Tag: historical fiction

Review – Wormwood Abbey

Posted December 5, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Wormwood Abbey

Wormwood Abbey

by Christina Baehr

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Pages: 200
Series: The Secrets of Ormdale #1
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

As a Victorian clergyman's daughter, Edith Worms has seen everything -- until a mythical salamander tumbles out of the fireplace into her lap. When a letter arrives from estranged relatives, Edith is swept away to a crumbling gothic Abbey in the wilds of Yorkshire. Wormwood Abbey isn't just full of curious beasts and ancient family secrets: there's also a tall, dark, and entirely too handsome neighbour who is strangely reluctant for her to leave. An unexpected bond with her prickly cousin Gwendolyn gives Edith a reason to stay in this strange world -- especially when it turns out that Edith herself may have a role in guarding her family's legacy. But not all of the mysteries of Ormdale are small enough to fit in her lap...and some of them have teeth.

Christina Baehr’s Wormwood Abbey is a short historical fantasy that kicks off a series of five books (with the final book releasing in November, so it’s out now as this review goes up on my blog). It’s a pretty quick read, following Edith as she and her immediate family (her father, step-mother and half brother) arrive at the titular Wormwood Abbey to sort out the family affairs, now that all the male heirs except her father (originally disowned) are gone. There she meets her cousins Gwendolyn, Violet and Una, and… honestly doesn’t make much headway with them at first.

Oh, and there are dragons. Okay, that isn’t immediately obvious, but the cover makes it pretty clear, if you weren’t tipped off right away by names like “Wormwood” and “Ormdale”. Edith takes a while to get with the programme, even when she’s raising a baby salamander.

It’s a little slow to start, I think, but as things progress there’s a bit of adventure and tension (and some indication that there’s more to come) and perhaps a hint of romance, though Edith’s not really interested at this stage. I’m not sure how I feel about the romance yet; it feels a bit inevitable narrative-wise, but the characters don’t seem to have a lot of interest in one another.

As for Edith herself, she doesn’t quite match up to Isabella Trent (of Marie Brennan’s series), but she’s fairly practical, curious about things, and has a certain amount of courage. She’s also a writer of detective novels, which made me smile. I’m hoping her character will develop further.

Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and decided to pick up the next two books in the series to follow it at least a little further — I’m definitely curious about the revelation near the end of Edith’s abilities, and where the whole thing is going other than “the Worms family protect dragons and try to prevent them impacting on local people”. I imagine the world is going to intrude rather more, as you’d expect in that era when linkages between places became more common and travel more likely.

It is worth noting that Edith’s father is a clergyman, and there’s a good amount of discussion of Christianity. I hadn’t thought about that very much myself, given the time period it’s set in, but I noticed another review that was pretty uncomfortable about it, and it’s true that there’s a fair amount of it, along with some period-typical antisemitism as well that comes up due to Edith’s birth mother being Jewish. So that’s useful to know.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Murder at the British Museum

Posted November 21, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Murder at the British Museum

Murder at the British Museum

by Jim Eldridge

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 320
Series: Museum Mysteries #2
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

1894. A well-respected academic is found dead in a gentlemen's convenience cubicle at the British Museum, the stall locked from the inside. Professor Lance Pickering had been due to give a talk promoting the museum's new 'Age of King Arthur' exhibition when he was stabbed repeatedly in the chest. Having forged a strong reputation working alongside the inimitable Inspector Abberline on the Jack the Ripper case, Daniel Wilson is called in to solve the mystery of the locked cubicle murder, and he brings his expertise and archaeologist Abigail Fenton with him.

But it isn't long before the museum becomes the site of another fatality and the pair face mounting pressure to deliver results. With enquiries compounded by persistent journalists, local vandals and a fanatical society, Wilson and Fenton face a race against time to salvage the reputation of the museum and catch a murderer desperate for revenge.

Murder at the British Museum follows on from the first book in Jim Eldridge’s series of mysteries based in museums, following the characters Daniel Wilson (retired cop, now private investigator) and Abigail Fenton (archaeologist, now also a private investigator) as they tackle another murder in a museum. There’s a lot of tension in this book between the private investigators and the police, since Daniel’s now working alongside people he knew in the force, but it isn’t just one-dimensional: Inspector Feather is friendly and helpful, and unlike in the previous book, the narrative follows the police as well part of the time, which was interesting.

Overall, I found it more engaging than the previous book, with Abigail’s character feeling a touch more consistent. It’s unfortunate that for plot reasons she had to do something pretty stupid a couple of times, but there’s a couple of interesting scenes between her and Daniel (for instance her gently telling him that he mustn’t act like she’s in danger everywhere she goes, and must accept that she’ll gauge this for herself).

It’s not a series I’m going to read for the characters, I think, but it worked better for me on that front this time.

I’ll spare you any quibbles and thoughts on the subject of Arthurian scholarship, particularly as it was all from a historical rather than literary point of view (since I mostly studied it from a literary point of view). It was good enough for fiction, though I’d have expected a bit better of Abigail than to think Malory was the originator of a lot of it (she should have pointed to the Vulgate Cycle). I did think it was an interesting motive and a good use of actual scholarly arguments to set up the reason for murder.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Real Valkyrie

Posted November 1, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Real Valkyrie

The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

by Nancy Marie Brown

Genres: Historical Fiction, History, Non-fiction
Pages: 336
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden, was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history and literature to reinvent her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown links the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines Hervor’s adventures intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as the Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, the sagas, poetry and myth carry weapons. In this compelling narrative, Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.

This is a much-belated post for a book I read and reviewed a while ago, and realised I never reviewed here. My memory of the book’s contents isn’t the sharpest now, but I can try, if anyone has questions!

The Real Valkyrie is about 40% fiction by volume, which is not entirely what I expected. The author has chosen to name and give a fictional biography to the Viking warrior found in Birka who was, after DNA testing, proven to be a woman. The author names her Hervor, and vividly reimagines her life using a mixture of information gained from archaeology and information gained by reading the sagas that have been recorded and handed down.

It’s well-known that the sagas contain quite a lot of truthful detail and history, e.g. in making it clear that Vikings went as far as the Americas in their voyaging, and Brown makes the very good point that the number of female warriors in them probably doesn’t reflect pure fantasy either. I think she’s at her most interesting while discussing the sagas, to be honest: her fictional biography of Hervor made her lose sight of how little she actually could say about the real warrior, and she kept believing far too much in her own story. (The Birka warrior and Ragnhild probably never met, so that’s why they didn’t stay friends…)

It’s an interesting reconstruction, but I’d have preferred to stay focused on the facts (even including those picked from sagas).

Rating: 3/5

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Review – A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel

Posted August 11, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel

The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing A Scoundrel

by KJ Charles

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Pages: 400
Series: The Doomsday Books #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Major Rufus d'Aumesty has unexpectedly become the Earl of Oxney, master of a remote Norman manor on the edge of the infamous Romney Marsh. There he's beset on all sides, his position contested both by his greedy uncle and by Luke Doomsday, son of a notorious smuggling clan.

The earl and the smuggler should be natural enemies, but cocksure, enragingly competent Luke is a trained secretary and expert schemer-exactly the sort of man Rufus needs by his side. Before long, Luke becomes an unexpected ally...and the lover Rufus had never hoped to find.

But Luke came to Stone Manor with an ulterior motive, one he's desperate to keep hidden even from the lord he can't resist. As the lies accumulate and family secrets threaten to destroy everything they hold dear, master and man find themselves forced to decide whose side they're really on... and what they're willing to do for love.

A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel is a delight, as usual with KJ Charles’ work. Some years have passed since the previous book, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, and Luke Doomsday is all grown up and embarking on some scheme of his own. Meanwhile Lord Oxney died, and the new Lord Oxney was raised as a draper’s son and went for a soldier, and Oxney’s family had no idea about the existence of such an heir. Into the tangle go our leads, Rufus and Luke, and of course if they’d communicate properly the story would get resolved far too fast.

Rufus is a delight. He has too much of a temper, of course, and allows himself to explode at people — some of whom richly deserve it, others who don’t (though to his credit he tries very hard not to explode in that case, and to apologise when he’s done wrong).

Luke is a lot less straightforward. Profoundly scarred, inside and out, he doesn’t much trust people and he doesn’t have much of a place in the world (except for in Sir Gareth’s household, where he grew up after his father’s death). He’s pretty amoral by most standards, but he does have his own deeply-felt convictions, once he’s willing to listen to them.

It was lovely to revisit Joss and Gareth a little, through other eyes, and lovely as well to enjoy Luke and Rufus’ story, and get some closure on other characters’ stories from the first book. I did stall a bit in the middle, because I could tell something was about to Go Down, and I wasn’t interested yet. The story obligingly waited for me, and then I tore through it to the end.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Winter Prince

Posted July 17, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Winter Prince

The Winter Prince

by Elizabeth E. Wein

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Pages: 216
Series: The Lion Hunters #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

The story of Medraut - strong, skilled, daring, and never to be king...

Medraut is the eldest son of Artos, high king of Britain; and, but for an accident of birth, would-be heir to the throne. Instead, his younger half-brother, Lleu, is chosen to be prince of Britain. Lleu is fragile, often ill, unskilled in weaponry and statesmanship, and childishly afraid of the dark. Even Lleu's twin sister, Goewin, seems more suited to rule the kingdom.

Medraut cannot bear to be commanded and contradicted by this weakling brother who he feels has usurped his birthright and his father's favor. Torn and bitter, haunted by jealousy, self-doubt, and thwarted ambition, he joins Morgause, the high king's treacherous sister, in a plot to force Artos to forfeit his power and kingdom in exchange for Lleu's life. But this plot soon proves to be much more - a battlefield on which Medraut is forced to decide, for good or evil, where his own allegiance truly lies...

It’s really hard to know what to say about Elizabeth E. Wein’s The Winter Prince, because I’m still muddling through what I think about it — even though I’ve read it before. It’s an Arthurian story, written from the point of view of Medraut, reflecting largely on his relationship with his brother (Arthur’s legitimate son), Lleu, and his relationship with his mother, Morgause. Morgause haunts the story, scarring Medraut’s mind as much as on his body.

In a way, a good quarter of the narrative feels like a fever dream (which makes sense, given that Medraut literally has a fever throughout most of it). The relationship between Lleu and Medraut never entirely makes sense, fraught with jealousy and hurt and anger, weighted by things that shouldn’t be said (and which Lleu says anyway).

It’s beautifully written, and the darkness of Morgause’s hold over Medraut is well done. Nobody here is a particularly good person, with a streak of cruelty deep in them all (some of the things Artos does and says to Medraut are not just). As an examination of that cruelty, it’s powerful.

I don’t know if it quite comes together for me fully, but I remember loving the following books quite a lot, and I’m looking forward to revisiting.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Heirs of Locksley

Posted July 7, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – The Heirs of Locksley

The Heirs of Locksley

by Carrie Vaughn

Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 128
Series: Robin Hood Stories #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

We will hold an archery contest. A simple affair, all in fun, on the tournament grounds. Tomorrow. We will see you there.

The latest civil war in England has come and gone, King John is dead, and the nobility of England gathers to see the coronation of his son, thirteen year old King Henry III.

The new king is at the center of political rivalries and power struggles, but John of Locksley--son of the legendary Robin Hood and Lady Marian--only sees a lonely boy in need of friends. John and his sisters succeed in befriending Henry, while also inadvertently uncovering a political plot, saving a man's life, and carrying out daring escapes.

All in a day's work for the Locksley children...

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Heirs of Locksley is a follow-up to The Ghosts of Sherwood, and focuses even more on the children of Robin and Marian. What would they be like? Would they live up to their parents, and try to shape their world? They’re a little more grown-up now than in the previous book, and beginning to step out of the parents’ shadow — and there’s a new king on the throne, which has the potential to complicate everything.

I really liked Vaughn’s take on it, once I settled into what she’s trying to do with these two novellas. The children have to grapple with the legacy of their parents’ legend, and of course that leads them into trouble. In some ways it was all a bit obvious/contrived (of course they would happen to run into that one person, of all the possible people, for example), but it was satisfying nonetheless.

I also enjoyed Vaughn’s author’s note, which is satisfyingly clear about what exactly the Robin Hood legend is and what “historical correctness” is worth, or adherence to how the story “should” be. The truth (as Vaughn knows) is that there’s never been a single unifying Robin Hood story, much as Disney makes people think otherwise. It was always a handful of stories, tattered round the edges and not always fitting together. That’s part of the joy of it, and Vaughn adds a worthy little square to the tapestry.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – We Only Kill Each Other

Posted May 31, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – We Only Kill Each Other

We Only Kill Each Other

by Stephanie Phillips, Peter Krause, Ellie Wright, Troy Peteri

Genres: Crime, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction
Pages: 136
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

With World War II on the horizon, Nazi sympathizers and fascists have taken root on American soil in alarming numbers, intending to push the U.S. towards and alliance with Germany.

When the lone hope of stopping the American Nazi movement falls to Jewish-American gangsters currently entrenched in a violent turf war, the gangsters find that there’s only one thing they hate more than each other: Nazis.

We Only Kill Each Other is set during the run-up to World War II, featuring two Jewish characters who are asked to use their skills (beating people up, intimidation and other forms of violence) to defuse the Nazi presence in their city in the US. They’re at loggerheads, however, and make unlikely allies.

It’s not a period I read much about, and as the narrative makes clear, there are no heroes here — these guys are not upstanding normal citizens, but a thug and a gang boss who happen to be Jewish. I read it more because it was there and I could read it for free than out of interest in the story based on the summary, so it’s worth keeping in mind that I’m not exactly the target audience.

And indeed, I found it mostly just… alright? The characters bonded in the end (because of course), and they did indeed manage to beat the Nazis (good) at least in this limited way (thwarting an assassination that would’ve been great for them). The art and writing were okay, but nothing that stood out. I admit to very little knowledge about the quality of the representation of the Jewish characters and whether it plays into any stereotyping.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Honey & Pepper

Posted April 15, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Honey & Pepper

Honey & Pepper

by A.J. Demas

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 222
Series: When In Pheme #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Newly freed from slavery, Nikias is making a life for himself in the bustling city of Pheme, working at a snack stand, drinking with a group of anti-slavery radicals, and pining for the beautiful law clerk next door. When he sees his crush attacked in the street by an outraged ex-client, it seems it’s finally Nikias’s chance to be the hero.

Kallion doesn’t need a rescue. What he really needs is a skewer of octopus fritters (with extra sauce) and a friend. Nikias can supply both, and maybe, with the help of Nikias’s skill in the kitchen and Kallion’s excellent collection of wine, they can fight past their misunderstandings and the disasters of their pasts to something deeper.

But when civil unrest roils the city and old threats resurface, the trust these two have built will be tested. And they’d both better hope that Kallion’s vicious former master will just stay dead.

Honey & Pepper is a standalone m/m romance and also the first book in the When in Pheme series set in an imaginary ancient world.

I really enjoyed A.J. Demas’ Honey & Pepper. I wasn’t sure if I would, due to the initial misunderstanding (both because it revealed that Nikias had some kind of shame about his desires, and because I wasn’t looking forward to the two of them angsting about it). But I gave it a chance anyway, and was glad: Nikias swiftly comes to realise he was rude, and that also makes clear his character as someone who is willing to be wrong, willing to think, willing to self-examine. And Kallion, for his part, forgives easily enough, because the two of them are in a situation created by the fact that they have both been slaves, and they understand how that shapes you.

Nikias is fairly straightforward as a character — his heart is well and truly on his sleeve. Kallion took longer to open up, but fortunately it didn’t happen as a third-act breakup or something like that. Instead, a plot that was already hinted at comes to the fore, and wraps things up enjoyably.

I enjoyed both Nikias and Kallion’s characters, and their interactions: the way that Nikias sweetly takes charge because that’s what Kallion needs/wants, and the positive communication between them (mostly from Nikias, but I don’t think there’s ever much doubt about Kallion’s needs and wants, even if he’s less clearly verbal about them). They work well as a couple, and I liked the supporting characters, too.

The villain of the piece is a bit unsubtle, and that part is all very black-and-white; in such a short book, there isn’t really time to add more depth, I suppose, but beside Kallion and Nikias, it felt a bit pantomime villain-y.

One thing to note, though: while slavery isn’t romanticised, there’s a touch of romanticisation of some of the slave-owning characters. I think that’s addressed somewhat by Nikias’ firm opinions on the matter (including that he is clear that he loved his master, and still thinks his master acted wrongly), and Kallion also comments on the fact that past inaction matters somewhat in the balance (though he isn’t talking directly about the owning of slaves). Still, one of the female characters is rather lionised for deciding to free her slaves and invest in the businesses of freedmen, but prior to that she did put up with an awful lot of slavery and mistreatment of slaves without doing anything about it. It feels like a little bit of a blind spot to me.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Sailor’s Delight

Posted February 5, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Sailor’s Delight

Sailor's Delight

by Rose Lerner

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 172
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Self-effacing, overworked bookkeeper Elie Benezet doesn’t have time to be in love. Too bad he already is—with his favorite client, Augustus Brine. The Royal Navy sailing master is kind, handsome, and breathtakingly competent. He’s also engaged to his childhood sweetheart. And now that his prize money is coming in after years of delay, he can afford to marry her…once Elie submits the final prize paperwork.

When Augustus comes home, determined to marry by the end of his brief leave, Elie does his best to set his broken heart aside and make it happen. But he’s interrupted by one thing after another: other clients, the high holidays, his family’s relentless efforts to marry him off. Augustus isn’t helping by renting a room down the hall, shaving shirtless with his door open, and inviting Elie to the public baths. If Elie didn’t know better, he’d think Augustus didn’t want to get married.

To cap it all off, Augustus’s fiancée arrives in town, senses that Elie has a secret, and promptly accuses him of embezzling. Has Elie’s doom been sealed…or is there still time to change his fate?

Rose Lerner’s Sailor’s Delight is a slow burn, despite being a fairly short book, helped by the fact that there is a real sense of history between the two right from the start. The fact that Elie is Jewish and Brine is a sailor really shapes the story, through the Jewish holiday and Elie’s exploration of his feelings about and obligations toward people are all shaped by his beliefs and experiences as a Jewish man.

I don’t really know how to comment about the portrayal and whether it would satisfy someone looking for specifically Jewish queer romance (especially as Brine is not Jewish), but Rose Lerner has written in the past about being Jewish and the importance of Jewish representation, and I think the whole backbone of this book is about doing that.

The relationship between Elie and Brine is full of yearning. There’s obvious physical attraction as well, but also they obviously think about each other all the time, try to help one another, try to mesh their lives toge­ther, etc. It ends up surprisingly intense very quickly, and yet the steam level for the book is pretty low (no on-page sex).

All in all, it was one I enjoyed, though I needed the right moment for it — the intensity of Elie’s apparently unrequited longing was a bit much for me at one point, so I took a break from the book!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – An Impossible Impostor

Posted January 12, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – An Impossible Impostor

The Impossible Impostor

by Deanna Raybourn

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Pages: 336
Series: Veronica Speedwell #7
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch. He has a personal request on behalf of his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. After years of traveling the world, her eldest brother, Jonathan, heir to Hathaway Hall, was believed to have been killed in the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa a few years before.

But now a man matching Jonathan's description and carrying his possessions has arrived at Hathaway Hall with no memory of his identity or where he has been. Could this man truly be Jonathan, back from the dead? Or is he a devious impostor, determined to gain ownership over the family's most valuable possessions--a legendary parure of priceless Rajasthani jewels? It's a delicate situation, and Veronica is Sir Hugo's only hope.

Veronica and Stoker agree to go to Hathaway Hall to covertly investigate the mysterious amnesiac. Veronica is soon shocked to find herself face-to-face with a ghost from her past. To help Sir Hugo discover the truth, she must open doors to her own history that she long believed to be shut for good.

I normally race through Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell books, but The Impossible Impostor threw me for a loop. It makes sense that a means was needed to keep Stoker and Veronica’s relationship off-balance, rather than have them settle into anything too blissful… but I wish it wasn’t done via lack of communication and, well, all of this.

It’s not that it’s too surprising that Veronica’s past includes a guy like Spenlove, or that she might even have ended up in that particular sort of relationship with him (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here). But the total lack of communication with Stoker — knowing the cost if the details come out — just… argh. And I didn’t feel that Stoker’s responses to it were entirely consistent.

Anyway, I ended up half-skimming this one, so I would be aware of plot points and important conversations, without being too invested in it. That way, I can give the next book (which someone else has assured me they like better) a try.

Rating: 2/5

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