Karsa Orlong

Great reviews as always, Laura Still can't get away from that picture of George Lucas on the cover, though

Finished Byzantium. Now trying to decide whether to jump straight into another doorstopper or read something a bit shorter first . . .

# 36 Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead 1996 - Harper Torch paperback - 870 pages Thoughts: I don't want to give away any of the plot, so I'm not posting the blurb(s), all of which seem to be on the spoilery side. Byzantium is historical fiction, telling the story of a young Irish monk by the name of Aidan mac Cainnech. He is chosen to be among a group of thirteen monks who are to go on a pilgrimage from Eire to the golden city of Byzantium, to take the great gift of the Book of Kells to the Emperor of all Christendom. The story doesn't take long to get going: in fact I think it is barely four or five chapters before the monks set sail and are soon caught in the teeth of a storm. In the first of many thrilling sequences, they are then pursued, attacked and captured by Vikings, and it is then that Aidan's adventure truly begins. And this really is an adventure: it's a historical novel, for sure, and purports to be the story of Saint Aidan although, from what I can gather, Aidan is more a combination of several real life people. Lawhead explains: and Byzantium is a grand, sweeping tale: Epic with a capital 'E'. Needless to say, if all of the above happens in the first hundred pages, then Aidan's journey is bound to be fraught with danger and isn't going to go as planned. It's really an adventure in the classic mode, full of heroes and villains, twists and betrayals, faith and despair, love and hate, and a driving thirst for vengeance. In many ways, I suppose, it reminded me of Bernard Cornwell (especially considering the presence of the Vikings) but without the need to read multiple books to get the full story. Yep, this is completely standalone. In other ways it reminded me a little - a little - of Ben-Hur, in that its characters lose everything and then have to endure so much to survive. And the characters are terrific, especially Gunnar and Harald, among the Vikings, and Sadiq, Faysal and Kazimain among the Sarazens. The Vikings, in particular, are fantastic, sometimes scary, often very funny (especially in one particularly memorable scene where Aidan tries to explain Christianity to them) and larger than life. What I found particularly amazing is that I read an 870 page book in less than six days. I'm not a fast reader, so it shows just how involving I found the book. I don't think the pace flagged at all throughout its near-900 pages. The chapters are generally short and sharp, around ten pages, which I found gave a real sense of progression, and something vital seems to happen in nearly all of them. The plot, whilst relatively straight forward, for once genuinely seemed to justify the length of the book - I didn't feel there was much, if anything, that needed trimming. I'm so close to giving this a 10. It's told in the first person, so occasionally it has to come up with convoluted reasons to put Aidan at the centre of things. Also, as Lawhead freely admits above, it plays fast and free with actual history and concentrates on telling a rollicking good yarn instead. Which is great, but also requires the occasional suspension of disbelief (which I'm very good at doing ). It also doesn't rely on graphic detail for its thrills, which is kind of refreshing. For entertainment value I would give it a 10, but as an example of pure historical fiction it's not quite up there with some others I've read, like O'Brian or Mantel. Make no mistake, though - I absolutely loved this book, and I am sure I will return to it again at some point in the future. Highly recommended 9/10

By the time you get to book 13 again your TBR list might be over 2,000!

Definitely.

I got halfway through that one a few years back when I was on a plane to Canada, and never finished it I'll have to go back to it one day

I've read and enjoyed quite a few of the Reacher books, too. I think Persuader and Die Trying were my favourites so far, and I really liked 61 Hours, too (haven't read Without Fail, though - I've been reading them completely out of order ). For some reason, I didn't get along with Gone Tomorrow as well as you did, though - I think it was because Reacher was too omniscient in that one for my liking. Ooh, and I thought The Enemy was brilliant, too

New Anathema!

600 pages into Stephen Lawhead's Byzantium. Only another 300 to go . . .

Welcome! Did you jaunte here?

David Gemmell, writing in 2000, on his stepfather Bill Woodford. http://www.legendreaders.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:david-gemmell-gives-insite-into-his-source-of-inspiration&catid=37:general-david-gemmell-content&Itemid=62

Yeah, that's really annoying

I find imported books are cheaper in FP than on the net

Yep, I recognise that problem I could wander around (and around) in there for hours

I'd recommend Hatchards, the oldest bookshop in London. It's only a couple of minutes away from Waterstone's at Piccadilly, which is Europe's largest bookshop (apparently!). And then there's Forbidden Planet . . .

420 pages into Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead. Only started it on Sunday (this is very fast reading for me!).

For me, they're among the best, and A Storm of Swords in itself is one of the very best, imo. Just don't expect the series to be finished any time soon . . .

# 35 The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga Book 5) by Lois McMaster Bujold 1990 - Baen paperback - 357 pages From goodreads: Together, they can get into a lot of trouble. Trouble only the combined forces of the Free Dendarii Mercenaries can get them out of. At least, that's what they're hoping... In this latest adventure with the galaxy's craftiest mercenary leader Miles, starts out by so shaking up the High Command on his home planet of Barrayar that he is sent to the other side of the galaxy - where who should he run into but his old pals the Free Dendarii Mercenaries. And a good thing too, because it turns out that Miles' childhood chum, that's Emperor Gregor to you, has been the victim of foul play, and only Miles - with a little Dendarii muscle - can save him. This is very important to Miles; because if Gregor dies, the only person who could become the new emperor is Miles himself - and that he regards as a fate worse than death. Thoughts: Some more of the convoluted publishing history of this series, it was the sixth Vorkosigan novel to be published but is the fifth story (in internal series chronology), and was written after Brothers in Arms, which chronologically is the twelfth story. Work that one out Bujold actually explains it all in her afterword, about how this particular story was her going back to fill in some gaps, how Miles got from here to there etc. It would've been interesting to read them in publication order, jumping around the timeline as they do, but fortunately these omnibus editions present them using the internal chronology. So that's all okay, then . . . This one picks up a short while after the novella The Mountains of Mourning. Miles has graduated from the Barrayaran Military Academy and is sent off on his first assignment - as a weatherman at a remote infantry base. The test for him is put quite plainly: that he has a problem with subordination, and that he must keep his nose clean for six months and, if he does, he will then get what he really desires - a position on a starship. Naturally, he doesn't keep his nose clean It makes for an interesting first 100 pages, coming across almost like a novella that has been bolted onto the front of the true novel, although Bujold swears this is not the case. Nevertheless, there is a somewhat sudden and rather jarring shift in focus at that point, and the story moves off in a completely different direction, seemingly without tying up several loose ends. The new plot involves political and military manoeuvrings as various factions try to gain control of a vital wormhole hub. Miles becomes embroiled in the heart of this trouble, of course. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It's well written, full of thrills, tension, and a good deal of humour. It's big on character, maybe not so big on hard sf ideas. In fact, it feels somewhat transitional. Jo Walton says, in her review on Tor.com, that 'it’s here that the series really hits its stride, and also where it (briefly) starts to look like a normal series', and I think there's a lot of truth in that. It does seem to repeat a lot of what happened in The Warrior's Apprentice, thereby giving us more of the same. But, in the same breath, it's better written and all of the characters are more fully developed, and there's more going on beneath the surface. So, having said all that, it seems kind of strange that it won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1991, when it was up against the likes of Dan Simmons's The Fall of Hyperion. I thought The Vor Game was great fun, very entertaining, but nowhere near as ambitious. A solid entry to the series, with the promise of better to come. 8/10 ETA: The Vor Game is included in the Young Miles omnibus, and is also available separately on Kindle.

Glad to hear you enjoyed Storm Front, Sarah. I've read the first six now, and they're getting better and better

They have their moments. I've read four of them, and I've enjoyed them all, and my friend has loaned me the next one, so I'll get to it soon.

That's the same collection/price I got at Christmas I'd already read the two novels included in it, but not the two collections of short stories, so it was well worth it Hope you enjoy them!

The third book, Catalina's Riddle, is set at the same time as Lustrum, yeah, and it shows it from a different perspective, which was interesting. The series as a whole covers a lot of years, mainly so it can drop in at times when important events were happening.

I watched the first episode last night. It was okay, quite atmospheric. Some of the acting was dreadful, though (especially Eva Green), but hopefully that was just the actors getting used to their roles. There was enough there to make me watch the next one.

Another trip to Forbidden Planet yielded this for £4.99: