Dyson’s Dodecahedron Quest for Fun! CRRPG Addict Fantasy Cafe Lynn’s Book Blog Sitrep Hex and Violence Desperation Morale Banzai!! Let’s GURPS The Collaborative GamerThis basically a follow-on to McLaughlin’s study of trade across the Indian Ocean. Despite being almost the same size, it feels like an appendix to it. Whereas his former book spent a lot of time giving specifics of particular trade[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Frieda’s biography of Francis I is certainly on the popular history end, and is well written and accessible. Moreover, not only did I find it accessible, but it gave me some desire to get back to Here I Stand, which[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
David Weber is a good author with a few glaring weaknesses. Sadly, all of that is readily apparent in this novel. The basic setup is that humanity gets to the stars, runs into an alien race apparently intent on wiping[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This is mostly a reconstruction of the Sertorian War. There’s also some notes of the larger history of the Iberian peninsula, and people with an interest in the history of Iberia in general may want to pick this up too.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The ‘ghosts’ that provide the excuse for the (admittedly great) title of this book are the cannenses, the survivors of the Roman army comprehensively defeated at Cannae. And there’s some interesting info on what seems to have happened to them,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Typically, thoughts about the economy of the ancient world hit a wall of ‘they didn’t have a solid idea of how finance works’. Similarly, talk of the Roman Empire doesn’t generally get any further away than it’s immediate political neighbors.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Despite the title, this is not a how-to book on how to get your own Crusade going. It’s actually a scholarly look at how the planning of the actual Crusades worked. Tyerman identifies broad subjects in planning and looks at[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Well, this is different… and yet familiar. The broad action and wider themes of Defense of the Fiddler are fairly familiar Military SF. However, this is done in a script format. Beyond the oddness of that choice in general, there’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Kudos to Bloomsbury for making worthwhile older books available in e-format with good editing. No kudos for spending zero effort on the cover, but… the text’s the thing anyway. Crankshaw’s biography of Empress Maria Theresa is certainly well done, within[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Okay, first off, this was decidedly enjoyable. The main character is intelligent and sympathetic. She’s spent her time following interests away from politics, which has bored her. But, now it’s impinging on things she cares about. There’s rebellion brewing in[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…