Genre: Historical Mystery
Setting: England, 1325
This novel is the twenty-seventh novel in Jeck's Knights Templar series. This series follows the exploits of Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his companion bailiff Simon Puttock.
England is in turmoil. Sir Hugh le Dispenser, the King's special friend, has been gaining power and wealth by exploiting his position with the King. Sir Hugh and his supporters have run roughshod over the law as they take whatever they desire. The people of England tire of their lawlessness.
In this installment of the series, Sir Baldwin and Simon have returned from France. They risk the anger of the king by informing him that his wife, Isabella, has defied him by remaining in France with their son. Sir Hugh wishes to force Simon to do his bidding by having his daughter kidnapped and her husband arrested for treason.
When Baldwin and Simon return home, they become involved in the investigation of a mass murder. A large party of travelers has been slaughtered, and the silver they were escorting has been stolen. It soon becomes apparent that Dispenser's supporters are involved with this murder, and several more. And that they are also involved with Simon's daughter's kidnapping.
Can Sir Baldwin and Simon solve the mystery, and bring the guilty to justice? Can they rescue Simon's daughter? And can they avoid raising the ire of Sir Hugh le Dispenser?
I really enjoy Jeck's novels. Each one is a complete story. And there are plot elements which continue through several novels. The novels proceed in chronological order. This novel takes place in October and November of 1325. (spoiler alert: The evil Sir Hugh has only a year to live.)
No Law in the Land
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
The High King of Montival by S. M. Stirling
Genre: Fantasy, Alternate History
Setting: A post apocalyptic North America, 25 years after the "Change"
This novel is the tenth in Stirling's Change series.
In Stirling's alternate universe, March 17, 1998 is the day the world changed. A mysterious event centered around Nantucket Island transported the island into the past. The story of how the Nantucket survivors adapted form the first three novels of the Change series.
With the next three novels in the series, Stirling tells the tale of present day Earth after the event. There has been a fundamental change in the laws of the universe. Electricity, gasoline engines, steam engines and gunpowder no longer work. Earth has returned to a pre-Industrial Revolution state. These three novels are mostly centered around Portland, Oregon. They describe how the people survive and reorganize themselves in this post apocalyptic world.
In the next four novels, the world has been invaded by a force of evil. The terrible Prophet, and his evil minions, the Cutters, are planning to take over the world. Rudi Mackenzie has been visited by spiritual Lady. She has given him the task to travel to Nantucket and retrieve a magic sword. Rudi then must use The Sword of the Lady to defeat the Prophet and his followers.
This novel picks up the action after Rudi has received the sword. He must return to Oregon with the sword. Along the way Rudi must organize his followers and assemble an army to defeat the Cutters. Rudi must also learn to control the magic of the sword so that he can rid the world of this evil threat. The plot follows Rudi and his followers. There are descriptions of destroyed cities and wild uncivilized people. There are desperate battles using swords, spears and shields. Along the way back to Oregon, Rudi becomes Artos, the High King of Montival.
The warriors that Rudi collects are an eclectic group of knights, cowboys, Vikings, Islamic pirates and Celtic archers. The religious beliefs of the people play an important part in the plot of the story. There are Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. There are believers in the old Norse religion of Odin and Thor. And there are those who practice the Wiccan beliefs.
An interesting part of the plot is that some of the characters have modeled thamselves after the Rangers in
J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact they refer to Tolkein's writings as the "Histories". These are mostly characters who were born just before, or after, the Change.
I enjoyed reading this book. By itself, the book is fair. However, the main point of the book is to set up the plot for the final decisive battle of good versus evil.
Normally, I am not a fan of fantasy stories that have too much magic in them. In this book, the bad guy has a magical power, and the good guy has a magical power. The rest of the characters and plot are pretty realistic with people, animals, and objects acting realistically.
If you are interested in reading this series, I would suggest that you begin with Dies the Fire which is the first book in the series.
The High King of Montival
Dies the Fire
Island in the Sea of Time - The first Change series novel.
Setting: A post apocalyptic North America, 25 years after the "Change"
This novel is the tenth in Stirling's Change series.
In Stirling's alternate universe, March 17, 1998 is the day the world changed. A mysterious event centered around Nantucket Island transported the island into the past. The story of how the Nantucket survivors adapted form the first three novels of the Change series.
With the next three novels in the series, Stirling tells the tale of present day Earth after the event. There has been a fundamental change in the laws of the universe. Electricity, gasoline engines, steam engines and gunpowder no longer work. Earth has returned to a pre-Industrial Revolution state. These three novels are mostly centered around Portland, Oregon. They describe how the people survive and reorganize themselves in this post apocalyptic world.
In the next four novels, the world has been invaded by a force of evil. The terrible Prophet, and his evil minions, the Cutters, are planning to take over the world. Rudi Mackenzie has been visited by spiritual Lady. She has given him the task to travel to Nantucket and retrieve a magic sword. Rudi then must use The Sword of the Lady to defeat the Prophet and his followers.
This novel picks up the action after Rudi has received the sword. He must return to Oregon with the sword. Along the way Rudi must organize his followers and assemble an army to defeat the Cutters. Rudi must also learn to control the magic of the sword so that he can rid the world of this evil threat. The plot follows Rudi and his followers. There are descriptions of destroyed cities and wild uncivilized people. There are desperate battles using swords, spears and shields. Along the way back to Oregon, Rudi becomes Artos, the High King of Montival.
The warriors that Rudi collects are an eclectic group of knights, cowboys, Vikings, Islamic pirates and Celtic archers. The religious beliefs of the people play an important part in the plot of the story. There are Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. There are believers in the old Norse religion of Odin and Thor. And there are those who practice the Wiccan beliefs.
An interesting part of the plot is that some of the characters have modeled thamselves after the Rangers in
J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact they refer to Tolkein's writings as the "Histories". These are mostly characters who were born just before, or after, the Change.
I enjoyed reading this book. By itself, the book is fair. However, the main point of the book is to set up the plot for the final decisive battle of good versus evil.
Normally, I am not a fan of fantasy stories that have too much magic in them. In this book, the bad guy has a magical power, and the good guy has a magical power. The rest of the characters and plot are pretty realistic with people, animals, and objects acting realistically.
If you are interested in reading this series, I would suggest that you begin with Dies the Fire which is the first book in the series.
The High King of Montival
Dies the Fire
Island in the Sea of Time - The first Change series novel.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Destroyermen: Rising Tides
Genre: Alternate History
Setting: On a parallel version of Earth during the WWII era.
At the beginning of WWII in the southwestern Pacific ocean. The destroyer USS Walker is locked in battle with the Japanese battle ship Amagi. The captain of the Walker, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, in a desperate move to save his ship and crew from destruction steers toward a fierce rain storm.
The squall is no ordinary meteorological event. It is a portal to a parallel Earth. The sailors aboard the Walker discover an Earth very different than the one they left. There they encounter new forms of animal and plant life, some very dangerous to the crew and the ship. The destroyermen also meet two sentient species: the peaceable, lemur-like Lemurians and the carnivorous, lizard-like Grik.
How the sailors from the Walker explore this alternate Earth, and join forces with the Lemurians, is the basis of the first installment of the Destroyermen series.
In the next four novels, the destroyermen aid the Lemurians in their fight against the Grik. They also discover that they are not the only humans in this version of Earth. A group of English ships entered in the 1800's. Another group of Spanish ships entered in the 1500's. And possibly some primitive peoples before that.
In this installment of the series, Lt. Commander Reddy and the USS Walker are headed east to New Britain, the islands inhabited by the descendants of the British explorers. Reddy's love, Nurse Tucker, with the Princess of New Britain and some others have been kidnapped. Reddy means to find them.
Unfortunately, Nurse Tucker and the princess, and their group have escaped and found refuge on a desolate, dangerous atoll. The Lumurian alliance with the humans continues to build its forces and train for the next big battle. The Grik are using lessons they have learned in past fights to improve their own forces. And to complicate matters, a volcano is threatening to "go Krakatoa" and disrupt everyone's plans.
Will Lt. Commander Reddy and the Walker find Nurse Tucker and the Princess? Or will the Alliance be plunged into another war? And will the pause in the battle with the Grik benefit the Alliance or the Grik?
I am really enjoying the Destroyermen series. Taylor Anderson has created an exciting parallel Earth. He has created fantastic, imaginative creatures to populate his Earth. Anderson's descriptions of the battles are enthralling. The books are real page turners. My only complaint is that they end too soon. I can't wait to read the next Destroyermen novel.
Into the Storm, Destroyermen Book 1
Setting: On a parallel version of Earth during the WWII era.
At the beginning of WWII in the southwestern Pacific ocean. The destroyer USS Walker is locked in battle with the Japanese battle ship Amagi. The captain of the Walker, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, in a desperate move to save his ship and crew from destruction steers toward a fierce rain storm.
The squall is no ordinary meteorological event. It is a portal to a parallel Earth. The sailors aboard the Walker discover an Earth very different than the one they left. There they encounter new forms of animal and plant life, some very dangerous to the crew and the ship. The destroyermen also meet two sentient species: the peaceable, lemur-like Lemurians and the carnivorous, lizard-like Grik.
How the sailors from the Walker explore this alternate Earth, and join forces with the Lemurians, is the basis of the first installment of the Destroyermen series.
In the next four novels, the destroyermen aid the Lemurians in their fight against the Grik. They also discover that they are not the only humans in this version of Earth. A group of English ships entered in the 1800's. Another group of Spanish ships entered in the 1500's. And possibly some primitive peoples before that.
In this installment of the series, Lt. Commander Reddy and the USS Walker are headed east to New Britain, the islands inhabited by the descendants of the British explorers. Reddy's love, Nurse Tucker, with the Princess of New Britain and some others have been kidnapped. Reddy means to find them.
Unfortunately, Nurse Tucker and the princess, and their group have escaped and found refuge on a desolate, dangerous atoll. The Lumurian alliance with the humans continues to build its forces and train for the next big battle. The Grik are using lessons they have learned in past fights to improve their own forces. And to complicate matters, a volcano is threatening to "go Krakatoa" and disrupt everyone's plans.
Will Lt. Commander Reddy and the Walker find Nurse Tucker and the Princess? Or will the Alliance be plunged into another war? And will the pause in the battle with the Grik benefit the Alliance or the Grik?
I am really enjoying the Destroyermen series. Taylor Anderson has created an exciting parallel Earth. He has created fantastic, imaginative creatures to populate his Earth. Anderson's descriptions of the battles are enthralling. The books are real page turners. My only complaint is that they end too soon. I can't wait to read the next Destroyermen novel.
Into the Storm, Destroyermen Book 1
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