Second
volume in the "Bleeding Land" series (first volume just above) and
continues the story of the 
Rivers family - who have been torn apart by
the event surrounding the English Civil War. For this book Kristian has
three separate story lines going, one for each of the bothers (Mun
fighting for the King, Tom fighting for Parliament) and also a separate
strand for their sister Bess who is desperately trying to find Tom so as
to re-unite the family..
Following the events at the end of the previous book Tom, now recovered from his wounds, returns to his regiment but falls out with the regimental commander and starts working for the Parliamentary spy master Captain Crafte. His first job involves breaking into Oxford to destroy the Royalist printing press responsible for printing "Mercurius Aulicus" - the propaganda news paper.
His brother Mun (short for Edmund) in the meanwhile is fighting his own battles, leading his own force across northern England ambushing Parliamentarian supply columns. Before long however, he is stealing a siege gun (form a Royalist supporter) on the orders of Prince Rupert!
Bess in the meanwhile leaves her new-born son to find her brother Tom and secure him a Royal pardon...
Along the way there is a wagon load of silver plate, someone really nasty gets killed, and the book ends with a stupendous depiction of the First Battle of Newbury, which doesn't quite end as Mun would like... Steve the Wargamer rates this one 9 out of 10 - it was even better than the first volume....
Can't wait for volume 3...!
Following the events at the end of the previous book Tom, now recovered from his wounds, returns to his regiment but falls out with the regimental commander and starts working for the Parliamentary spy master Captain Crafte. His first job involves breaking into Oxford to destroy the Royalist printing press responsible for printing "Mercurius Aulicus" - the propaganda news paper.
His brother Mun (short for Edmund) in the meanwhile is fighting his own battles, leading his own force across northern England ambushing Parliamentarian supply columns. Before long however, he is stealing a siege gun (form a Royalist supporter) on the orders of Prince Rupert!
Bess in the meanwhile leaves her new-born son to find her brother Tom and secure him a Royal pardon...
Along the way there is a wagon load of silver plate, someone really nasty gets killed, and the book ends with a stupendous depiction of the First Battle of Newbury, which doesn't quite end as Mun would like... Steve the Wargamer rates this one 9 out of 10 - it was even better than the first volume....
Can't wait for volume 3...!
Steve - so now we have Sharpes ECW... There is something awfully samey about all these various series of wallet catchers Sharpes Romans Sharpes Malburians Sharpes Crimea. I tried a couple of Scarrows- Sharpes Romans as it were and one set in the Crimea and only the Matthew Hervey novels keep me coming back- and even they are getting a bit samey,
ReplyDeleteNone of these dudes IMHO come even close to GM Fraser or Rosemary Sutcliffe- for Ancients- or RF Delderfield. Is there not another ECW series out thre ?
Andy - I agree - but every now and again you get one that breaks the mould and this is one of them... I only tell it like it is, I'm not on commission, if I enjoy it I tell you why, and if I don't (and there have been many) I tell you why there as well... W.r.t these stories I find the background description excellent, I love the detail he manages to work into the story (wheel lock spanners, toughness of buff coats, effectiveness of back/breast plates against musketry/pistols etcetcetc.) Basically I like the story as it is set against a period of history that I like - but I'm not an expert - I've no idea how they'd review it.... You know a tadge about the period - read the first one and let me know what you think????
DeleteSteve Perhaps I should - I havn't actually seen these yet but the sheer volume of this kind of stuff puts me off- I've seen Sharpes Normans Sharpes Crusaders Sharpes other Romans Sharpes Longbows . There is even Sharpes WW2 and- so I'm told a WW2 series thats Flashman AND and SF series based on Flashy Gawd 'elp us...
DeleteI do like the idea of a decent ECW novel so I'll keep an eye out.
At least its not another novel about Rome ...Although I always liked Scarrow as it was easy holiday reading even if it was sharp like...I have found most viking and Saxon novels to be good reads and this is also probably Bernard C's best work..I like Giles's writing style and will take both of these ECW's on holiday to Northumberland
ReplyDeleteFraxinus - Northumberland? Ah... so will you be visiting Bamburgh? :o)
ReplyDeleteI picked up the first volume the other day on your recommendation and it is next in the reading list once I have finished the 3rd volume in the Goldsworthy Peninsula war series. I do echo some of the above points about all these historical series. However for good knock about easy reading before sleep they hit the spot.
ReplyDeleteregards,
Guy
Guy - you have it in one... they're the literary equivalent of an Errol Flyn pirate movie... good for providing imagination food, with a little bit of historical accuracy to leaven the fluff
Delete