedback to the author via the site I downloaded it from (BookSirens), and I will not be sharing a public review.

 

Babel

Moving onwards and upwards, I next picked up Babel by R. F. Kuang.

I was hoping I was going to make faster reading progress that I did at the start. I can’t say whether it is because I needed to take the time to properly set up the book and characters in my head, or whether it is because I also happened to catch the winter lurgy at the same time and it affected my attention span. Probably a combination of both, in all honesty.

As of the end of the month, I made it to just over 100 pages through this novel. It is a decent amount of progress, but nothing groundbreaking. I am really enjoying the book and the more academic content. As somebody who considered pursuing a career in languages (albeit the English language), I am enjoying the arguments and commentary about how English interacts with other languages.

 

Warrior and Protector

The last book I picked up this month wasn’t on my TBR at the beginning of October. This is because I have stepped in to assist Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources a bit last minute with providing a review for an upcoming blog tour.

Unfortunately, it came to light that somebody who was due to take part in this tour originally was plagiarising other people’s reviews. Big no-no, obviously, so Rachel was looking for an alternative reviewer. As somebody who really enjoys this genre and setting, I was keen to help out in a time of need.

I started this book on the very last day of the month and read a third of it in two sittings over the course of the day. Compared to Babel, this is a much lighter read, and so progress is a lot swifter. What I like about this book, and the setting of the novel, is that I am familiar with it to an extent already. Some of the characters referred to in this book are key figures from that period of history. As a result, I’ve already come across them through other the books. The particular character we are living this narrative through, however, is a new one. That keeps the narrative fresh, even if the setting and theme are known to me.

I am enjoying this particular book and I can’t wait to share my full thoughts with you in my blog tour post on Saturday.

 

I’m resisting the urge to close this monthly wrap-up post saying I haven’t made as much progress as I would like. The truth is, I have read a solid number of pages this month. The books I have picked up are just, in their nature, more dense. They take more time to read. Page count is not the point. I read for the enjoyment of it, and I cannot say that I haven’t achieved that this month!

That’s all for me in today’s monthly wrap-up post. Have you read any of the books on my October TBR? What have you been reading this month?

 

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