The Beginning Farmer Show
Podcast
The Beginning Farmer Show chronicles the good, bad, and ugly of starting a farm from scratch. Listen...
Snowdon: The Story of a Welsh Mountain
Book
The story of Snowdon in Jim Perrin's words. The secrets within its fractured rocks and its shy...
The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui
Show
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, subtitled "A parable play", is a 1941 play by the German...
David McK (3540 KP) rated Blood's Game in Books
Jan 30, 2019
This, however, would be the first time I had read one of Donald's novels that concerned a different central character, and that had a different setting: would it, I wondered, be more of the same, or would it have it's own 'feel'?
The answer, I can now say, is the latter.
Replacing Alan-a-Dale with Holcroft Blood, and told in the more traditional her-and-know third-person narrative (instead of the conceit of an elderly Alan recalling his youthful adventures with Robin Hood), this particular novel deals with the (attempted) theft of the Crown Jewels from the Tower of England during the reign of King Charles II, not long after the restoration.
While that (attempted) theft is carried out by Thomas Blood - who was caught red-handed but later, incredibly, was granted a pardon by Charles II - this novel does not have Thomas as the central character: rather, instead, we follow the fortunes of his youngest son Holcroft: a son who, throughout the course of this novel, becomes friends with Sir John Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough (and Winston Churchill's direct descendant).
Whether true or not, young Holcroft is portrayed in this as suffering from a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome, able to easily code and decode correspondence sent to his master The Duke of Buckingham from his various spies and informants: a skill that comes in handy in this tale! I have to say, too, that the court of King Charles II comes across as incredibly decadent, full of scheming and back-stabbing rivals out wholly for themselves ...
I'd be interested in seeing where this series goes, especially as the next entry ([b:Blood's Revolution|36146468|Blood's Revolution|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504033386s/36146468.jpg|57749834]) concerns itself - at least, according to the blurb at the back of this - with what is (in this country - Northern Ireland - at least) a very divisive and pivotal moment in English history.
David McK (3540 KP) rated Warlord's Gold (Civil War Chronicles, #5) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Of course, agents of Parliament are also after the same treasure.
Meanwhile, Stryker's friend Capt Lancelot Forester is also sent deep into Parliamenterian held country in order to shore up the will of an outpost that is still holding out for the king ...
Surviving shipwreck, imprisonment and torture, the two distinct plot strands (Stryker and the treasure/Forester' mission) eventually mesh at the defense of Basing House, in another enjoyable entry in the series.
The Mortal Instruments 1: City of Bones
8.2
Rate It
Book
First in Cassandra Clare's internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series about the...
Young adult romance vampire werewolves fairy faeries
The Mortal Instruments 2: City of Ashes
8.3
Rate It
Book
Second in Cassandra Clare's internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series about the...
Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated The Christmas Chronicles (2018) in Movies
Nov 1, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)
As I mentioned earlier, I’m not really a Christmas movie lover, but The Christmas Chronicles has certainly got me in the Christmas mood (even if it is only November), and to top it all I’ve watched again today, purely for review purposes of course.
Scooby-Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion
7.8
Rate It
Tabletop Game
In Scooby-Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion, players take on the roles of the teen sleuths and...
