Published in the Sunday Times
Warriors of the Storm
Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins)
****
Book fiend
The ninth novel in the Last Kingdom series is another Cornwell special – blood-spraying, bone-splitting 10th-century mayhem, with Norsemen, Saxons and Irish all at one another’s throats, as “England” struggles towards partial nationhood. Uhtred, now grizzled with age and surlier, snarlier and more iron-fisted than ever, dominates the action. Several other more nuanced characters appear (his daughter, two sons, priests both nauseating and likeable, the sharp-tongued queen of Mercia, some wild Irishmen). The action never flags, place and period are as vivid as ever and some powerful descriptive passages give delight. — David Pike @pikedavey
Land Falls
Naomi J Williams (Little, Brown)
****
Book buff
A far-reaching narration of naval exploration in the late 18th century, this novel is based on the true story of Jean-Francois de Lapérouse who captained a doomed scientific expedition across the Pacific. It tells the tale of human tragedy and emotion in a unique retelling of history. Through a variety of viewpoints, we are confronted with the realities of 18th-century explorers and their search for new worlds. Williams’s treatment is honest and she has deftly handled De Lapérouse’s story, reviving what for some may have been lost to history. — Gareth Langdon @gslangdon
A Song for Drowned Souls
Bernard Minier (Hodder & Stoughton)
****
Book thrill
Minier’s French debut novel, The Frozen Dead, was exceptional – listed as one of the best 50 crime novels of the past five years. The challenge then becomes to write an equally successful sequel. Minier, however, has triumphed with his second novel. While it is a sequel, again featuring the introverted Commandant Servaz of the Toulouse crime squad and the escaped serial killer Hirtmann, there is nothing predictable to this superior thriller. Servaz has to delve into his own messy past, opening grievous old psychological wounds, to close the case. And with Minier, closure is always a relative concept. — William Saunderson-Meyer @TheJaundicedEye
Bernard Minier will be at the Franschhoek Literary Festival
SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome
Mary Beard (Profile Books)
****
Book Buff
From the Roman cavalry’s lack of stirrups to the complex maneuverings in the senate – Beard, one of the world’s preeminent scholars of the classical world, knows her stuff. It’s a long book that follows the evolution of Roman politics from an early form of democracy to the brutal autocracy of the emperors – something South Africans might want to ponder. The author does not set out to glorify the Romans, but at times she is a little too caught up in the details of, say, provincial taxation. A slightly more exciting look at this fascinating subject would have served her readers better. — Hamilton Wende @HamiltonWende
Book details
- Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell
EAN: 9780007504060
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- Land Falls by Naomi J Williams
EAN: 9781408705773
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- A Song for Drowned Souls by Bernard Minier
EAN: 9781444732290
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- SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
EAN: 9781846683817
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