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historical

reviews January 15, 2015

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

the-book-of-life

The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy 3) by Deborah Harkness

After traveling through time to Tudor London, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont are now back in the present to face new crises and old enemies.

At Matthew’s ancestral home in France they reunite with their families – with one heart-breaking exception. But the real threat to their future is yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on a terrifying urgency. Using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the palaces of Venice and beyond, Diana and Matthew will finally learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago. (back cover)

I don’t really know what to say… I really loved this series and I’m sad that it ends here.

Diana and Matthew are back in the present from Tudor time and Diana is pregnant with twins. Matthew is still trying to find a way to cure blood rage.

All that lab work and DNA thing went way over my head again, but it was still fascinating stuff. And the nerd in me really loves that they’re historian and scientist so we get along with their researching,

Diana finally grows into her magic here and is less afraid to use it. Thankfully while being pregnant she’s still doing stuff so her chapters are never boring.

We meet new and old characters and I really loved Fernando and Gallowglass. Okay, maybe I had little crush on him… I would have liked to know what happens to him in the end because that was left open.

The bad guy of the book is Matthew’s son Benjamin who also has blood rage. Now who wouldn’t like a villain who kills, tortures and rapes to get his vengeance? He was crazy enough to be a perfect villain.

4/5

Published: Headline (2014)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 580
Source: library

reviews January 7, 2015

Oracles of Delphi by Marie Savage

9780989207935-Perfect.inddOracles of Delphi by Marie Savage

All Althaia wants on her trip to Delphi is to fulfill her father’s last wish. Finding the body of a woman in the Sacred Precinct is not in her plans. Neither is getting involved in the search for the killer, falling for the son of a famous priestess, or getting pulled into the ancient struggle for control of the two most powerful oracles in the world. But that’s what happens when Theron, Althaia’s tutor and a man with a reputation for finding the truth, is asked to investigate. When a priest hints that Theron himself may be involved, Althaia is certain the old man is crazy — until Nikos, son of a famous priestess, arrives with an urgent message. Theron’s past, greedy priests, paranoid priestesses, prophecies, and stolen treasures complicate the investigation, and as Althaia falls for Nikos, whose dangerous secrets hold the key to the young woman’s death, she discovers that love often comes at a high price and that the true meaning of family is more than a bond of blood.

I have to confess I hadn’t heard about the Oracle of Delphi before this and I realized how little I actually know about ancient Greece.

Althaia is a privileged young woman from Athens but thanks to her lenient and loving father she’s had more rights than most women. She has knowledge to perform an autopias on a dead body, which becomes handy when a dead woman is found.

I liked Althaia, Theron and her two slaves. Praxis was almost like a brother to her even though he was a slave and it was nice to see their close relationship. Althaia was very likeable character: strong, compassionate and quite outspoken for that time. We get another perspective of her from the point of view of Nepthys, her personal slave.
Little by little we learn more about their past and how they became to each other’s lives.

I loved reading about the Oracles of Delphi because there the women could have power and be quite independent since women didn’t have much rights in Ancient Greece. And many of the women were born peasants and they could still be powerful.

3,5/5

Published: Blank Slate Press (2014)
Format: eBook
Pages: 324
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

04_Oracles of Delphi_Blog Tour Banner_FINAL You can check the tour schedule here

About the author

Marie Savage is the pen name of Kristina Marie Blank Makansi who always wanted to be a Savage (her grandmother’s maiden name) rather than a Blank. She is co-founder and publisher of Blank Slate Press, an award-winning small press in St. Louis, and founder of Treehouse Author Services. Books she has published and/or edited have been recognized by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), the Beverly Hills Book Awards, the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction, the British Kitchie awards, and others. She serves on the board of the Missouri Center for the Book and the Missouri Writers Guild. Along with her two daughters, she has authored The Sowing and The Reaping (Oct. 2014), the first two books of a young adult, science fiction trilogy. Oracles of Delphi, is her first solo novel.

For more information visit Kristina Makansi’s website and the Blank Slate Press website. You can also follow Krisina Makansi and Blank Slate Press on Twitter.

spotlight December 19, 2014

Book Spotlight: The Oblate’s Confession by William Peak

02_The Oblate's ConfessionThe Oblate’s Confession by William Peak

Publication Date: December 2, 2014
Secant Publishing
Formats: eBook, Hardcover

Set in 7th century England, The Oblate’s Confession tells the story of Winwaed, a boy who – in a practice common at the time – is donated by his father to a local monastery. In a countryside wracked by plague and war, the child comes to serve as a regular messenger between the monastery and a hermit living on a nearby mountain. Missing his father, he finds a surrogate in the hermit, an old man who teaches him woodcraft, the practice of contemplative prayer, and, ultimately, the true meaning of fatherhood. When the boy’s natural father visits the monastery and asks him to pray for the death of his enemy – an enemy who turns out to be the child’s monastic superior – the boy’s life is thrown into turmoil. It is the struggle Winawed undergoes to answer the questions – Who is my father? Whom am I to obey? – that animates, and finally necessitates, The Oblate’s Confession.

While entirely a work of fiction, the novel’s background is historically accurate: all the kings and queens named really lived, all the political divisions and rivalries actually existed, and each of the plagues that visit the author’s imagined monastery did in fact ravage that long-ago world. In the midst of a tale that touches the human in all of us, readers will find themselves treated to a history of the “Dark Ages” unlike anything available today outside of textbooks and original source material.

Buy the Book
Amazon US
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository

About the Author

03_William Peak William Peak spent ten years researching and writing The Oblate’s Confession, his debut novel. Based upon the work of one of the great (if less well known) figures of Western European history, the Venerable Bede, Peak’s book is meant to reawaken an interest in that lost and mysterious period of time sometimes called “The Dark Ages.”
Peak received his baccalaureate degree from Washington & Lee University and his master’s from the creative writing program at Hollins University. He works for the Talbot County Free Library on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Thanks to the column he writes for The Star Democrat about life at the library (archived at http://www.tcfl.org/peak/), Peak is regularly greeted on the streets of Easton: “Hey, library guy!” In his free time he likes to fish and bird and write long love letters to his wife Melissa.

For more information please visit William Peak’s website.

The Oblate’s Confession Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, December 1
Review at Broken Teepee

Tuesday, December 2
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, December 3
Review at Back Porchervations
Review at A Fantastical Librarian

Thursday, December 4
Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Friday, December 5
Interview at Back Porchervations

Monday, December 8
Review at A Book Geek

Tuesday, December 9
Review at The Writing Desk
Spotlight at Historical Tapestry

Thursday, December 11
Interview at Forever Ashley

Monday, December 15
Review at Flashlight Commentary

Tuesday, December 16
Spotlight at Bibliophilic Book Blog

Thursday, December 18
Review at 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Guest Post at Books and Benches

Friday, December 19
Review at Book Nerd
Review at bookramblings

Monday, December 22
Spotlight at Let Them Read Books

Tuesday, December 23
Review at Just One More Chapter

Wednesday, December 24
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Monday, December 29
Review at The Never-Ending Book

Tuesday, December 30
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Friday, January 2
Review at Library Educated

Monday, January 5
Review & Interview at Words and Peace

Tuesday, January 6
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Wednesday, January 7
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews

Thursday, January 8
Review at Impressions in Ink

Friday, January 9
Review at The True Book Addict
Review & Interview at Jorie Loves a Story

04_The Oblate's Confession_Blog Tour Banner_FINAL

reviews December 12, 2014

Gentlemen of Pitchfork by Kamil Gruca

01_Gentlemen of Pitchfork CoverGentlemen of Pitchfork by Kamil Gruca

The year is 1415. France is weakened by the recently ended Civil War between the factions of Burgundians and Armagnacs. The young and belligerent King Henry V Lancaster decides to pay the French a neighbourly visit. With him – the flower of the English knighthood.

Among them – Sir Arthur, the Baron of Pitchfork, an ideal of all chivalric virtues – his uncle, Sir Ralph, a veteran soldier with a taste for women and bitter humour – and his cousin, Sir Robert, a young and romantic would-be scholar who will have his first taste of war, sieges, duels, betrayal and intrigue but also love and practical philosophy.

Together they ride as secret envoys of their King to meet Burgundian emissaries. But the Armagnacs’ spies keep their eyes open for any sign of treason on the part of their political opponents and three powerful French armies are gathering to cross King Henry’s way.

This was quite quick and short read. I haven’t read many books set during the reign of Henry V but it was nice to read about the war from the point of view some other than Henry.

My problem with the book was that there were too many POV’s which made it very confusing. Half the time I was wondering how these people connect or will they connect at some point. There was nothing wrong with the chapters itself but I don’t think all were necessary.

And I have to say that I hate endings where you don’t know what happens to the characters. You see people falling in love and you have no idea if they end up together. How frustrating!

All that said it was enjoyable read and it gives realistic image about medieval war.

3/5

Published: Kamil Gruca (2014)
Format: eBook
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

03_Gentlemen of Pitchfork_Blog Tour Bannerjpg You can check the tour schedule here

About the author

Kamil Gruca is a Polish writer born in 1982 in Warsaw. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Warsaw University.

Kamil is also an active knight who confirmed his battle prowess by winning the Polish National Knights League in 2006 under the alias of Sir Robert Neville. He has studied medieval swordsmanship for over 15 years hence his novels are full of dynamic and realistic swordplay.

Being an avid re-enactor and a passionate history geek Kamil moved to France for two years to study documents unavailable in other countries that would add to the feel and realism of the book on multiple levels.

His first novel “Panowie z Pitchfork” was published in 2009 by a major publishing house Rebis. Receiving a warm welcome from Polish critics, readers and fellow writers, the first part of the adventures of the young and keen Sir Robert was soon followed by a sequel “Baron i Łotr”, published by another publishing house Znak, bringing closure to the major plot.

Currently Kamil lives in Warsaw with his family and is working on another series of historical novels focused around one of Poland’s most famous knights – Zawisza Czarny – and his not so famous yet equally interesting brothers.

For more information about the book please visit http://gentlemenofpitchfork.blogspot.com or http://facebook.com/gentlemenofpitchfork. You can contact Kamil at Gruca.Kamil@gmail.com.

If you want to learn more about how Kamil trains medieval swordsmanship please visit HAM-Historyczna-Akademia-Miecza on Facebook (Site in Polish), as well as http://draby.pl (Site in Polish).

reviews November 6, 2014

Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes

02_Sinful Folk

Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes

A tragic loss. A desperate journey. A mother seeks the truth.

In December of 1377, four children were burned to death in a house fire. Villagers traveled hundreds of miles across England to demand justice for their children’s deaths.

Sinful Folk is the story of this terrible mid-winter journey as seen by Mear, a former nun who has lived for a decade disguised as a mute man, raising her son quietly in this isolated village. For years, she has concealed herself and all her history. But on this journey, she will find the strength to redeem the promise of her past. Mear begins her journey in terror and heartache, and ends in triumph and transcendence.

The remarkable new novel by Ned Hayes, illustrated by New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Nikki McClure, Sinful Folk illuminates the medieval era with profound insight and compassion. (publisher)

1377 five boys are locked in a barn, burned to death and their grieving parents accuse Jews of this tragedy. The fathers decide to not bury the dead but to take them for the King to decide.
But the villagers each carry their own secrets and during their journey their secrets unravel and they learn surprising things from each other.

The story is told by Mear, a mute pretending to be a man, who lives with her son Christian on a remote village. Bit by bit we get to know more about this courageous woman, we learn how she became to live as a man on this village and how she met with the father of her son.

It’s a dark world and this is not a romanticized version of the fourteenth century. It wasn’t easy living after the Black Death.

My only complain is that I wish it was told better if were in the present time or in Mear’s past. It didn’t take long to figure where you are but still.

4/5

Published: Campanile Press (2014)
Format: eBook
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

04_Sinful Folk_Blog Tour Banner_FINAL

You can check the tour schedule here.

About the author

Ned Hayes is the author of the Amazon best-selling historical novel SINFUL FOLK. He is also the author of Coeur d’Alene Waters, a noir mystery set in the Pacific Northwest. He is now at work on a new novel, Garden of Earthly Delights, also set in the Middle Ages.

Ned Hayes is a candidate for an MFA from the Rainier Writer’s Workshop, and holds graduate degrees in English and Theology from Western Washington University and Seattle University.

Born in China, he grew up bi-lingually, speaking both Mandarin and English. He now lives in Olympia, Washington with his wife and two children.

For more information please visit www.sinfulfolk.com and nednote.com. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Booklikes, YouTube, Google+, and Goodreads.