The 'find the frog a pile of new books' thread

[frogbeastegg]

Froggy needs some new fiction, and the poor amphibian has already filled her shelves (and all other handy spaces) with all the definitely good and promising books, and is now left only with a list of titles which could be good … maybe. Has anyone read any of these? If so are they any good? All prices etc are from amazon.uk; my local bookshop is useless.

Housecarl - Laurence J. Brown (Nastily expensive at £12 and hard to get, but sounds good)

Cold Heart, Cruel Hand: A novel of Hereward the Wake - Laurence J Brown. (Sequel to previous book, same issues)

Eagle in the Snow: General Maximus and Rome's Last Stand - Wallace Breem (A very expensive paperback at £7)

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen) - Steven Erikson (Supposed to be comparable to the ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ series, and has many rave reviews. Call me sceptical froggy)

The Black Company - Glen Cook (Again supposed to be comparable to the ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ series, and has many rave reviews.)

Children of the Earth - Jean M. Auel (a five book series, supposed to be really good but the individual books are expensive at £6.39)

Gods and legions/The ten thousand/Gods and Legions: A Novel of the Roman Empire/The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy - Michael Curtis Ford (sounds good, but the comparisons to awful books like ‘Gates of Fire’ and ‘Spartan’ have me concerned)

Legion - William Altimari (sounds good … maybe, but is short and expensive)



Recommendations would be appreciated too; I mainly prefer historical fiction (medieval or Roman, but I can and will branch out so long as it goes no later than 1600AD) of any type. I can tolerate some kinds of fantasy; those without too much magic, elves, trolls and other Tolkeinesque stuff. Strictly no romance please! I can just about tolerate Phillipa Gregory, and that takes a lot of effort combined with the warm glow which comes from getting her books at half price or less.

Quick rundown of some of authors I have on my fiction shelves in no sort of order: Robin Hobb, George R R Martin, Sharon Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick, Helen Hollick, Terry Pratchett, Brain Wainwright (his ‘Within the Fetterlock’), James Clavell (but only ‘Shogun’; the others have boring sounding settings), Ellis Peters, Simon Scarrow (but I find his first book the best and have not bothered with the latest), Lindsay Davis, Colleen McCullough (her ‘Masters of Rome’ is great, her ‘Song of Troy’ terrible), Eiji Yoshikawa (English translations of ‘Mushashi’ and ‘Taiko’), Phillippa Gregory, John Maddox Roberts.

[SwordsMaster]

Have you tried the "Emperor: gates of Rome" by Conn Iggulden?
There is a sequel too : "Emperor: Death of Kings", and there is also supposed to be a third book that is not out yet as far as I know.


I liked them both , they are about Julius Caesar. IMO the best part of it is the Comments at the end of the 1st book, when the author compares his novel with the actual biography of Caesar and you see the "gaps" filled or explained.
They are compared to "Gladiator" (the film), but thats just for selling purposes, doesnt have anything to do with that.

Dunno about the price tho, I bought the first one on a ship (I had a 3 day journey ahead of me and nothing to read), and the sacond one on a Holiday in France... So dont know about its real price...

[frogbeastegg]

I have the first two books in that series; I got them both on 'just published' special offers from my local W H Smiths. I want my £18 back, and the hours of my life I wasted. Randal sums it all up perfectly in post 73 here. I can't honestly believe I actually liked the first book when I read it the first time. My re-read soon showed how bad it was, and I had to force my way through the second book.

Side note: I believe the third book may be out now; the other two came out around Christmas and Amazon advertised it at me not long ago.

I should probably have mentioned that I found these books stunk. Also please don't recommend Bernard Cornwall. His original Sharpe books were ok in a popcorn reading kind of way, as was his Arthur trilogy; everything else stinks

[SwordsMaster]

I have the first two books in that series; I got them both on 'just published' special offers from my local W H Smiths. I want my £18 back, and the hours of my life I wasted. Randal sums it all up perfectly in post 73 here. I can't honestly believe I actually liked the first book when I read it the first time. My re-read soon showed how bad it was, and I had to force my way through the second book.

Side note: I believe the third book may be out now; the other two came out around Christmas and Amazon advertised it at me not long ago.

I should probably have mentioned that I found these books stunk. Also please don't recommend Bernard Cornwall. His original Sharpe books were ok in a popcorn reading kind of way, as was his Arthur trilogy; everything else stinks

Yeah, well, It is the kind of book you read travelling. I read the first one on a ship, and the secon one in a couple of week using public transport. It takes 35 mins from college to home.

[Mount Suribachi]

How about Pride and Predjudice or Sense and Sensibility?




*ducks flying poisoned hairpin*

[Somebody Else]

Similar to Pratchett in terms of humour - an author by the name of Jasper Fforde.

Pertaining to Rome - the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough (nice and thick - several of them, an inch and a half each - glorious). Also, Ross Leckie has some on the Punic wars.

I'd put in a shameless plug for my father's book here, but that'd contravene my code of attempting to maintain anonymity.

[Ser Clegane]

I have read "The Black Company" a while ago (the reviews on Amazon and the comparison to GRRM made me try it).
IMO the comparison to "Song of Ice and Fire" is absolutely invalid, the writing style and the type of story differ completely.

I actually did not like the book at all and did not continue after reading the first volume. It's hard to describe waht I actually disliked about it - but I could not at all get warm with the "heroes" in this book, nor did the setting seem "realistic" (whatever that means in a fantasy series).
The whole thing radiated some apocalyptic sadness and the fact that I could neither like or hate any of the characters did not help either.

I am sure some people like this style, but it is very different from books by Martin or Hobb.

Based on the reviews I also bought Steven Erikson's book recently, however, I did not get to reading it yet.

You might take a look at Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" books

Dragonbone Chair

however, they might be a bit too much fantasy-like for your taste (somewhere between Tokien and GRRM I would say)

[Adrian II]

Froggy needs some new fiction (..)

I'm not a fan of fantasy, to put it mildly, but I like historical fiction. If you want to try something different from the English authors you mentioned I can recommend the seven historical novels by Maurice Druon, member of the French Academy, about Philip the Fair and his progeny. I read the series in French, but in English it is called The Accursed Kings after the famous Templar curse on Philip. One of the best characters is the superb bastard Robert of Artois, whom I loved throughout the series. Happy reading!

[Hosakawa Tito]

In keeping with the Roman Era, this series by Steven Saylor may interest you.
http://www.stevensaylor.com/

[frogbeastegg]

Book 1 of the Swedish Crusade Trilogy arrived this morning. The translation is great and I'm racing through it. I've now placed my final order for my other books. Based on recommendations here and on another forum, and plenty of except reading I went for:

-The rest of the Swedish Crusade Trilogy
-The Eagle in the Snow
-The Clan of the Cavebear
-The Pillars of the Earth
-The Egyptian
-The Eyre Affair

All other books have been added to a document I keep hanging about on my hard drive with the snappy name 'Books that sounded good at some point in time and merit further investigation some day'.

Don Corleone, that is a very kind offer, thanks. For some reason the name of the first book rings a bell; I may have read it several years ago. I'll investigate and see what I turn up, then get back to you by PM.

[Snowhobbit]

It should be added that there is a independent sequel to the Crusader triology, I'm not sure if it's out translated but if it is it should be called "Arn's Heritage" or something like that. It's not as good as the third one (IMO the best) but it's a nice end to the story.

[OlafTheBrave]

"Children of the Earth" series by Jean M Auel is good. Be forwarned that Auel does heavy research so at times you may have to wade through twenty pages on knapping flint or skinning hides. She does have a tendancy to go off on tangents.

Jean and Micheal O'Neal-Gear have an excellent and extended series of books about pre-historical America. They start with the migration across the Berring land bridge and go from there. Both Authurs, husband and wife, are actual archealogist.

As far as fantasy the "Lord of the Isles" Series by David Drake is excellent. Drake based the magic and such in this on the beliefs of ancient Sumaria. He is a Vietnam vet and Military historian with heavy emphasis on the roman empire. As a matter of fact he lifts alot of his plots from historical happenings in the empire.

While not in what you listed as what specifically interest you I highly recomend the "Hammer's Slammers" series by Drake and the Draka series by him and SM Sterling. The first is a future sci-fi band of mercenaries and some of the stories are retold events he witnessed in 'Nam. The Draka series is an alternate timeline where the English win the Revolution and the Confederates all migrate to South Africa. Both have some of the best combat stories I have read.

[dessa14]

urgg you make it hard for me,
but i do suggest: "Nostramo" and "The Heart Of Darkness" both by Joseph Conrad
"Crime and Punishment" By Dostoyevsky is beutifully written
i can't remember any others right now, since im reading "Beyond Good and Evil" by Niectze and "The Discourses" by Niccolo Machivelli
and the biggest problem with your selection of genres is that before the printing press there was very little fiction, and to be honest to write about something you need to draw your ideas from somewhere to be any good and that is from your own life and own experiences.

thanks,
dessa

[Parmenio]

I enjoyed 'Eagle in the Snow'. Quite readable and a lot of battles.

Of course my personal favorite is 'Lion of Macedon' by Gemmell.