Book Log 28/2015 - Toby Venables: Hunter of Sherwood: Knight of Shadows - Guy of Guisburne #1

Though you might expect the hero of this tale to be Robin Hood, in an interesting twist Venables' hero is Guy of Guisburne, and Hood is a figure of chaos, Guy's nemesis, though in this book he only appears as a secondary figure.

Guy is a kind of 007 to Prince John, who in this telling is the good brother and Richard the Lionheart is the shit who virtually abandoned all responsibilities in England and drew off all the resources he could monetise to support his endless warring in the Holy Land. That Richard cared nothing for England is much is pretty well a historical truth. Richard did say that he would sell London itself if only he could find a buyer. John, however did have his flaws, though they seem to have been overlooked here.

Sir Guy is given a task by Prince John, steal a holy relic--the jewel encrusted skull of John the Baptist--before Philip of France can get hold of it. Most of the action takes place in France, but at the same time as the forward action is progressing, we learn of Guy's backstory, his struggle to become a knight, with all that entailed, and his relationship with Robert/Robin Hood when they were both mercenaries, ending up surviving the Siege of Hattin, a huge defeat for Christendom.

Guy's enemy is Tancred, the rogue Templar de Mercheval, and his henchman Fulke. Both Tancred and Fulke are pretty nasty characters. Fulke is bad enough, but Tancred is as mad as a bag of spanners, believing himself to be blessed by God and the dispenser of His justice. He wants the relic for himself. On his side Guy has his somewhat opinionated squire, Galfrid, forced upon him by John, and a mysterious and beautiful stranger, Melisande, a woman who fights better than any man, with assassin style training. There's also a Q to Guisburne's 007 in the personage of Prince John's armourer, Llewellyn, who provides Greek fire and gadgetry.

This book doesn't work perfectly, there's one point where Guy's plan is frankly suicidal and yet he survives it, however the things that do work, work very well indeed. The characterisation is excellent, I especially like Galfrid who makes a brilliant sidekick. The characterisation of Hood also shows what have always been taken as his good points to be severe flaws that make him almost impossible to reason with. Guy himself is a sympathetic hero and we learn a lot of his backstory, which all adds to the character building.

In essence this is a set-up book for future stories and I think we can expect very interesting things from Sherwood in the future.

Book Log 29/2015 - Diana Gabaldon: The Drums of Autumn - Outlander #4

I must admit, I've fallen for this series, hook, line and sinker and now I have several friends yelling I TOLD YOU SO!
Yeah, OK, I admit it. They did tell me so and I resisted... But Gabaldon can write a page-turner, and once you get hooked on the characters you have to keep reading.

Claire and Jamie are struggling to set up a new settlement deep in uncharted territory in the Americas while in the 1960s Claire's daughter, Brianna discovers an old newspaper article revealing that her parents died in a house fire - something that her beloved, Roger Wakefield, has decided to keep from her so as not to upset her. This is what happens when Brianna decides to go through the stones to warn her parents.

Lots of exciting stuff in here, contact with American Indian tribes, friendly and not so friendly, Jamie finds allies and saves a life only to find that no good deed goes unpunished.

Claire and Jamie are getting older, but still seem like youngsters in terms of energy level and story. Are they ever going to grow old gracefully? On this showing I doubt it, which bodes well for future volumes. Although there are other major characters this is still very much Claire and Jamie's story.

Book Log 30/2015 - Diana Gabaldon: Lord John and the Hand of Devils - Lord John #.05 (Outlander)

Three Lord John novellas which offer an introduction to the spinoff series from the Outlander novels featuring Lord John Grey. Outlander had fantasy elements (time travel) but Lord John is much closer to being straight historical fiction/mysteries. Lord John appears in the Outlander book Voyager and these shorts are from various times within the Lord John novels.

Individually the novellas are as follows.

Lord John and the Hellfire Club: Lord John investigates a murder which leads him into political treachery and into the realm of the debauchery of the hellfire Club.

Lord John and the Private Matter coimes here in the timeline

Lord John and the Succubus: Lord John is on active duty in Prussia and has to solve the mystery of a murdered soldier, a treacherous Gypsy and the Night Hag.

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade comes here in the timeline.

Lord John and the Haunted Soldier. Recovering from serious injury, Lord John has to investigate an exploding cannon and the possibility that someone is sabotaging ordnance.

Readers of the Outlander novels have already met Lord John when he was put in charge of the Ardsmuir prison during Jamie's incarceration in Voyager. Jamie is not a character in these stories. John is an interesting character in his own right, intelligent, honourable, brave, and gay at a time when it's a capital offence. I'm always wary of spinoff novels, but these novellas had me hooked on Lord John right from the start.

Book Log 31/2015 - Diana Gabaldon: Lord John and the Private Matter - Lord John #1

The year is 1757.It's early in the Seven Years War between Britain and France. Lord John Grey has a very delicate problem when he witnesses something intensely personal that could impact dreadfully on his own family. At the same time he is officially ordered to investigate the murder of a brother army officer. From polite drawing rooms to eighteenth century molly houses, Grey's investigation leads him deeper and deeper into political intrigue, treachery and plot.

Grey is a fiercely intelligent and honourable man with a secret that could ruin him. He's gay at a time when it's a capital offence. He's not only an officer in the army, but aristocrat with a name and a family to protect.

Lord John's timeline weaves in and out of the Outlander books. This is the first full length novel. It takes place between the novellas collected in Lord John and the Hand of Devils, and in the overall timeline it comes after the events of Ardsmuir Prison in the Outlander novel, Voyager. Grey has met (and fallen for) Jamie Frazer, but though his affection is not reciprocated (and he's too much of a gentleman to push matters in that respect) Fraser is still very much in his thoughts. The sexual orientation issues are handled sensitively and in keeping with the attitudes of the day.

The Grey novels are historical mysteries without the fantasy elements and the raw passion of Outlander, but they are well written and good page turners in their own right.