Bear Flag Blog

The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell - 8/10

The first four novels in Cornwell's 'Saxon Chronicles', these books are set in ninth century England, at a time when Saxons and Danes (aka Vikings) are contending for control of England. The protagonist is a Saxon, but one who fell in amongst Danes as a young man and is culturally more Norse than Christian.

The books are fine adventure stories, full of battle and revenge, but the characters are human and lack the silly machismo that makes so many adventure novels hollow. I enjoyed the first half-dozen or so of Cornwell's more famous 'Sharpe's Rifles' series, and these are in the same mold, enjoyable to read, with solid characters and honest plotting.

One thing I appreciate about this series is Cornwell's deft handling of the period setting - he doesn't rub it in your face, and he resists the temptation to inject future-hindsight motivation to his characters. All the characters from main to insignificant, from King Alfred to the nameless Welsh border-raiders, behave as they do because that's who they are, rather than behaving according to any sense of historical impulse. Too many historical novels contain a false gravitas, with the characters laboring under an awareness of being an important past rather than simply human beings acting in the now. There's none of that here.

Simply by its nature, of course, the setting is deeply interesting, with cultures clashing and mingling in an era of drawn swords and raiding ships. It requires no embellishment, and Cornwall spends his energy instead on telling an interesting story with compelling actors.

The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell - 6/10

Same author, same genre, yet a very different result. The characters in The Archer's Tale are much less compelling than those in the Saxon Chronicle, the plot is less interesting, and it was a much less enjoyable read overall. It's set during the hundred years' war, and Cornwell handles the period deftly, but all of the individual elements of story just weren't as good.

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography by Edward Rice - 6/10

Richard Francis Burton is a fascinating individual - first European to see Lake Tanganyika, fluent in 20+ languages, pilgrim to Mecca, first European to visit the forbidden city of Harar, translator of the first definitive English edition of the Arabian Nights (in addition to several other works), his life took him to almost all corners of the world.

To the great detriment of posterity, after his death his wife burned many of his papers, and many others were discarded or never released by the British government. Also unfortunately, Rice's biography doesn't really rise above those challenges. In this biography Burton comes across as surly, arrogant, bitter, repeatedly stymied by his enemies - all of which were probably true - but sadly he does not come across as particularly fascinating. Rice pays little attention to Burton's successes, other than to deliniate them, and fails to convey any deep sense of interest in the man.

I'm glad I read this biography - it's certainly well-researched and does an admirable job of presenting the facts, but I don't recommend it as a good read, and would be interested in reading a better one.

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin - 8/10

An excellent 'biography' - perhaps 'snapshot' would be a better term - of the individuals who sat on the supreme court between 1981 and 2008. Although possessed of conclusions (namely, that the supreme court represents America, is a political institution, and is becoming more conservative) where this book really shines is in presenting the justices as people, with opinions, convictions, eccentricities... it's a fine exercise in biography, and I recommend it as a pleasurable read entirely aside from being a fascinating look into the functioning of the supreme court.