Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1575)

Content

David McK (3610 KP) rated Fugitive in Books

May 31, 2021

Fugitive

Paul Fraser Collard | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Entry number 9 in Paul Fraser Collard's Jack Lark series, this is an entry which - speaking personally - I very much found could be split into two main parts: the first part of the novel primarily concerns itself with the Victorian pursuit of 'slumming' (where rich toffs paid good money to see how their poorer counterparts lived in the slums and tenements of London), and the second with the Abyssinian campaign against the mad 'Gorilla King' (in modern day Ethiopia, I believe)

I'd heard, and even knew a bit, about the former. The latter? Sad to say, not so much.

So, for my part, a little new knowledge is a good thing!

As the novel begins, Jack Lark is back in England after his exploits in America (during the Civil War) and Mexico of the previous entries; back where - I feel - he belongs (ummm, speaking internationally, that is, rather than his precise circumstances!) and running Victorian slumming 'tours' (for want of a better word) for the rich who have more money than sense!

I don't *think* I'm giving anything away when I say that one such tour inevitably goes wrong, leading Jack - and a few companions - to flee the country, travelling to Ethiopia to join the expedition against the Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, more concerned with what they can purloin along the way than the rights and wrongs of the situation that led to the campaign in the first place!

All in all, another solid entry in the series: I'm looking forward to where Jack ends up next!

Kudos

Super Humans (The New Super Humans, #1)

T.M. Franklin

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A mysterious chest. A terrifying vision. Are their newfound powers enough to take down an...

Adult Fantasy Romance

Dana (24 KP) rated On Liberty and Other Essays in Books

Mar 23, 2018

I am not a fan of reading essays. Though they give interesting views, they are not entertaining in the slightest. I was more intrigued by the last essay out of all of them which is called "The Subjection of Women." It seems as if he is a feminist of the Victorian era, which is very cool to be able to see. He has a lot of good ideas in there that are still very relevant today. Out of all of these essays, I would recommend this one out of all of them.

The one thing I didn't like about any of these essays is that they are all very repetitive. They seem to say the same thing over and over again which gets very boring, very quickly.

Kudos

David McK (3610 KP) rated Lion in the Valley (Amelia Peabody, #4) in Books

Jan 30, 2019

The fourth of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series of books, this again sees the Victorian archaeologist return to Egypt, in the company of her husband and precocious son.

As before, they are then caught up in a mystery surrounding a murder as well as the usual romantic entanglements for these novels. This also sees the return of the 'Master Criminal' from the previous books, who is both named (obviously not his real name) and looks like becoming a recurring character in the series as a whole.

I found this to be a diverting enough read, but not up to the standards of the first novel, perhaps due to the fact that I am now familiar with the type of story it is.