Susan Hated Literature

Author: John M. Ford
ISBN:9780575073784 DDC: 813
LibraryThing ; Other reviews

The road the Romans made traversed North Wales a little way inland, between the weather off the Irish Sea and the mountains of Gwynedd and Powys; past the copper and the lead that the travel-hungry Empire craved.

Where to start with this book’s plot summary? Cause there is a whole load going on. From Florence’s Lorenzo de Medici to England’s Richard III and a whole host in between. I suppose you could say it is a look at a Europe that might have been. An alternate Europe with wizards; one where the Byzantine Empire a threat and vampires rule Milan.

Actually that all sounds a bit trashy, but this isn’t a trashy novel at all, not in the least. It has plenty of action and the odd fantasy cliche, but it is very well-written and makes the reader work. I think that might be why it took me so long to get into it. In the beginning it just didn’t grab me and make me keep on reading. But it did more than enough to make me come back to it; so I’m going to complain there.

Course the reason i picked it up in the first place it because of the new cover. Not that one anobii are showing you, but the re-issued Ultimate Fantasy cover. Its got its dragon, but it also that that clean minimalist feel to it. I likes.

Back to the book.

I’m still not sure what to say. I’d recommend it, without a doubt, to any fantasy or historical fan. But there is just so much going on, it is a densely written book, that I think it really does need a reread. There are whole sections the book skips, letting the reader know what happened but never going into huge details. The characters don’t reveal all to us. We are left to speculate and wonder in many instances. That’s not a negative, by the way, it isn’t done in a lazy way, as if the author couldn’t be bothered, it is just that it serves the story better this way.

It probably works a lot better if you know a bit of history, having read Penman’s The Sunne In Splendour helped me a lot with the Richard III storyline. And it helps that, although influenced by Shakespeare, this book is more in Richard’s favour than interested in painting him the villain of the piece. What can I say, I’m loyal to my favourite literary characters, I don’t really care what the history *really* says.

Author: Irving Stone
ISBN: 0099416271
DDC: 813.54
See also: LibraryThing; Wikipedia on Michelangelo; Michelangelo.com; Art of Florence
Read with Historical Favorites - group site

He sat before the mirror of the second-floor bedroom sketching his lean cheeks with their high bone ridges, the flat broad forehead, and ears too far back on the head, the dark hair curling forward in thatches, the amber-coloured eyes well-set but heavy-lidded.

This is a big book; over 750 pages of small print and crowded pages. So when I began to read and wasn’t all that impressed I thought I’d end up tossing it. The prose felt forced, stilted and somewhat boring. But as I read on I did get more and more interested. At the same time however, the style of prose doesn’t really improve. I enjoyed the book while reading it, but it was never a case that I simply couldn’t put the book down. In fact on a few occasions I wasn’t all that bothered to pick it up.

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ISBN: none
DDC: 823.914

Author: Martin Woodhouse & Robert Ross

All day long, under a yellow and smoking Tuscan sky, the two huge guns vomitied fire.

The Medici Guns is set in the 1400’s in Italy, mostly centred on Florence, as you may have guessed by the title, and it focuses on a few months in the life of a 25 year old Leonardo da Vinci.

A lot of research has gone into producing this book, there are many extracts from Leonardo’s notebooks and it seems to be historically very accurate. Some people may think that means the story may be lacking, but it isn’t. This is a very easy read, with plenty to keep you entertained, whether you are interested in the development of the new type of cannon of the title, or simply the personalities of Renaissance Italy.

And it is also nice to come across a young Leonardo da Vinci, all too often we tend to see him as nothing but an old painter with a beard. This book shows how great an artist he was, as well as how much of a genius he must have been.

The characters are all entertaining, and many are quite likeable. Some are less likeable, but then again, assassins and murderers are rarely intended to by lovable.