Lowly’s Book Blog

Either the publicist sent me a large print edition (am I getting that old?) or this book is really more a novella. Regardless, this is certainly a very good, light read for those who enjoy historical fiction.

Most of us have heard of Marco Polo, and we are generally familiar with the fact that he travelled to China in the early 14th century. In The Unicorn Road Davies suggests that Europeans reached China well before Polo, but never publicized their achievements. One of these journeys of exploration was undertaken by Antioch, a scholar who specialized in unique animals and his entourage consisting of a military captain, a translator, a guide and a teenage boy working as a general gofur. They all arrived in China at the end of the Song dynasty, and just before Kublai Khan invades. It goes without saying this journey changes the course of all of their lives.

Davies crafts this book in a very interesting way. The reader maintains contact with European culture of the time through the eyes of the boy’s father who is waiting at a port in Spain for news of the expedition. The journey is described by the boy, but very quickly the narration shifts to the translator. And it is the translator who has the most interesting story to tell.

This book is really about the power of words. Communication is one of the most primitive skills learned by early man, but it is still the key to organised society today. In the days of early exploration in strange lands, language skills were very important for a peaceful relationship. China was simply to powerful at that stage to be conquered by the Europeans, so negotiation was the way to success. Venn, the interpreter, becomes the central figure in this exotic and dangerous adventure.

Believe me. this book won’t take very long to read, so spend a weekend in ancient China.

Historical fiction, that should be a good change. This author also wrote an award winning book called The Illusionist. I wonder if it is the book of the great movie by the same name? This looks like a good choice from the pile. Did I ever get a surprise.

The concept for the book is excellent. Geronimo was shipwrecked on the Mexican coast in the early 1500s. He is enslaved by the people there and works with them for 8 years, gradually learning their language. Then Cortez arrives and offers him the chance of rescue in return for his skills as a translator. As the language changes and different cultures are encountered, very quickly a second translator is required, a young woman who speaks two native languages and Geronimo makes the final translation into Spanish. This causes problems as Geronimo becomes suspicious of Cortez’s motives and methods and the young woman begins to fall in love with the Captain.

This is essentially a very human story, set against a backdrop of one of the most dramatic events in the history of the New World. That is one of it’s problems. I certainly do not know enough Aztec history or geography to make sense of this story easily. I needed a map and even an encyclopedia at hand to make sense of the story. And that is not the way I prefer to read fiction.

Parts of this book are excellent. The retreat from Technotitlan was brilliant. The chaos and confusion of the escape was riveting. The character of Moctezuma was also incredible. I loved the way he made a victory out of his imprisonment.

But I believe that this book would benefit from more logical editing. Why on earth did the author put in a whole section about Geronimo’s shipwreck and language acquisition two-thirds of the way through the book? And frankly, the final 100 pages are boring. The story is over, Cortez has won, it doesn’t take all that space to let us know that Marina became one of his harem and Geronimo went back to the native people who had cared for him for 8 years.

Sorry, but mostly I found this book to be a slow and difficult read. A map would have helped greatly, but the publishers failed to provide one. Instead the reader is expected to independently research to make sense of the story. That is not my idea of an entertaining read.

Michael Cox is a name better known to English academics as an editor for Oxford University Press. A few years ago he finally wrote the novel that had been on his mind for a long time, and now he has produced a sequel.

But I read this sequel without any knowledge of the prior book and I am glad. The necessary information from the earlier novel was revealed as necessary, gently, even adding to the suspense for this new book.

This book opens in 1876 as 19 year old orphan Esperanza Gorst arrives to begin her new job as lady’s maid to the wealthy Baroness. However, right from the start of the book it is clear that she is no servant. Although very competent, she quickly changes position to become the paid companion to the Baroness. In between she catches the eye of the two sons, and even manages a brief engagement.

But Esperenza has been sent to Evenwood on a Grand Task of revenge by her guardian. This task is only gradually revealed in the contents of three letters, timed to allow Esperenza to play her role most convincingly. But is the Baroness or her solicitor wise to the girl. Certainly there is suspicion and even attempted murder.

This is a beautifully crafted novel. Around every corner is a delightful picture of mid-Victorian England. I kept thinking of the old TV series ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ as I was reading. But there is also a touch of Dickens in the scenes set in unsavory neighborhoods of London. 

My only criticism is that I doubt very much that a single woman could have done what Esperenza did at this time in history. Cox has fallen into that very common trap for historical authors that places modern social customs and ideas into historical settings and expects them to work.

Kate Forsyth is an accomplished author of fantasy fiction for both adults and children. This book is the first in a series of six books set in the time of Cromwell and the Puritans.

The main characters are two Romany children whose family has hidden for years within one of the Great Forests, but venture out briefly in order to trade for supplies. The family are arrested by the pastor and imprisoned while they await execution. Luke and Emilia escape arrest and are sent on a quest to collect 6 charms, one from each of the Romany families. Together the 6 charms will help their family escape.

However, the children cannot travel undetected. Their entourage includes a horse, a dog, a dancing bear and a monkey. This troup inevitably attract attention as they travel around.

The first book in the series is simply setting up the tale. Collecting the first charm is easy because Maggie’s grandmother gives it to her as she sends her off on the quest.

I am reading the series in order to determine what age level is most appropriate. There have been questions raised about some of the later books. Certainly this first in the series is very gentle.

Book number 70 for this calendar year!! Too bad it is such an average read.

Digger Jones is a 10 year old Aboriginal boy growing up in the 60s. This book is set at the time of the referendum that gave the Aboriginal people of this country the right to vote. Yes, that is 1960s. The story is essentially about digger and his school friends and the mischief they get up to, but there is also a clear picture of what racial discrimination was like in Australia at the time. Digger’s father is white and his mother has given up on everything but her family. She can see no purpose to the politics.

The book is told in a diary format, but inconsistently. There is no way anyone is going to transcribe slabs of dialogue into their diary. The editor should have picked up on that. And also a lot of the political information doesn’t much sound like a 10 year old.

Personally I think this book should be re-edited and possibly added to Scholastic’s My Australian Story series. it will more likely find committed readers there.

I will admit that I read this book quite a while ago. It didn’t really impress, and therefore this review has waited.

Murray wants to escape the boredomand frustration of his life on an Australian farm. He runs away to the army during WW2. He gets sent to New Guinea, and believing that the Japanese will never get that far, his story focusses on his friendships formed in his fighting unit. Then his arch enemy from home arrives in the same unit. Murray deserts, up the Kakoda Track, where he runs into another unit fighting those Japanese that were never going to get that far.

Palmer has told this story with great historical accuracy. He should because he has made a living making documentaries for the BBC. With all the media attention about sports stars and other celebrities ‘doing’ the Kakoda Trail, I believe it is important that children have an easily accessible way of finding out why that particular part of the world is so historically important.

Thank you Tony Palmer.

Hmm, I have some misgivings about this one. This fourth book in the Captain Alatriste series is packaged as a swashbuckling adventure, but somehow it falls short of the packaging.

Set in the later stages of the Spanish Empire, at a time when internal corruption was robbing the government blind, King Philip IV arranges the theft of his own treasure ship sailing in from the West Indies. The idea is to put together a band of fake pirates to take control of the ship and hand it over to the king’s trusted personal guard. That way the treasure goes straight to the coffers cutting out all the middlemen. Captain Alatriste, recently returned from fighting in Flanders, is given the task of recruiting and commanding the pirate gang.

Unfortunately as you start the book, it feels like you came into a movie halfway through. There are so many references to what came before that it is easy to get confused and lost. This feeling is not helped by the fact that the narration takes place in two different voices, one that of a 16 year old squire to the Captain in the first person and then moving to the third person to tell the same tale through the eyes of Alatriste. But yet the whole book is constructed as the personal memoir of the young squire written as an old man. Sorry, but the whole immediacy of the adventure is lost when the reader is constantly reminded that the whole story happened long ago with lines like ‘little did I know that I would one day wear that uniform.’

However, the big swordfight at the climax of the book was worth the wait. The other highlight was the wake for the condemned man due to hang. The wake actually takes place on the night before the hanging when the man’s friends, and friends of the friends, bribe their way into the prison with food and drink and spend the night drinking, gambling and bragging. Perez-Reverte portrays this scene with real colour and atmosphere.

The lashings of authentic Spanish poetry from the period do not help the flow of the story either. They may be intended to add realism, but I somehow have difficulty believing that anybody who pays for a hot meal by killing for hire is going to pause every few minutes and recite 4-6 lines of poetry. Better to leave the whole thing to an appendix.

I can’t believe it. I have adored Pulman’s Janna Mysteries from the moment I opened book 1, and Random House was giving away book 4 FOR FREE!! Thank you, thank you. And even better, I had a long train ride home that night.

Anyway, about the book. For those of you who have been reading the Janna mysteries much of this will be old news, but for the rest of the world I will try to catch you up. Janna is a teenager who has been raised by her single mum. So what? Well, the story is set in 12th century England, a time when single mums were not so common. Janna’s mother was the village midwife and herbalist and used her skills to support the two of them. Eventually however a new priest came to the parish and condemned Janna’s mother as a witch.

Now Janna is alone. She has learned some of her mother’s skills, but certainly not all. And over the previous three books Janna has been adding to her knowledge and investigating her mother’s death and her own parentage.

In book 4, Janna is far more confident of her skills and she has obtained some hard evidence about her mother’s early life. She decides to visit the abbey where her mother was a novice and see if anyone there can help her. Along the way she travels with a troupe of entertainers for safety. Strangely a dashing young nobleman joins the troup, apparently attracted by Janna. And then the murders start.

Pulman admits that she was inspired to write these books by the Cadfael series written by Ellis Peters. I remember one delightful summer when I managed to read all 20 of that series. The Janna Mysteries are not really a ripoff, more an homage designed to lead younger readers into Medieval history. But as a Cadfael reader, I was well familiar with the Civil War between Stephen and Matilda. In this book, that dispute becomes very important.

OK, four down. All wonderful. When can I get my hands on book 5. Janna is awfully close to finding her father, and I can’t wait.

 I saw this just last weekend, and it is not very often that a book leaps to the top of my reading list, even replacing the book currently underway, but this one did. My excuse, of course is that I knew lots of people would be waiting for me to finish so they could begin.

Now if you haven’t read Wolf of the Plains, stop here and go read it. This review, even this book will make no sense until you are done. For those still with me, this is the next in the continuing story of our friend Temujin, now Ghenghis. We last met encountered the young man as he first took the title Khan of Khans as he united all the tribes of the Mongols into one fighting force. This book tells the story of the conquest of the Chin.

Within the story the reader gains a real appreciation for the intelligence of this man. He encountered walled cities for the first time, realised that he did not have the equipment, tactics, or skills to win, so he sent his brother off to find someone who could help. Patience, a willingness to learn, these are not usually qualities associated with Ghenghis Khan.

And the pace of the story reflects the pace of the battles. Yes there is plenty of blood around, but often it is a matter of internal discipline rather than sweeping battles. There are action high points, like the battle for the pass and the reinforcements/supply convoy for Beijing. But this is also a story of developing tensions within the family. When the assassin comes for Ghenghis, and nearly succeeds, the question arises about the line of succession. And the many sons of the Khan are promising to provide their own excitement as they reach manhood.

I have seen this is going to be a trilogy. If my memory of history is correct, there is going to be a lot of ground to cover in the last book. But I will patiently wait for another year to give poor Ghenghis a chance to return to his tribal lands to rest and heal before he heads for Europe.

I finished this most interesting book last night, and I still don’t know quite what to think. Apparently the author is an award winning short story writer, and I am not much good at all the modern short story techniques, so maybe that is why I am still pondering.

Anyway, this books is set in 1944, on and soon after D-Day. The book opens with the British interrogation of Hess, and the translator is an escaped German of Jewish descent. After this the young German is placed as a spy with German POWs and eventually sent to Wales on a secret mission. Part 2 is about Esther, a young woman working on her father’s sheep farm and pulling beers in the local pub evenings. Esther dreams of a glamorous future far away, but in reality she knows that she must look after her father. She is as tied to the land as the sheep who know the mountain paddocks where they belong. A local boy is in love with Esther, but she has caught the eye of one of the young soldiers building a camp nearby. A late night date, a walk in the new camp, an error of communication, and suddenly Esther has something to hide. Part 3 begins on the coast of France on D-Day. Karsten, a young German corporal orders the men in his bunker to surrender once they run out of ammunition. Together the three of them become POWs and after a difficult time that shows how little preparation was done for prisoners, all three find themselves in a brand new POW camp in Wales. You guessed it, right next to Esther’s farm. The local louts create a new hobby of prisoner baiting, and Esther gets involved when the young evacuee she and her father are looking after joins the fun. From there you have to read for yourself.

I found this book very credible. All parts of the plot were logical and the characters were realistic, flawed and frightened. The flavour of the traditional Welsh village in summer was almost sensual.

However, I suspect there are more layers to this book than a simple historical romance. The whole point of Rotherham, the German Jew, was lost on me. I would easily have been satisfied with the story of Esther, Colin, Rhys and Karsten. And those readers with a passion for literary analysis would make much of the theme of separation that continually appears in many many disguises.

Overall, I think I liked it. Perhaps I even wish I had time to read it, or parts of it, again.