Bernard Cornwell?

[Martok]

I know it's below most reading levels here, but has anyone given the Bartimaeus Trilogy a shot? It's quite funny, creative, and has a wonderful plot line.

Can't say I've heard of it. Who's the author?

Just out of curosity, as I've never read many of Cornwell's books, just a few Sharpe here and there, how historically accurate are the other books?
I mean I bought Manfredi's books after listening to similar praise elsewhere and was disappointed.......one likes a good fictional tale, as long as it's set in accurate background.

Well I obviously can't vouch for the Sharpe series (yet), but I can at least tell you that his Saxon Stories novels are reasonably accurate. He's obviously embellished certain events and/or filled in the blanks with his own imagination where details of said events are lacking (such as Alfred's decisive victory over Guthrum at the Battle of Edington), but there's nothing seriously out of joint.

About the greatest liberty I've seen him take was in The Last Kingdom (the first book in the series), in which he moved the Battle of Cannington up by one year. To his credit, he immediately copped to doing so in his historical notes at the end the novel, along with explaining his reasons why -- in fact, he's made an effort in every one of the first four books to explain any historical discrepancies/inaccuracies that appear, even minor onces. Overall, I'd say he's gone to a fair degree of effort to keep as much historical fidelity in his books as possible.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Can't say I've heard of it. Who's the author?

Stroud. It's more of a teenager's book (more mature than say, Harry Potter though), but it's very good. Anyways, I got entirely the wrong thread, I meant to post this in book review. Sorry.

[Hosakawa Tito]

I haven't read his Sharpe's series, but I've been avidly reading the Saxon Chronicles series dealing with Alfred The Great and find them quite entertaining. The author's development of the fictional character, Uhtred, through whose eyes we see the events of King Alfred's time, and the very human frailties assigned to Alfred and other historical figures, make for a great tale. I can hardly put each book down before finishing it cover to cover. Except for dates and our dependence on questionable historical accounts of what really happened and why, Cornwell's interpretation fleshes out the period with an entertaining panache that is as good as, as believable as, any "historical" account written by a biased Christian Church. This story would make a great movie.