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Wisdom for Home Brewers: 500 Tips for Making Great Beers of All Kinds

Ted Bruning

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Prosperity in the 1980s and 90s almost killed home brewing. Many specialist stores closed and...

Expecting a Baby? (One Born Every Minute): Everything You Need to Know About Pregnancy, Birth and Your Baby's First Six Weeks

Penelope Law

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This ground-breaking book is bursting with up-to-date medical information that will guide...

Age of Anger: A History of the Present

Pankaj Mishra

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'The kind of vision the world needs right now...Pankaj Mishra shouldn't stop thinking' Christopher...

ClareR (5726 KP) rated Shield of the Rising Sun (Path of Nemesis #3) in Books

Sep 8, 2020

Shield of the Rising Sun (Path of Nemesis #3)

Adam Lofthouse | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

9.0

(1 Ratings)

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This is the third book in a series of historical fiction novels set in the Roman era. Even though I haven’t read the first two books, I had no problem at all in understanding what was going on in the Shield of the Rising Sun. Although that now doesn’t stop me from wanting to read the first two books!

The story is told by three characters: Albinus, his son Faustus, and Faustus’ uncle, Calvus. The battle scenes, mainly from Albinus’ point of view, were gory (I like this - I know, probably a bit odd!) and the politics with all the infighting and back-stabbing was fascinating. How did anyone ever feel safe at this time? I’ll answer that: if they were clever, they NEVER felt safe!

This story shows the true reach of the Roman Empire - there are scenes in Britain, Germany and Egypt, as well as in Rome. It frankly amazed me how quickly Roman soldiers seemed to be able to travel - and mostly (if not solely) on foot!

The main characters were all three very likeable men, who had me rooting for them throughout - even though it was pretty obvious what would happen to one of them from the start )I’m giving nothing away here!).

I enjoy reading a lot of historical fiction, and it’s not often that I read books set in the Roman period. I don’t know why, there’s no reason I can think of, and this makes me realise that I really should read more! If, like me, you’re a fan of historical fiction, then you’ll enjoy the rich descriptions and history packed story within the pages of this book.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and to Adam Lofthouse for joining in and commenting in the margins!

Kudos

ClareR (5726 KP) rated A Shadowed Livery (Inspector James Given Investigations #1) in Books

Sep 16, 2019

A really well written police procedural

A Shadowed Livery is a police procedural very much in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel. It’s set in 1938, just as the rumblings of war begin and National Socialism and Fascism raise their heads in Germany. DI James Givens has been pulled off the case that he was working on (the murder of a Jewish butcher - the guilty men have been hanged, but there’s still work to be done) and sent to a small village in the English countryside, to wrap up the deaths of three people (mother, son and fiancée) at Grovestock House, where Sir Arthur Barleigh and his family live. DI Given has been told that it’s a simple case of murder/ suicide, but of course it develops into anything but that.

I very much enjoyed this - the style in which it was written felt just right for the time period, and there was great attention to detail. I liked how Given’s background is revealed as the story progresses, and how relevant it was to the time in history.

The mystery itself had me guessing up to the end, and it has a great ending! I love it when I’m kept guessing to the final pages. DI Given is a very likeable character, if a little naive in some ways - but that’s rather nice really. It lends him that human touch.

I’ll be interested to see what happens in the second book as we edge closer to war. I’d like to see how DI Given gets on!

Many thanks to Sapere Books for my copy of this book to read and review. I will be preordering the next book for when it comes out next month (October 2019)!