Colin FalconerBesprekingen

This has been reissued as Feathered Serpent. This is a novel depicting the dramatic and horrific events of Cortes and the Conquistadors' conquest of the race now known as the Aztecs (though this is a 19th century coining for a range of warring ethnic groups living under the domination of the Mexica led by the Emperor Motecuhzoma (Montezuma)). The plot pivots around the Aztec woman Malinali who becomes Cortes's interpreter and eventually lover, betraying the wider civilisation in the end as her own tribal group chafes under Montezuma's domination. Aside from the bloody horrors perpetrated by both sides, the strongest theme to emerge from the story for me is the clash of civilisations and utterly different mindsets. Modern readers will understandably view Cortes's actions in modern terms as the crudest imperialist conquest and subjugation, yet he would have defended his actions in terms of bringing the benefits of Christian civilisation to a race that practised the bloodiest forms of human sacrifice on an industrial scale. So each had their own utterly opposing and utterly mutually incomprehensible conceptions of religion. Notwithstanding these fascinating ideas, this was not a pleasant read, with all the torture and killing - and yes, I know it is historically accurate, but I felt it could have been leavened with some deeper character development. Perhaps one of the most interesting characters was the Spaniard Norte who had lived among the Aztecs for some years, and adopted their customs, married an Aztec wife and had children, and yet still yearned eventually to be accepted again by his former Spanish comrades in arms. Malinali is still a famous and very controversial figure in Mexican history for the ambiguous role she played.½

Oh. It pains me to write this review. This book is probably the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I read books from every time period, every genre, writing style and so on. But this for me was a bust.
The concept and story was brilliant and a great subject. But the writing style was unreadable. The chapters were extremely short...some not even two pages. It was impossible to become vested in anything that was going on in the story because of the pacing. Before I could settle down and get into the story I was being dragged to a different character. Trying to read a story with paragraph breaks every other sentence was annoying. I as a reader need much more than a couple of hundred pages to travel the Silk Road. There was nothing to sink your teeth into. It read like a screenplay full of grammatical errors. I am only giving this two stars and not zero simply because I like the genre and subject. I still don't want to give up on this writer. Something tells me the editor is the cat behind the curtain who messed this potentially great book up. I will surely give this another read. It is my understanding that there has been some updating done to more recently released publications of this series. This series is far too interesting to just give up on.

Mediados del siglo XIII, un caballero templario y un monje dominico emprenden viaje desde Jerusalén hacia Mongolia a lo largo de la Ruta de la Seda. Josseran Sarrazini y Guillermo parten con la misión de transmitir un mensaje del Papa al Gran Khan y fraguar una alianza contra los sarracenos, que amenazan la unidad de los cruzados y también la del reino mogol. En el camino, deberán hacer frente a los más diversos peligros mientras descubren un mundo cuya riqueza, tanto material como espiritual, les fascina y desconcierta a la vez.

could not put it down. Outstanding mystery writing.

"This is the world you have inherited," he whispered. "Every palace is filled with snakes, twice as deadly as these. You will live among vipers all your life so you must learn to use your venom as wisely but strike without hesitation when you must."

Cleopatra: Daughter of the Nile by Colin Falconer

I had a tough time with this one. Not because I do not like the subject matter. I have read so many books about Cleopatra. And I've read this author's work before and enjoyed it. So why didn't I like this?

Two reasons. One is that one of my all time favorite books is "I Cleopatra" which is..you guessed it..a bio about Cleopatra. It is the gold standard against which I judge all Cleopatra books and I think that book ruined me for all other Cleopatra bios as I have never read one that can compare. Also the second reason is:

This version if Cleopatra just did not do it for me. I mean, she came off as weak and sort of..for lack of a better word..CRINGING. I didn't believe it. If there is one thing Cleopatra is known for, it's her strength. There is also a scene where she is schooled in the art of love making that left me speechless. It was simply impossible for me to accept this version of her, so different then any I have read before.

I think the writing is quite good but the book I read before this, 'The Sultan's Harem" I found I liked much better though at the end of the day different people like different books. To any other Cleopatra readers out there, I am a strong believer in reading them all so if you have not read this, read it and form your own opinion.

"The histories tell us the Greeks besieged Troy for Fourteen years for the sake of a woman. Will not the Turk, then, oppressed by piracies and invasions from this rock for over three centuries, endure one winter's siege?"

Harem by Colin Falconer

Wow. What a work of amazing quality this is! I went into it knowing nothing about the Sultan and Hürrem. It was quite an eye opener.

SPOILERS:

I was not helped in reading this by the fact that I despised Hürrem. I could not help it. Just reading about the incredible damage she causes in everyones' lives was enough to give me a headache. But it is impossible to stop reading this book once you start.

If there is one thing I did not like and it is something that caused me not to rate it a five, it was the amazing amount of violence throughout this book. Most of it involved Julia's story and as much as I did enjoy this book. I really could have and would have enjoyed it more if her story was not even told. I was primarily interested in the story of Hürrem.

And the Sultan had me grinding my teeth together. To me it seemed so obvious she was lethal and there were several times I wanted to shout through the book at the Sultan:"No. Don't do that". With each choice he made, all of which were terrible, I just got more exasperated with him.

But the book did what it needed to. It was educational, interesting and well written. I couldn't put it down.

"Kitty O'Kane dreamed of a kind husband and a just life; what she had was haddock water for supper and a dribble of her own blood, seen at close quarters, on the toe of her father's scuffed boot"

Heartbreaking stuff am I right? It pulled me in and had such high hopes for Kitty, but somewhere around the halfway point it all fell apart for me. From a bright, poverty stricken Irish girl with a simple dream that she could have easily achieved Kitty changed into someone I just didn't like very much. After surviving the sinking of the Titanic it seemed as if Kitty more let herself be manipulated into wanting to become a journalist than actually following her own dreams. Somehow even though she was the girl who wanted to fight for women's rights she let herself be dependent upon and manipulated by men.
I did enjoy the historical references but I had different expectations of this book.


I received a complimentary copy for review

I thought it would be quite fun reading a book about William Shakespeare cousin who goes by the same name. William Shakespeare has just arrived in London and his cousin isn't too fond to have him staying at his place. But William has dreams, he doesn't want to be a glove maker. He wants to be an actor. But all the theaters are closed because of the plague so he needs to find a job. Luckily for him he gets a job after saving Lady Elizabeth Talbot. All he needs to do is find her husband Henry Talbot. How hard can it be?

This book was quite entertaining to read. I love historical mysteries and I just couldn't resist a book about William Shakespeare cousin with the same name. It was interesting to follow William Shakespeare as he searched for Talbot's husband and I was actually surprised how it all turned out. It was also nice to have the other William Shakespeare, the famous one, showing up in the story now and then. It wasn't a thick book, so it wasn't many red herrings, but it was a pleasant read I want to read the next book in the series.

I received a copy from the publisher and HFVBT in return for an honest review!

Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World

I thought it would be quite fun reading a book about William Shakespeare cousin who goes by the same name. William Shakespeare has just arrived in London and his cousin isn't too fond to have him staying at his place. But William has dreams, he doesn't want to be a glove maker. He wants to be an actor. But all the theaters are closed because of the plague so he needs to find a job. Luckily for him he gets a job after saving Lady Elizabeth Talbot. All he needs to do is find her husband Henry Talbot. How hard can it be?

This book was quite entertaining to read. I love historical mysteries and I just couldn't resist a book about William Shakespeare cousin with the same name. It was interesting to follow William Shakespeare as he searched for Talbot's husband and I was actually surprised how it all turned out. It was also nice to have the other William Shakespeare, the famous one, showing up in the story now and then. It wasn't a thick book, so it wasn't many red herrings, but it was a pleasant read I want to read the next book in the series.

I received a copy from the publisher and HFVBT in return for an honest review!

Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World

I started off finding the humour a bit 'edgy', even for me, and I don't consider myself easily offended. Then I moved to finding the constant references to Catholicism, and martyrdom, and God, and evil, and there being no God coming to save the victims, and religion in general were making me feel uncomfortable. They provided the backdrop to the killer's methods, but also pervaded other aspects of the book, which became increasingly dark.

My other criticism would be that this is one of those police procedurals (which I daresay are very realistic) where the case comes up against dead ends and weeks go by. Realistic maybe, but I prefer a bit of momentum - I like to think of the police as efficient and invincible.

I don't think I will pursue this series any further.

This is a year or so on from #1 in the series, LUCIFER FALLS. Charlie has been on leave recuperating from an injury received at the end of that story. He has "lost" his mistress from that book and has taken up with Pippa, a school teacher in London.

A phone call in the early hours calls Charlie to a suspected homicide on a disused railway line in Finsbury Park. It is an 11 year old girl who has only been missing for a few hours. Her body was found by her father. The body has been found near the ventilation shaft for the underground, and that's where the brick that killed her is also found.

The family is an immigrant one from Sierra Leone. They have already had a hard life,

CCTV footage shows the girl being followed by a known paedophile, and Charlie is convinced he is the murderer. Charlie teams up with a DC Lovejoy whom we have already met in the first novel in the series.

In Chapter 4 we "meet" the murderer, who tells us what he likes doing, where he likes hanging out, and that he has only murdered one person... so far. There will be more of this dialogue later in the book, but we are no wiser about the identity of the narrator.

So, on the surface, this is a police procedural, but it also about child abuse, community tensions and expectations, and the nature of evil.

A very good read!½

This title got me in right from the beginning. At first Charlie George seems to be your run-of-the-mill flawed DI, and this seems to be yet another police procedural. But there is a lot more. Charlie seems to have had his fair share of failures, and a boss who wants to blame him for a few more. His original offsider goes out on stress leave when a kid he is chasing is run over by a bus, and Charlie is left to work with a woman newly posted to the Murder Squad. Charlie is married to the Murder Squad (although he has his "bit on the side"), and his background, experience and education keep him working at problems.

The plot got me in. The two initial murders, nicknamed Operation Galilee because the first is crucified, got me looking for connections, just as Charlie was doing. And I got there - at least I found the first connection - although it was Charlie's mother who gave us the second bit. Interestingly the author introduced readers to the murderer early on, and Charlie had seen him in passing, but the motives behind why he was doing what he was doing were well hidden until towards the end.

Here is a writer whose experience shines through (he is a prolific writer see Fantastic Fiction). The characters are well developed and the scenarios very believable. I'm sure I'll be reading the next.½

Lasting Love. How long can a mother keep her secrets? What makes a mother? These are ultimately the questions at the heart of this multi generational tale of interweaving secrets. A very intriguing book, and one historical fiction fans should love. Its descriptions of life between 1913 and 1943 seem accurate, and the tales it tells bring those periods to life. Solid work from yet another new-to-me author. Very much looking forward to more work from Mr. Falconer.

This was my first Colin Falconer book, but I don't think it will be my last. I listened to it on audible, and that format really brought it to life. Josserin Sarrazini is a Templar knight. He has been chosen to escort the Pope's emissary to the Mongol region in order to pass on the word of Christ. Father William is one of the most odious men that Josserin has ever met, and he hates him on sight, but he has a duty to perform, so the two start out on a momentous journey. The book is huge in scope and it covers their journey which includes many dangers and various rest stops along the way, that really aren't that much safer the open desert. The two pass through the unforgiving deserts of Persia, and all along the Silk Road to the "Roof of the World" . They come across a princess of a Tatar regime (Futlunes) and daughter to Haidal, a Tatar prince. After many misadventures, and life-threatening battles and catastrophic weather events, they find themselves in Zanzibar, the kingdom of the great Kubiliai Khan. The two paths of this Christian journey, and the Tatar princess are begun near the roof of the world, and their paths continue to cross along the long journey. This book has enormous scope and Colin Falconer is a master at describing his era. It's an action/adventure/romance that will take your breath away. It was great listening to it on Audible read by Emily Woo Zeller. Historical fiction at its best here.

Loved it

Terrific read. Not a dull moment and very hard to put down. A most positive light on Isabella. Will read others by this author.

Page turner

Interesting twist on the telling of the story of Joan of Kent. Told by the spirit of her deceased father. Couldn't put it down. You will come to appreciate Joan in a different light at least compared to other books I have read. I enjoy this author's writing style.

Segun la tradición otomana la 1ª concubina del sultán q le de un hijo se convertiría en Kaseki sultan, sultana favorita, tendría un trato especial y podría ser q su hijo accediera al trono.

I could not get into this one. Alexander the Great through the eyes of an elephant handler sounded interesting but the style is not working for me and the story is too simplistic.

Silk Road by Colin Falconer is a grand historical adventure story that totally engaged me. Travelling up and down the famous trade route, two Western men, one a Templar warrior and the other a fanatical priest, are guided along the caravan passage in order to establish a treaty with the Tatars, who have raided far into the West and are now threatening Christian countries.

The Templar, Josseran, has lived in the Holy Lands for some five years and has mellowed toward infidels. He seeks to understand the Mongol people, but Father William believes they are less than animals and does not attempt to hide his contempt for anything that he deems “un-christian”. When Josseran meets a chief’s daughter, Khutelun, sparks fly. After every parting, destiny brings them back together, even when they ended up on different sides in a civil war, they were drawn back to each other.

High adventure and breathless romance blend together as we travel the Silk Road from Palestine, across the endless deserts of central Asia, over the Roof of the World to Cathay. From trade caravans to fighting the Mongol horde, Silk Road is a rich historical drama that totally captivated me.½

To me, few things are better than a great stand alone historical novel. I knew that the author had a talent for the historical fiction craft way back when I read, When We Were Gods: A Novel of Cleopatra, (in my pre-blogging days). And he does not disappoint with East India.

What the author does best in this novel is to really bring out the true grit of what travel by sea must have been like in the 17th century. I certainly can't imagine being on board a ship, in cramped and less than hygienic conditions, for seven to eight months at a time. And yet, this book had me feeling uncomfortable because it did make me imagine what it was like and I was thankful that when I was able to tear myself away from reading it, I was safely in my comfy home. And not only was there far from ideal comfort on board the ship, but there were constant undertones of danger and gossip. Mutiny seemed to always be a possibility among the ship's crew.

The main character, Cornelia, is a high ranking lady and beautiful as well. So, of course, she is admired by some and vilified by others, thinking she's haughty and high minded. What struck me about her was that she was just really unhappy. A loveless marriage and the thought of travelling to be with the man she did not love, coupled with the arduous sea journey could not have been a happy time for anyone. What befalls her only makes matters worse.

What we learn in East India is that a good portion of the seven deadly sins are very present aboard ship and this leads to a very tragic outcome. Not only is East India historically accurate (am I the only one who has never heard of a bosun or a provost?), but it also does an excellent job of showing us human nature through the vivid characterization and action. As I was reading, I could picture each character - what they looked like and what they were about. It was like watching a movie in my head.

The author has quite a back list of novels, some of which are sitting on my 'to be read/to be reviewed' stack, and after reading East India, I know I'm in for a treat in my future reading.

A fast read which partial based on a real journalist but very unrealistic; think Forrest Grump meets Ernest Hemingway's journalist wife. A dirt poor Irish girl who survives two historic luxury liner sinking who learns to read and write practically overnight. Her writing was published all over the world.

The story is not without romance and ends with happily-ever-after.

Quite the adventure even if very improbable. Enjoyable listen as an audio version of the book. Well researched and well written. Recommended for a light read.

I received a free advance e-copy of this book from the author and have chosen to write an honest and unbiased review. I have no personal affiliation with the author. This is a well-written and great story with an amazing plot and excellent character development. This is the story of Joan of Kent who falls in love and is too young to marry but does so anyway going against the king. She also marries a second husband and becomes a bigamist. This book is well worth the read and I look forward to reading more by Colin Falconer in the future.

This was the story of Isabella (She-wolf of France) and her husband, King Edward II of England. I knew very little of pre-Tudor England and this book was a delight. The story began when Isabella was a 12 year old girl betrothed to Edward II to make a lasting peace between England and France over the Glascony territory. There was much political intrigue and adultery, but such is court life. I listened to this on Audible and I think the story would have been better just reading it as the French accent of the reader made it almost impossible to make out names sometimes; I had to look them up online. Isabella was a very strong woman, and for the most part very honest. She always tried to do what was politically correct. I learned more English history reading this book than French.

I picked up this book and read the first page. I thought I would give it 100 pages before I cast my judgement. Imagine my surprise to be hooked into a solid story of lives as a combat photographer/journalists and people they interact with.

You follow the stories of at least four main characters. Hugh Webb a photojournalist who uses the Vietnam war to further his career as a journalist. Sean Ryan a combat journalist who lives for the excitement and danger of the profession, Mickey a triage nurse in Vietnam war and later the war in el Salvador and Jenny a Vietnamese/American girl, a boat person who wants to find her father and becomes a combat journalist herself in the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

The book looks intensely at the mind set of these characters, their hopes and fears as they place themselves willingly in serious conflicts. You see how the lives of each of these characters interact with each other. How they deal with alcoholism and PTSD when they try to settle into a normal life away from war.

It is a book about war but from a different perspective, often it is an anti-American story against its position in Vietnam and Central America. There are flashes of conflict but these are short, to the point and not gratuitous.

If you are reading this book for "action" in war you will be disappointed. But if you want a solid story of war from a different perspective, that of a war correspondent, you will find yourself truly pulling for these characters as you follow their lives and how they intertwine. A well deserved 5 stars