The Lions of Al Rassan has all the components of a thumping good read for me.
This novel weaves Spanish history (I live in Spain but I’m a foreigner here) into alternative historical fiction brim-full with intrigue, adventure, romance, and humour, and GG Kay’s special touch of magical fantasy.
At a time when we are surrounded by strife and wars, this book took me away from it all, albeit to an earlier period of strife, and helped me better understand the stark choices made in almost impossible circumstances by real people. Kay’s diverse cast of characters are so real they walk off the page.
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, a deeply compelling story of love, adventure, divided loyalties, and what happens when beliefs begin to remake - or destroy - a world.
The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan - poet, diplomat, soldier - until a summer afternoon of savage…
I have read and re-read the six books in the late Dame Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles numerous times, and each time I find something new.
Dunnett keeps me spellbound; I love the sharp dialogue, the political and domestic intrigue, the way the very flawed hero, Francis Crawford, creates havoc for his own gains, while also acting on behalf of his monarch, the young Mary, Queen of Scots. This is well-researched, exciting, intriguing historical fiction at its best.
In this first book in the legendary Lymond Chronicles, Francis Crawford of Lymond, traitor, murderer, nobleman, returns to Scotland to redeem his reputation and save his home.
It is 1547 and Scotland has been humiliated by an English invasion and is threatened by machinations elsewhere beyond its borders, but it is still free. Paradoxically, her freedom may depend on a man who stands accused of treason. He is Francis Crawford of Lymond, a scapegrace nobleman of crooked felicities and murderous talents, posessed of a scholar's erudition and a tongue as wicked as a rapier. In The Game of Kings, this…
This story touched my heart. Elizabeth St. John blends personal insight and details from centuries-old journals belonging to her aristocratic family with historical facts to create a fascinating, heart-rending story about what really happened to the Princes in the Tower after Edward IV dies.
Written from the point of view of Lady Elysabeth Scrope, the book reveals why she took her young godson, Edward V (and his brother), to the Tower to prepare for his coronation believing she was doing her duty, then discovers she may have delivered him to an early death. We then see how she tried to save the children from harm, and what may have really happened to them.
It’s a captivating story that kept me reading late into the night. Ultimately, this is a beautifully-written, un-put-down-able, 15th-century royal family saga of complex loyalties.
If you knew the fate of the Princes in the Tower would you tell? Or forever keep the secret?May 1483: The Tower of London. When King Edward IV dies and Lady Elysabeth Scrope delivers her young godson, Edward V, into the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation, she is engulfed in political turmoil. Within months, the prince and his brother have disappeared, Richard III is declared king, and Elysabeth’s sister Margaret Beaufort conspires with her son Henry Tudor to invade England and claim the throne.
Desperate to protect her godson, Elysabeth battles the intrigue, betrayal and power of…
A secret commission, an untrustworthy secret agent. Ludo da Portovenere can create havoc and profit by it – but can he escape the consequences?
Set in a world of international politics and domestic intrigue, The Chosen Man spins an engrossing tale about the Dutch financial scandal known as tulip mania – and how decisions made in high places can have terrible repercussions on ordinary lives.
