Home for the Homicides
8.0
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It's Christmastime in Army retiree Tessa Treslow's small Idaho hometown of New Oslo, but someone is...
Quillan Creek and the Little War (Time Stones #1)
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Jessie Mason lives with her nose in the pages of history. But she is about to discover that the past...
Historical Fantasy
David McK (3791 KP) rated Fortune Favours the Brave (Rifleman Dando #1) in Books
Feb 8, 2026
Otherwise known as Dando on the Delhi Ridge.
I actually read this as the first part in a 3-book compilation ("THE RIFLEMAN DANDO ADVENTURES three action-packed historical military thrillers"), thinking it may be something interesting, something akin to Bernard Cornwell's Napoleonic-set Sharpe series, or to Paul Fraser Collard's 'Jack Lark' series.
While the history may be - and, for me, was - interesting, unfortunately the plot around the rest of the story was not all that much so. I have to say, I also found the phonetic spelling "See 'ere" rather off-putting, although understandable in that the soldiers were usually drawn from the lower classes rather than the posh higher classes.
I also found the flashbacks to a pre-soldier Dando, and just how he came to be a redcoat, actually more interesting than the 'current events' of the Indian mutiny, for some reason.
Still, I'll read the next two as well at some point (but doubt I'll be going out of my way beyond that)
Sword Brethren (The Northern Crusader Chronicles)
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1242. After being wounded in the Battle on the Ice, Richard Fitz Simon becomes a prisoner of Prince...
Historical Action Adventure Medieval
The Lady Who Left
8.0
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The best love stories begin with a divorce. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Lady Marigold...
Historical Romance Forbidden Romance
Ravens Hill (The Atheling Chronicles #5)
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In 1030 C.E. — When Harald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king's enemies...
Historical Mystery Vikings
Nothing Proved (Regina #1)
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Danger lined her path, but destiny led her to glory… Elizabeth Tudor learned resilience young....
Historical Tudor
A Little Trickerie
10.0
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Born a vagabond, Tibb Ingleby has never had a roof of her own. Her mother has taught her that if...
Historical fiction Literary Fiction medieval England
Spring Melt
10.0
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As a doctor’s wife in a thriving Adirondack village in the 1920s, Ella Devine seems to have an...
Historical Crime Drama Romance
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated The Witchfinder's Sister in Books
Mar 15, 2018
<i>The Witchfinder’s Sister</i> is based on true life witch hunter Matthew Hopkins that grew to fame during the English Civil War around East Anglia, hunting and killing “witches”. This book isn’t non-fiction, it’s fiction based around non-fiction! I love these sorts of books that create their own stories from something that was very much real. Not only does it make for good reading, they also bring in some true history facts, so you’re being educated on the subject as you read.
High praise goes to Underdown for this novel. I feel like historical fiction can be hard genre to get right, and considering this is a <i>debut</i> novel, I’m amazed at how well put together and beautiful this has turned out to be! I love reading historical fiction, every once in awhile, and this is the sort of book that keeps my love for the genre burning.
The writing in this novel was haunting and beautiful. Nine times out of ten, it was exactly as you would have imagined the 17th Century to be, but I felt there were a few slips that made the book feel modern. For example, would a lady in 1645 say the phrase <i><b>“shitting herself”</b></i>? Correct me if I’m wrong, but that feels like a reasonably modern phrase to me.
I loved our main character, Alice. Me and my mum were talking about historical fiction novels and how we find it hard to understand why women make the decisions they make in these books, because we’re so used to having some equality and independence. But I noted that in this book, even though Alice is inferior to her brother and his counterparts, she is still a risk taker; going against her brother's wishes & sneaking around. I liked that she was strong and a little rebellious, it was so much easier to connect with her because of this.
On the other hand. I <i>hated</i> Matthew. He was a despicable character. I can rarely hate a character in a book, even if I’m supposed to. I tend to find the good in them at some point, or have some sort of sympathy for them, but I absolutely despised Matthew. Well done to Underdown for creating such a hate-inducing character. It’s quite a hard feat, but she managed it perfectly. The same goes for Mary Phillips.
The tension was built so well in this novel, you could feel the mystery growing and growing with every page and I loved it! Though the story moved reasonably slowly, the book was still absolutely riveting and I found it extremely hard to put down when I knew it was time to get some rest.
I am so, so excited to read more from Underdown. This was an amazingly well put together and researched.
<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.</i>