Booklog 78/2022: Jennifer Paxton: The Story of Medieval England from King Arthur to the Tudor Conque

Not exactly a book, but delivered by Audible, so I’m reviewing it as one. This is a general overview of England (specifically) from post Roman times until Henry Tudor took the crown from Richard III on Bosworth Field. It’s delivered in handy bite-sized (30 minute) chunks and covers domestic as well as political history. There was a fair amount of it that I already know, but stringing it together as a continuous narrative made it a very good reminder of things I’d half forgotten. Jennifer Paxton wrote and read this production. Recommended.

Booklog 79/2022: T. KingfisherL Clockwork Boys – Clocktaur War #1 - Audiobook

A forger, a paladin, an assassin and a scholar walk into a bar… not quite, but almost. These are the characters central to the story with the addition, later on, of a gnole, an intelligent, badger-like creature with a complex society. The forger is Slate, the paladin is Caliban, Brenner is the assassin and Learned Edmund the young and unworldly scholar. The gnole is Grimehug. This crew (all but Learned Edmund) consists of convicted criminals who are sent to Anuket City to discover (and if they can, put an end to) huge clockwork monsters which are smashing their way through Anuket’s enemies. Just in case they decided that running away is preferable to running into danger, Slate, Caliban and Brenner are given a magical tattoo that will eat them if they don’t stay on task. This is a story in two parts. This book covers the story of assembling the crew and making the journey to Anuket City. You’ll immediately need to move on to The Wonder Engine for the other half od the story. This is a re-read for me via Audible. It’s nicely read by Khristine Hvam who brings out some of the comedy, especially in Slate’s commentary. Highly recommended.

Booklog 80/2022:

This picks up the story of Slate, Caliban and Brenner along with Learned Edmund and Grimehug the gnole as they enter Anuket city and begin to scout around for whoever is creating the destructive clockwork boys. Slate and Caliban spend the first half of the book dancing around their romantic feelings for each other, which has its funny moments, but that just throws the seriousness of the mission into sharp relief. They’ve known all along that this is probably a suicide mission, but until now have possibly thought that there would be a way out. Now they’re not so sure. Once again this is well read by Khristine Hvam.

Booklog 81/2022: Tanya Huff: Into the Broken Lands

The Broken Lands were shattered by mage wars and are full of malevolent and sadistic magics. The heirs of Marsan have to venture forth every so often to get fuel for the black flame which – in some unknown way – protects Marsan Port. In the Now the black flame is flickering so the heir to Marsan, Ryan, young and inexperienced, leads an expedition consisting of himself his friend Keeting, a few soldiers and two scholars, one young and one elderly, plus Nonee, a magically constructed being, created during the Mage Wars, whom the Marsan contingent think of a ‘the weapon’. Ryan’s story maps on to the previous expedition, many years earlier when Arianna, healer from Gateway, the border town on the edge of the Broken Lands, accompanied the then heir, Garrett. As we pick up the story, it’s been long enough that Arianna is dying of old age and Nonee (who seems to be ageless) is mourning her long-time friend. Nonee is the link between the two expeditions. We get Ryan’s journey and interspersed flashbacks to the previous journey when Nonee, as the nameless weapon, is released from a jail cell and forced to act as guide and protector. I like Tanya Huff’s writing. I started with the Four Quarters books and went through the Keeper chronicles and loved the Emporium stories and the Valor ones. This I’m not so sure about. The pacing is slow to begin with, Ryan and his crew spend what seems to be a long time in Gateway before the journey even begins. This gives the opportunity to take a deep dive into the characters who are surely going to be tested to the limits. Not all of them are likeable which makes this a challenging read.

Booklog 82/2022: Sarah Page: Mrs Wickham - Audiobook

An offshoot of Pride and Prejudice, this is the story of Lydia Bennet and what happens after she’s married to Wickham in disgrace, and sent north to a town she doesn’t know. But it’s not a complete fresh start, Wickham is unreliable, often drunk and visiting brothels. Lydia made one mistake, aged fifteen, and now she’s paying for it. She’s a social pariah, and must claw herself into independence and respectability. Lydia is fighting for her place in the world. An engaging short story with a satisfying ending. Nicely narrated by Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn.