The Shield and the Sword

by on September 5, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Okay, overall, it is by no means a bad overview of the history of the Hospitallers. And unlike Dan Jones’ The Templars, it has the bonus that you won’t find all of this in any one other place about a broader subject.

In fact, this book is very informative about their time on Rhodes. And while the centerpiece of the later history is what you’d expect the (the Siege of Malta in 1565), there’s a very useful discussion of how they came to Malta, and problems of time and money when applied to fortifying the island. Sadly, Rhodes does not get the same amount of attention on that subject, but there is some discussion.

The book stays with the ‘active’ part of the order, and doesn’t go much into the workings of its European connections, the properties they administered there (and how that changed over the centuries), and recruitment of new members. This isn’t too surprising, considering its a lighter book, and it has a long time span to cover, but is still slightly disappointing.

A very interesting bit is the fall of Malta to Napoleon. It reminds me very much of the end of Norwich’s Venice, where a proud, independent state just can’t manage much more than some hand-wringing in the face of a historical force of nature.

The Shield and the Sword was certainly written with the cooperation of the Order of St. John, and takes a positive view of their activities throughout. The Knights’ attacks on Muslim shipping are presented as part of the defense Europe instead of just part of a cycle of violence on the Mediterranean. There’s some justice to this view, thanks to the larger context of the time, but it is an example of where the blinders are.

Still, there’s going to be very little out there for a better one-volume history of the Order.

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The Romulan Way

by on August 30, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Duane’s second Romulan (excuse me: Rihannsu) novel is also, or maybe more of, a follow up to Spock’s World.

Like that book, which dived into the history of the most prominent member of the Federation after Earth, every other chapter of this book gives the history of the Romulans, starting with their original split from Vulcan society, and self-imposed exile among the stars.

This alternates with a far better, but very unusual plot centered around the head servant of a Rihannsu household that has seen better days. Other things intrude on this setting, including Ael from the first book near the end, but the only regular cast member who has a presence is McCoy. Rihannsu and Federation covert plots get involved, and what starts as a fairly sedate focus gets shaken to pieces. I don’t buy some of how the Federation op is put together, but once that’s accepted, everything els falls into place very well.

As such, much of the book is fairly actionless, and is a decidedly slow burn. Thankfully, the characters are well-done, and keep a creaky opening going. Things heat up over the course of the book, for a fairly epic conclusion, featuring, among other things, ‘a good ol’ southern fillibuster’. Duane doesn’t do as much violence to the setting as some other novels, but this is an event that would go down in the history books.

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The Templars

by on August 24, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

All right, I was disappointed by this.

It is a good book, and well written. If you don’t really know much about the Crusades, and specifically the part the Knights of the Temple played in it, it is an informative book.

On the other hand, if you do already know the history of the Crusades, there’s nothing new here. I’m no specialist scholar; my knowledge primarily comes from two general overviews of the Crusades as a whole (Ashbridge’s and Runciman’s), and there was nothing new in this more specialized work.

Non-Crusade history is pretty much limited to the prosecution and dissolution of the Templars by King Phillip IV of France. This is well-covered, and while I’ve seen it covered about as well elsewhere (I’m not sure where though…), he does a particularly good job here. By Jones’ lights, it’s pretty much all Phillip IV’s show. Pope Clement V comes in for a bit more sympathy than normal, noting a French army just outside Avignon as the trials finally reached their conclusion in front of the Pope.

However, the Templars were more than fighting men in Outremer, and victims in France. They had an entire network of holdings in Europe that generated money for their needs (and loaned large sums to several kings; including largely underwriting the entirety of a Crusade), and helped recruit new people into the organization. This all gets mentioned in any work that deals with the Crusades. And here, it is mentioned, without any additional detail being gone into. This is decidedly a popular history, and this is certainly the less ‘exciting’ part of this history, but actually digging into how they worked outside of the Kingdom of Jerusalem would have been greatly appreciated.

There’s also an afterword talking about the history of the order in fiction. I’m sure this is really the prime motivator for writing this book, but the early parts of it are interesting on their own. They had become a trope at a fairly early date, and their afterlife in fiction is interesting.

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My Enemy, My Ally

by on August 6, 2019 at 12:00 pm
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The professional fan fiction of Star Trek novels are useful for finding new authors, and the biggest find I’ve ever had from them is Diane Duane, who had written many very good books outside that universe. This is where I first discovered her, and it is also one of the best Star Trek novels I’ve read. Thirty years after I last read it, several scenes still stand out in my memory.

There are, perhaps, a few too many MacGuffins floating around. There’s artificial ion storms, 4D chess (with a mini-transporter to ‘time’ pieces in and out), and the big problem of the book, a Romulan project to enhance psionic potential. But all of them relate to the plot fairly strongly.

Part of the main point of the book is to take a closer look at the Romulans. About half the book is from the viewpoint of Ael t’Rlailiiu, a Romulan starship commander who feels that the Empire’s latest project will only lead to ruin, and so makes common cause with one of her gravest enemies. An interesting touch is that Romulan dialog is given untranslated, with only a character’s reactions and internal thoughts providing a sense of what is being said. Thankfully, it isn’t done much as it would get wearying, but it is an interesting device for what we do get.

There’s plenty of action, and it’s all well done, but there’s plenty of build-up and planning before that. Duane introduces a number of new characters here, including Ensign Nahraht (the only Horta in Star Fleet), which have been fan favorites since. The characters are smart, and generally act like it (there’s an amount of ‘but of course I planned for this’ that borders on the excessive), and of course there’s the wonder of early Star Trek unburdened by special effects budgets. Recommended for all TOS fans, and action-adventure fans.

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Shadows Past

by on July 31, 2019 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Books

The good news is that this is another good book in Freeman’s Borderlands series. Even better, we see more of Suiden this time.

The bad news is that it’s the last. This is especially bad because there are unresolved threads. Like the first two, this is a complete story, and you don’t need to read the others for this to make sense, it is a standalone with beginning, middle, and end. But like the second book revealed there’s a bigger group targeting Rabbit, this time the bad guys manage to kidnap a secondary character, and get him away before everything else gets resolved. So obviously, there should be a fourth book, which will hopefully deal with that, even if, like this one, we don’t move any closer to the bigger threat.

But it’s been nine years at this point, with no sign, no word on the author’s website for over eight years now…. I’m going to try not to torture myself too hard by hoping that book four will appear at some point.

As far as the actual contents of the book, we have yet another change of scenery, and associated set of new characters. And more of everyone immediately around Rabbit being a bit disagreeable; but with better reason this time. Again, part of the book might get short-circuited if a few things would be talked about early, and I think it’s a case of Rabbit giving events more lucidly than they’d be perceived as their happening again. And, while it’s obvious that something is happening, what exactly isn’t at all obvious, and things are confused by the fact that Rabbit has arrived in a place with at least three cross-currents operating.

In fact, overall, the situation is more complex than in the previous books, and is handled better. This still isn’t quite up to the level of the first book, which handled civil war and personal pain with equal with and aplomb, but its really close.

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