Alex Norton

Maybe after enjoying the first Karen Pirie I felt this one was going over very similar territory

Poor Wicinski....

3.5 bumped up in spirit of encouragement. Jones is a Historian first, author second and I fear it sort of shows. He could have fleshed out the characters more, but more than that I wound have more development of the political strategy rather than just go from battle to battle.

A very enjoyable take on the time travel genre

This book was a slow burn pleasure. Treat yourself to the audio version as “The Voice” is wonderfully done by joe Barrett (and chosen by Irving).

I would be crushed if this is the last one. I want Sean Duffy to be checking under his electric BMW i5 for bombs well into the 2020s (ok, ok he will be long retired by then but you know what i mean)

Her writing is a pleasure to read. If you like the genre she is a must read

After the Lewis trilogy that mixed atmospheric background with a strong plot, this was all “thriller” and all cards on the table exposure and lacked the Nuances i felt made the Lewis books so good.

I'm pissed because i had started this thinking it was the next in the series, and it wasn't - I jumped ahead. And perhaps it might be a 4 rather than a 5 star but Herron through in a line about a restaurant having more likely a Pirelli calendar rather than a Michelin Star and all was good with the world.

A sometimes troublesome read but, I believe Harper does a good job at not whitewashing the main theme. I will be following up on he rest of the series

I am really becoming very fond of Higahino. In every book he has surprised me. This one is a perfectly crafted murder tale where the murder takes second place to the Columbo-like working back (not quite but you can easily guess the culprit about 2/3 through. But he is original in his slicing horizontally through the vertical plot timeline, taking time with each chapter reveling characters, their lives, how they played (or did not) in the outcome. I wish he would be translated more becuase he is a fine craftsman.

Ah, I'm just a fan-boy. I think no-one comes close to Abercrombie at writing characters that slowly reveal themselves to their essence (Gorst...) Nor are able to describe a fighting scene where banality and fate take over heroics

Cruising through the series. This one is an anomaly so be aware: It is more of a series of short stories rather than a cohesive novel. That said i really enjoyed all of Scalzi's talents in dialog and I can see where the seeds of one of my top5 fictional characters, Kiva, of the Interdependency Series, comes from.

Very readable and engaging story of not just the Wager but also the conditions aboard a ship in the early 19C

Not as good as I would have liked it to be. The main character, who supposedly should know the answer to the question before he asks it seems pretty clueless as to what is going on around him. There is not subtlety in him. On the fence on if i will continue the series

Not bad first effort. I do love the period and the historical analysis (except for a few invented italian words) seem sound. I will dip into the next ones of the series.

Very weird one for this. Joe Abercrombie reddit mentioned this one a number of times to read. I am not drawn to Westerns and I was balking after a few hours and realizing the time constraint I was up against with the library due coming up. But after pushing through the initial expo of characters I came to relish the writing (yes, it is a bit dated in parts) and, most of all i appreciated the matter of fact of many character's end. Although centered around the love of a woman, the book is more bromance between the two protagonists. I'm still not sold on Western genre but this was a might fine read.

Although i appreciate the period, and I think O'Farrell writing was less florid than Hamnet the sum of the parts on this made up less than my appreciation of Hamnet.

Having grown up in Rome and living through the city wide fervour of a couple of Conclaves I was curious on this one a RH does not disappoint, mixing research with plot. It is an easy and fascinating read

Did not quite click with me, but I cant quite put my finger on why. I never felt like DNFing it but at times it did feel like a chore

I really have to admire how Harris has mastered the art of historical research without penalizing other aspects of the story. In fact Harris' painting of the period adds so much to the context, both in the UK and the US side of the story. This was my second Harris book but I will be going back to read more.

If you enjoy Scalzi you will enjoy this SciFi tale. Not quite as accomplished as him but the vein is similar and there is a lot to like.

Catching up on Iain Pears' novellas and the Argyll series contains a little bit of all I want: Art History, forgery, whodunnit and a big dollop of Rome in the 90s, all written to Pears' high standards and readable on a rainy weekend

Came down my Library hold and wasn't sure what to expect but it had been on the goodreads fantasy awards so i had placed it in my queue. Well it was a very pleasant surprise., especially from a new author. It is a very simple tale, and coming off the heels of reading Becky Chalmers, I enjoyed the fundamentally positive tale

Recommended to me by other Joe Abercrombie fans it definitely sits happily in the “don't take yourself seriously” fantasy genre. It is a happy character driven tale, with sone twists and turns.