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David McK (3600 KP) rated The Scarlet Thief (Jack Lark, #1) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
While I had heard (read) this described as 'the new Richard Sharpe', this is a novel that, if I'm honest, I was unsure of whether to purchase or not - those are some big boots to fill, after all, and I'd both read and later been disappointed in other books that made the same claim.
However, when I read the short prequel novella [b: Jack Lark: Rogue|23646134|Jack Lark Rogue|Paul Fraser Collard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424476493s/23646134.jpg|43253728], that was enough to convince me to start in on the series proper.
having now read this, it is very obvious where the template comes from, even down to the evil Sergeant Slater who is really Hakeswill in all but name. As the first in the series, however (even before said prequels), I am prepared to make allowances.
The novel actually starts with Jack Lark leading his troops to cross the Alma river (in the Crimea), before moving back to six months before to show the events that led up to this: events that see Lark (who is from the East End slums) deciding to impersonate his officer when said officer dies on the way to his new posting.
As for the battle of Alma itself: while it is one that I had heard of, it's not one that I am overly familiar with; not one as famous as (say) Waterloo or even the Battle of Balaclava that would later occur during the same war (the Crimean). As such, and interwoven in the latter part of the novel - I actually find the history just as interesting as the fiction.
I think I will be picking more of these up :)
However, when I read the short prequel novella [b: Jack Lark: Rogue|23646134|Jack Lark Rogue|Paul Fraser Collard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424476493s/23646134.jpg|43253728], that was enough to convince me to start in on the series proper.
having now read this, it is very obvious where the template comes from, even down to the evil Sergeant Slater who is really Hakeswill in all but name. As the first in the series, however (even before said prequels), I am prepared to make allowances.
The novel actually starts with Jack Lark leading his troops to cross the Alma river (in the Crimea), before moving back to six months before to show the events that led up to this: events that see Lark (who is from the East End slums) deciding to impersonate his officer when said officer dies on the way to his new posting.
As for the battle of Alma itself: while it is one that I had heard of, it's not one that I am overly familiar with; not one as famous as (say) Waterloo or even the Battle of Balaclava that would later occur during the same war (the Crimean). As such, and interwoven in the latter part of the novel - I actually find the history just as interesting as the fiction.
I think I will be picking more of these up :)
Supermarket Management 2 HD
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Have you played the prequel to this fascinating game? Don’t miss Supermarket Management - on iPad...
A perfectly creepy Halloween treat.
Well, the spiced pumpkin lattes are out so it must be time to hit the scary reading lists and I would recommend putting this one high on the list this spooky season if you are looking for a truly unsettling, dark supernatural tale that has a good dose of mystery and intriguing characters.
Inspired by notes by Bram Stoker this prequel to Stoker’s classic Dracula was always going to have high expectations to live up to and for me, I wasn’t disappointed. Telling the tale of the young Bram Stoker, we meet his childhood caretaker, Ellen Crone whose odd behavior sparks the interest of young Bram and his sister Matilda who of course decide to poke their noses into her business little knowing they are just at the start of what will be an ongoing nightmare for the family. With many chilling discoveries, the tension builds and an unsettling tale is revealed.
It’s a very well written book that doesn't get bogged down in trying to use too much language and style of the period it is set in, instead focusing on successfully creating the gothic atmosphere to creepy perfection. Despite different POVs and timelines, it’s never hard to follow the action. The characters are gripping, in particular, Bram’s sister Matilda comes across as a superb character with brains and determination that are not expected of a lady of the time
This is not a tale for those of a squeamish disposition but it makes a great Halloween fix and has made me want to go and re-read Dracula now.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.
Inspired by notes by Bram Stoker this prequel to Stoker’s classic Dracula was always going to have high expectations to live up to and for me, I wasn’t disappointed. Telling the tale of the young Bram Stoker, we meet his childhood caretaker, Ellen Crone whose odd behavior sparks the interest of young Bram and his sister Matilda who of course decide to poke their noses into her business little knowing they are just at the start of what will be an ongoing nightmare for the family. With many chilling discoveries, the tension builds and an unsettling tale is revealed.
It’s a very well written book that doesn't get bogged down in trying to use too much language and style of the period it is set in, instead focusing on successfully creating the gothic atmosphere to creepy perfection. Despite different POVs and timelines, it’s never hard to follow the action. The characters are gripping, in particular, Bram’s sister Matilda comes across as a superb character with brains and determination that are not expected of a lady of the time
This is not a tale for those of a squeamish disposition but it makes a great Halloween fix and has made me want to go and re-read Dracula now.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I am a huge fan of Mark Billingham and of his character, Tom Thorne, and have avidly followed the series and so I was absolutely thrilled to see a prequel was available which went back to the beginning in 1996 when "portable" phones are a novelty, smoking in pubs was the norm and England weren't doing too badly in the Euro's!
Tom is a young Detective Sergeant going through a bit of a rough patch after separating from his wife and experiencing recurring nightmares of an old case when along comes every persons worst nightmare ... the abduction of a little boy from a local park. The book follows the investigation into the abduction where everyone is a suspect and the mystery deepens when the body of one of those suspects turns up, quickly followed by the body of the boy's father.
This is a tense read written mainly from the perspectives of Tom, Cat (mother of the abducted child) and Kieron (the abducted child); the pace built up as the investigation progressed and I loved it. I particularly enjoyed meeting the characters that I have grown to love at the beginnings of their relationship with a particular highlight being the first meeting between Tom and Phil Hendricks which made me literally laugh out loud.
I would most definitely recommend this book and you don't have to have read any of the others in the series as this makes a really good starting point for those of you who haven't discovered the delight that is Tom Thorne and who have clearly been living under a rock!!
I was extremely lucky to have won a copy of this book via a Facebook competition but thanks also to Little, Brown Book Group via NetGalley for an e-copy in return for an unbiased and honest review.
Tom is a young Detective Sergeant going through a bit of a rough patch after separating from his wife and experiencing recurring nightmares of an old case when along comes every persons worst nightmare ... the abduction of a little boy from a local park. The book follows the investigation into the abduction where everyone is a suspect and the mystery deepens when the body of one of those suspects turns up, quickly followed by the body of the boy's father.
This is a tense read written mainly from the perspectives of Tom, Cat (mother of the abducted child) and Kieron (the abducted child); the pace built up as the investigation progressed and I loved it. I particularly enjoyed meeting the characters that I have grown to love at the beginnings of their relationship with a particular highlight being the first meeting between Tom and Phil Hendricks which made me literally laugh out loud.
I would most definitely recommend this book and you don't have to have read any of the others in the series as this makes a really good starting point for those of you who haven't discovered the delight that is Tom Thorne and who have clearly been living under a rock!!
I was extremely lucky to have won a copy of this book via a Facebook competition but thanks also to Little, Brown Book Group via NetGalley for an e-copy in return for an unbiased and honest review.
Supermarket Management 2 HD (Full)
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Have you played the prequel to this fascinating game? Don’t miss Supermarket Management - on iPad...
Aftershock (Blood Never Lies #2)
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Aftershock is a companion novel to the Eye of the Storm series and also acts as a PREQUEL to a brand...
Paranormal Urban Fantasy
A Demon Summoning: Neldorailin Series
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For ages, the peoples of Neldorailin had been drawn to the Druid's Stone. Some, for the druids...
David McK (3600 KP) rated Thrawn Ascendancy Book I: Chaos Rising in Books
Jun 21, 2022
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
The blue-skinned, red-eyed Imperial antagonist of Timothy Zahn's 'Heir to the Empire' series of Star Wars novels from the early 90's, and one of - if not [i]the[/i] breakout characters from that book.
Yet to make his appearance in live action (as an aside, I imagine maybe someone like Benedict Cumberbatch in the role), although he is one of the few characters to survive the 'great purge' when Disney bought out Lucasfilm and re-branded the old Expanded Universe as 'Legends', appearing in the later seasons of the animation 'Star Wars: Rebels'.
This is the first in a new trio of novels, with the opening text reading something along the lines of: 'A long time ago beside a galaxy far far away ...' which, in itself, helps set the scene. Beside a galaxy. So we're not in the realms of the Empire/The Rebellion here, or even in the realm of the Clone Wars, although we are - as the novel later makes clear when Thrawn encounters a key character from that period of time - in that particular era.
So, a prequel then? Maybe, but - I have to say- to me, this particular version of Thrawn just somehow *feels* different than that from the old EU. There's a certain Je Ne Sais Qua about that - I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's like meeting the identical twin brother of your best friend: they may look alike, sound alike and even dress alike but there's a certain indefinable *something* that's not quite right ...
Is it this version of Thrawn's political naivety? His seemingly not-quite-so-ruthless tactical genius? I don't know, but I will probably read more to see if/how the character evolves into that I am more familiar with.
Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
The blue-skinned, red-eyed Imperial antagonist of Timothy Zahn's 'Heir to the Empire' series of Star Wars novels from the early 90's, and one of - if not [i]the[/i] breakout characters from that book.
Yet to make his appearance in live action (as an aside, I imagine maybe someone like Benedict Cumberbatch in the role), although he is one of the few characters to survive the 'great purge' when Disney bought out Lucasfilm and re-branded the old Expanded Universe as 'Legends', appearing in the later seasons of the animation 'Star Wars: Rebels'.
This is the first in a new trio of novels, with the opening text reading something along the lines of: 'A long time ago beside a galaxy far far away ...' which, in itself, helps set the scene. Beside a galaxy. So we're not in the realms of the Empire/The Rebellion here, or even in the realm of the Clone Wars, although we are - as the novel later makes clear when Thrawn encounters a key character from that period of time - in that particular era.
So, a prequel then? Maybe, but - I have to say- to me, this particular version of Thrawn just somehow *feels* different than that from the old EU. There's a certain Je Ne Sais Qua about that - I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's like meeting the identical twin brother of your best friend: they may look alike, sound alike and even dress alike but there's a certain indefinable *something* that's not quite right ...
Is it this version of Thrawn's political naivety? His seemingly not-quite-so-ruthless tactical genius? I don't know, but I will probably read more to see if/how the character evolves into that I am more familiar with.
The Complete Love Mark Box Set by Linda Kage
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All Five Books in the Fantasy Romance Love Mark Series It all starts with a little tattoo. ...
Fantasy Romance Epic Fantasy Box Set
David McK (3600 KP) rated The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend (The Drenai Saga #6) in Books
Aug 25, 2023
Legend, by David Gemmell, was the first novel of his I ever read.
It proved to be a good place to start: although it's no longer the earliest set (that would be Waylander, it was also actually the first he wrote in what would later become known as the Drenai saga.
And perhaps the breakout character from that novel (Legend was Druss the Axeman, who arrived fully formed and already a legend within the confines of the tale, with a backstory only really hinted at in the novel.
It's probably no surprise, thus, that Druss would go on to be a key figure in several of the other Drenai novels, popping up either in person or mentioned by characters in reverential tones that the tale in question is following.
This novel is actually a prequel to the events of Legend, showing how Druss became the man he is later shown to be: as the story starts, he is instead a teenaged woodsman felling trees in the mountain passes. That is, until his village is attacked and slavers make off with his wife Rowena ...
And so off Druss sets in pursuit, in the eventual company of the poet Sieben; a pursuit that will last many years and across a different (and war-torn) continent and which sees his legend start to grow, thanks in no small part to that poet.
The novel is split into 4 parts; the first three all dealing with that pursuit and the (many) events that befall Druss, while the last part is the defence of Skeln past oft talked about in Legend, and in which Druss cements his legend whilst losing friends along the way.
This is well worth a read; however I would advise actually reading the later-set Legend first!
It proved to be a good place to start: although it's no longer the earliest set (that would be Waylander, it was also actually the first he wrote in what would later become known as the Drenai saga.
And perhaps the breakout character from that novel (Legend was Druss the Axeman, who arrived fully formed and already a legend within the confines of the tale, with a backstory only really hinted at in the novel.
It's probably no surprise, thus, that Druss would go on to be a key figure in several of the other Drenai novels, popping up either in person or mentioned by characters in reverential tones that the tale in question is following.
This novel is actually a prequel to the events of Legend, showing how Druss became the man he is later shown to be: as the story starts, he is instead a teenaged woodsman felling trees in the mountain passes. That is, until his village is attacked and slavers make off with his wife Rowena ...
And so off Druss sets in pursuit, in the eventual company of the poet Sieben; a pursuit that will last many years and across a different (and war-torn) continent and which sees his legend start to grow, thanks in no small part to that poet.
The novel is split into 4 parts; the first three all dealing with that pursuit and the (many) events that befall Druss, while the last part is the defence of Skeln past oft talked about in Legend, and in which Druss cements his legend whilst losing friends along the way.
This is well worth a read; however I would advise actually reading the later-set Legend first!