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I would like to point out one not that well known author but a great one.Mika Waltari.His best known novel is the Sinuhet Egyptian,but he has lots of other good historical novels ranging from rise of Rome to the Fall of Constantinopole and 30 years war.I recommended his novels whole heartedly.:bow:
anyone heard of jack whytes arthur series? i like it at any rate,a more believable than cromwell,cornwell whatever his name is.
love the sharpe series.
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I'm suprised no one has mentioned Robert Harris. Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel and Pompeii are all good books, particullary the first three. Yeah, technically Fatherland and Archangel are alternate history, but they are far superior to most literature that falls into those catagories. Pompeii is entertaining too, though not as good as his previous three.
Summary:
Fatherland - German police detective in an alternate version of the 1960s where Germany won WW2. He begins to investigate the disappearance of various Jewish families, something that the Germans have been taught not to ask about. Trouble finds him and his discoveries have global political implications.
Enigma - An eccentric, genius codebreaker at Bletchley Park assigned to decoding Enigma transmissions uncovers a horrible secret.
Archangel - A historian in the 1990s uncovers the ultimate riddle of the Stalinist era and the immense implications this has for the modern world.
Pompeii - A novel following an aqueduct engineer as he investigates mysterious occurances in the area around Mount Vesuvius. This turns into a murder mystery set to the backdrop of the doomed city.
Can someone just verify something for me..? Manda Scott, in her Boudica books, claims that the rulers of "Celtic" tribes in Britain were women, and that inheritance passed through the female line. She also claims that sexual contact between women was common and perfectly acceptable, while sexual contact between men was frowned upon. Another of her claims is that Romans introduced currency to Britain. Is there any truth in those beliefs? And how can I point out to my mother that it's simply fiction written by an extremist feminist?
I'm reading those books, I found that a bit strange too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Justiciar
Not all the tribe leaders are women in the book, but most are.
The books listed below are mentioned numerous times in this thread - and for good reason.
I'd recommend them all.
In no particular order :
Bernard Cornwell - The Archers Tale ( book #1 in the Grale Quest series )
Colleen McCullough - Caesar ( really do need to read her other books, in the serie )
Conn Iggulden - Emperor ( all the books are good, although I still need to get my hands on the last book.. )
:balloon2:
Lest Darkness Fall is quite good. The story is about an Archaeologist who finds himself transported to Gothic italy were he tries to stop the dark ages. 8/10
For alternate history there are some good short stories in The Best Alternate History of the 20th century 8/10
The British isles of this time were indeed inhabited by Celts, most of Gaulic and Belgic descent, but IIRC the highland "Caledonii" were of older Celtic stock. The Celts were not particularly patriachal and women were held in high esteem. It was not unknown for women to fight in battle, even though this was far from common. Exotic tales of Amazons aside, no warlike culture ever relied exclusively, or even for the main part, on women. Given that Celts were a warlike people and the British were continually fighting and raiding each other, positions of leadership would most often be given to men, based on their military prowress. I don't buy that warlike, aggresive people like the Celts would have most of their leadership done by women.Quote:
Originally Posted by Justiciar
I can't comment on the sexual mores of the Celts but perhaps Ranika knows more. He is Europa Barbarorum's Celtic expert, and often willing to share his knowlegde.
Thanks. When I said "Celtic" I wasn't being sarcastic btw.. its just such a loose term that I don't like using it that much.
Agree, it represents magnificiently France (and England) before the 100-year war. Fair Philip IV's splendid reign, the wise Pope John XXII's incredible carrier and the atmosphere of the medieval life. My favourite was undoubtedly Robert d'Artois, who was a quite extreme character with his huge stature, sense of humour, sexual dissipations, alcoholism....~:thumb: Otherwise he was a pair of the French kingdom, and was buried in the St Paul's Cathedral in 1343.Quote:
Originally Posted by AdrianII
Undoubtedly "The Sword and the Scimitar", also published as "Ironfire", by David Ball.
From Publishers's Weekly: "The Ottoman Empire's vicious 1565 assault on the island fortresses of Malta, and the vigorous defense of the island by the Knights of St. John, a military religious order dedicated to preserving Christendom from the Muslims, serves as the backdrop for Ball's second historical epic. Amid bloody land and sea battles, four protagonists struggle to survive in a world of disease, brutality and religious persecution. Nico, a young Maltese boy, is captured by Algerian corsairs in a pirate raid and taken to North Africa, where he serves as a slave to a shipbuilder. To save his life, he converts to Islam and becomes captain of one of the sultan's war galleys. Maria, Nico's sister, vows to find and rescue her brother, but priests, knights and her own desire for revenge thwart her plans. Christien Luc de Vries is an unwilling Knight of St. John who prefers studying medicine and surgery to butchering Muslims. Father Giulio Salvago is an Inquisitor determined to stamp out heresy through torture and fear, but whose own guilt over past sins torments him. All four characters confront lies, broken vows and unexpected twists in their efforts to vanquish their enemies and save themselves during the massive Turkish siege of Malta. Ball's bold, gruesome descriptions convincingly evoke the savagery of this 16th-century religious war and the treachery and zealotry of Muslim and Christian authorities alike."
It's one of the finest novels I've read, and it's definetely not just for the historically inclined, this is a must for all who appreciate the written word.
I think I'm going to add a couple of... let us just call them interesting, writers.~;)
Sven Hazel's books. Historical? Hardly, but they have an interesting setting and they can be pretty nasty.
Even 'worse' are the books of Leo Kessler. They are enjoyable to a great extent, if you can ignore his obsession with women, and the male interaction they sometimes have.
I guess both could be called good books for 13-14 year olds, but I found them quite enjoyable even now. I guess I'm trying to be more of a devil's advocate here.
Dorothy Dunnet's Lymond series is a lot of fun.
It takes place in the 1500s and follows her character Francis Crawford through Scotland, France (court of Henry II?), Malta, Istanbul, Moscow and a few points in between.
It starts with "The Game of Kings"
Oh my mum is a huge fan of the Lymond saga. She tried to make me read it once, but I found it very heavy going and I switched off after page 20.
Yeah, that first book is hard to get into.Quote:
Oh my mum is a huge fan of the Lymond saga. She tried to make me read it once, but I found it very heavy going and I switched off after page 20.
It starts in medias res and you really don't know what's going on until near the end of the book. The payoff is nice, and once you've read the first book, the others are a breeze.
In my opinion, you probably won't find a better historical fiction writer for medieval England than Sharon Kay Penman. Her Sunne in Splendour, about the later War of the Roses and a unique take on Richard III, is long but a fantastic epic. There's also her trilogy about England and Wales in the 13th Century - Here Be Dragons (mainly about Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, aka Llewelyn the Great), Falls the Shadow (about Simon de Montfort) and The Reckoning (about Llewelyn ap Gryffydd, aka Llewelyn the Last, and Edward I). And she's two books through a trilogy about the start of the Plantagenet dynasty; the first two were While Christ and His Saints Slept (about the civil war between Stephen and Maude) and Time and Chance (about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine). My favorite is probably Sunne in Splendour, followed by Falls the Shadow and Time and Chance.
She also has a mystery series set in the reign of Richard the Lionheart; they're a nice quick read but not as good as her epic novels. She's better as a standard novelist, I think, than a mystery writer. Her mysteries are entertaining but more as historical novels than mysteries; a bit predictable, oftentimes ...
I'd like to add that the Emperor series is extremely innaccurate, historically speaking. I've only read the first book, admittedly, but Iggulden twists the known record so far it's not even recognisable anymore. There really is no excuse to do this when writing about a person so well documented as Ceasar. Background details are also dubious, depictions of politics and military matters are bollocks, characteristation seems anachronistic as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by eadeater
I'd furthermore add that the writing is mediocre and the characterisation poor, but I may be prejudiced because the historical innaccuracy ticked me off. Sole redeeming feature would be that the book is fast paced and action packed, though I didn't find the action believable either.
For further details, see my post (well, long rant really) in the stickied literature thread in this forum. Post almost halfway down this page.
Bottom line would be: read if you want a quick action story and don't mind the flaws, but please don't take anything in there as historical fact.
Edit: to add something constructive to my post: I've always liked the little-known historical novels by Alfred Duggan. He wrote a ton of them in the 50s and 60s, and they're being reprinted now. Some are on medieval history, others are about ancient Rome. Favourites would include "The Conscience of the King", which is about the semi-legendary founder of the English royal house, Cerdric of Wessex, plotting, scheming and murdering his way to the throne.
If you like the idea of Cornwell's "historical Arthur", I recommend checking out Rosemary Sutcliff's "Sword at Sunset." This book is the first to look at Arthur this way, and provides a magnificent look at 5th century England, and a truly believable interpretation of Arhur. (or in this case, Artos the Bear.") Bear in mind, though, that this book isn't nearly as heavy on the battles and action scenes as Cornwell's novels.