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Post by Baldie on Jul 25, 2019 17:53:33 GMT
Mr Tickle, fab book
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Post by paddy649 on Jul 28, 2019 8:50:37 GMT
Greatly enjoying "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Heather. The Huns did it! Spoiler Alert!
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Post by macbeth on Jul 29, 2019 6:39:04 GMT
So by lunchtime today I had finished 'The Sacrovir Revolt' and found it disappointing. At least 'The Legionary' followed Tacitus' coverage of Germanicus' campaign fairly well. This one, I had trouble swallowing, with a revolt against Tiberius in Gaul, where the leader was primarily driven by being humiliated by the heroes of the first book. I cannot come at the idea that the Gallic rebels tried to defeat the standard Roman tactics by having their centre equipped with plate armour, and that the Legions defeated them with the simple expedient of attacking them with their pickaxes. The book also had little challenge for the protagonists, at every point that the rebels made plans, or tried to thwart the Romans, it was painfully obvious that they were outmatched. There was just no suspense. And the atrocious spelling errors continued. Not a fan So next off the rack (spoils of the last Lifeline bookfair) is "Gods and Kings" by Lynn Austin, it is a novelisation of the early life of King Hezakiah of Judah. Cheers Oh, that "Gods and Kings" book seems really interesting.
Look forward to your opinion of it.
Not a great book in fact - all the military action happens off camera, and the characters are pretty two dimensional.
For good Biblical Historical Fiction try 'Rabshakeh' by J. Francis Hudson (about King Saul) or the may King David novelisations 'King David' by Allan Massie 'The King David Report' by Stefan Heym 'The Secret Chord' by Geraldine Brooks
or even 'God Knows' by Joseph Heller (of Catch 22 fame) which is the same story as above with lots of anachronistic jokes
Cheers
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Post by macbeth on Jul 29, 2019 6:47:29 GMT
Over the weekend I finished 'Gods and Kings', a bit disappointed.
I pressed on to read 'Lords of the Horizon' by Jason Goodwin. It is a series of linked and roughly chronological anecdotes chronicling the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire in floral descriptive language. I found it quite enjoyable.
Next book (started on Sunday) was 'Arab Historians of the Crusades' by Francesco Gabrieli (and translated from the Italian by E.J. Costelloe) - originally written in 1957 and translated in 1969 - this is a 1989 edition and the introduction is quaint in that it suggests that "these days there is little hostility between Islam and the West"
It is an interesting read
Cheers
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Post by sonic on Jul 29, 2019 8:58:52 GMT
Greatly enjoying "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Heather. The Huns did it! Oh no they didn't!!
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Post by nangwaya on Jul 29, 2019 12:17:14 GMT
Not a great book in fact - all the military action happens off camera, and the characters are pretty two dimensional.
For good Biblical Historical Fiction try 'Rabshakeh' by J. Francis Hudson (about King Saul) or the may King David novelisations 'King David' by Allan Massie 'The King David Report' by Stefan Heym 'The Secret Chord' by Geraldine Brooks
or even 'God Knows' by Joseph Heller (of Catch 22 fame) which is the same story as above with lots of anachronistic jokes
Cheers
Oh, thanks for the other titles. I will check them out. Never read a book based around those times.
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Post by Tony Aguilar on Jul 30, 2019 14:31:20 GMT
Greatly enjoying "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Heather. The Huns did it! Spoiler Alert! Listnening on Audible I FINALLY have gotten to the part with the Huns and thank goodness because a lot of the social/political stuff is damn near boring. Although it helps in understanding , that isn't what we war gamers want to read about. At least the book wasn't narrated by Charlton Griffin.
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Post by vtsaogames on Jul 30, 2019 16:19:08 GMT
Greatly enjoying "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Heather. The Huns did it! Oh no they didn't!! Do they have an alibi? Where where they on or about the mid 4th Century? Hmm? Tony, I must respectfully disagree. This book is just what I want to read. For this period, any more detail is likely speculation. A bit of this book is. But then one man's meat is another man's poison.
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Post by sonic on Jul 30, 2019 19:30:00 GMT
Oh no they didn't!! Do they have an alibi? Where where they on or about the mid 4th Century? Hmm? Tony, I must respectfully disagree. This book is just what I want to read. For this period, any more detail is likely speculation. A bit of this book is. But then one man's meat is another man's poison. They were north of the Danube. Couple of invasions of the Eastern Empire, couple of the Western Empire. Not enough to bring the Empire down by any means.
You're right in that a large part of the period is speculation. In fact, I think more of it is speculation than you imagine!
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Post by vtsaogames on Jul 30, 2019 20:41:32 GMT
Heather says they did it indirectly, by upsetting the apple cart of all the German (and non-German) tribes beyond the Empire. One of the few Hun incursions into the West came just in time to abort Aetius' planned counterattack on Carthage, a heavy blow. Last, Attila assembled such a bunch of subject warriors in the central Hungarian plain that when the Hun empire dissolved after his death (in an amazingly short time) there were just too many armed warriors in close proximity to the Danube for the weakened Imperial forces.
It certainly resembles the old board game Decline and Fall, where the Huns chase the Goths and Vandals into the Empire. I love the game but it requires 4 players who know their roles. Not 3, not 5 players but 4 exactly. Even when playing as a barbarian I have to help the Roman player balance their books. My nickname as Roman player was Pennius Pinchus. Always ran a surplus, you bet.
I recall once hiring two Hun armies and sending them out with two fleets to whack the Vandals. Bad dice (storm? Vandal fleet?) sent them all to the bottom. Oh, the weeping and wailing back at the treasury.
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Post by gregorius on Aug 12, 2019 22:56:38 GMT
I've almost completed the 2nd volume of Anthony Riches' trilogy, The Centurians. The trilogy deals with the Revolt of the Batavi as seen through the eyes of the centurians on both sides. I'm looking forward to picking up the the third book in the next week or so.
Cheers,
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Post by macbeth on Aug 13, 2019 4:41:41 GMT
So Last weekend I finished 'Arab Historians of the Crusades' and it was a good read. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across Timothy Venning's "An Alternative History of Britain: The Hundred Years War" at a secondhand bookshop. This is now my current read Greg - you will enjoy the third Centurions book Cheers
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Post by gregorius on Aug 13, 2019 6:23:37 GMT
So Last weekend I finished 'Arab Historians of the Crusades' and it was a good read. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across Timothy Venning's "An Alternative History of Britain: The Hundred Years War" at a secondhand bookshop. This is now my current read Greg - you will enjoy the third Centurions book Cheers I'm sure that I will David. Cheers,
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Post by macbeth on Aug 19, 2019 2:58:00 GMT
On Sunday I finished "An Alternative History of Britain: The Hundred Years War" - reasonably enjoyable.
A couple of weeks ago when the tax cheque came in I had another splurge at The Book Depository and amongst the spoils was a book by Gordon Doherty called "Empires of Bronze: The Son of Ishtar". I have read Doherty's Byzantine trilogy ("Strategos") and five of his seven book series set in Late Roman times ("Legionary") which chronicles the lead up to and aftermath of the battle of Adrianople. I assumed that book five which cumulated with Adrianople was the end and was starting to get tired of the series.
Gordon Doherty is not on the same plane as some of the other authors I read.
It was in the endnote of that book Doherty mentioned that he was planning a series about the Hittites - so I was disappointed when I discovered that instead there were two more books in the Legionary series. When I recently discovered that he had finally released a book in the new project I decided to give him another chance. This appears to be part of a series that will chronicle the Mediterranean dark age but from the Hittite viewpoint. It has Achaians, Trojans, Sea Peoples, Egyptians, Assyrians and Hittites, so it may well be an interesting story.
I am about a quarter of the way through.
Cheers
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Post by vtsaogames on Aug 19, 2019 19:25:38 GMT
Not in period, but reading "Tom Jones".
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