Viking: Sworn Brother

Sworn Brother is the second volume in Tim Severin's Viking Trilogy. As with the first volume anyone expecting a Hollywood type saga of war and adventure is in for a disappointment. Tim Severin has written a far more believeable story of survival in a world of hardship and violence often governed by laws and codes of behaviour that to modern eyes seem barbaric. Thorgils, having excaped from Ireland, arrives in London where he begins an affair with the wife of King Knut the Viking King of England. Forced to flee he becomes involved with Grettir the Strong a notorious outlaw and becomes his "Sworn Brother". Joining his old mentor Thrand he becomes part of the last foray of the sad remnants of the once all-conquering Jomsvikings. Re-joining his Sworn Bother on his lonely island hideout he is unable to help when Grettir is murdered. He travels east to Russia and then south to Miklagard as Constantinople is known to the Vikings. Thorgils story is packed with incident but not of the sword swinging macho heroic type once played by Kirk Douglas. The Viking world was glamorous only in their own sagas and the books and films that they have inspired Tim Severin tells of life as it was, hard to the point of brutality, very dangerous and sometimes very, very short.

In At The Death

In At The Death by David Wishart has his Roman sleuth Marcus Corvinus risking more bruises as he tries to solve the murder of a young aristocrat who was supposed to have commited suicide by throwing himself from the top story of an Aventine tenement building. Engaged, for Marcus does not feel insulted by the offer of money, by the head of the Green chariot racing team to investigate he soon finds a complex plot that goes far beyond the compensation scam that he originaly believes is behind the death and finds him once again offending the rich and powerful as he tries to find the truth. Smart and persistant as he is he discovers that there are minds far more devious than he could imagine and plots deeper and more dangerous than even a well connected sprig of the aristocracy like Marcus can tangle with and survive unscathed. A pity we are not told that Marcus managed to collect his fee from the leader of the Greens after all he went through he certainly deserved it. Once again this Classics scholar turned novelist has taken us on a highly entertaining journey through the darker passages of the endlessly fascinating city of Rome.

White Blood

White Blood by James Fleming is a revelation. Yes, someone still writes a good old fashioned action story without the slightest genuflection to the politicly correct. His hero Charlie Doig is half British half Russian and spends his early life trekking through varieties of inhospitable terrain looking for rare species of insect as assistant to the German naturalist Goetz. He travels to Russia to look up his relatives and arrives just as the First World War breaks out. Charlie has no intention of returning to Britain to join up as he has become too much his own man to be directed into the killing fields by others but as Russia breaks down into anarchy he shows that he is more than capable of taking up arms when his cousin's house is attacked by Bolsheviks. This is a splendid story told in the bluff prose I associate with the boys adventure books written between the two world wars by ex-officers trying to eek out the meagre pensions awarded by a grateful nation. My one regret is that this poor review does not do this book justice.

Alexander: The Virtues of War

Having read Steven Pressfield's The Afghan Campaign which is most certainly one of the outstanding historical novels of this new century it was inevitable that I would turn to his earlier work. In Alexander: The Virtues of War Pressfield goes where few historical novelists dare to tread, he puts himself in the mind and personality of the towering figure of Alexander the Great and makes him narrate his own story. Using this method Pressfield reveals a character far from the self-centred glory hunting despot of some other works. Tutored by Aristotle but heavily influenced by his father's officers, well aware of the rift between his parents and anxious to claim the approbation of them both he is beginning to draw closer to his father when he is assasinated almost before his eyes and rumour places the blame at his door. After winning his father's officers to his side he begins the series of campaigns that make his name a byword for military genius and inspire other generals from Julius Caesar to Napoleon to imitate and try to surpass him. Alexander sees his conquests as more that just loot gathering brigandage on a massive scale but a chance to establish a stable and long lasting political entity encompassing all the peoples of his new empire. His promotion of Persian nobles and others into his personal circle did not go down well with his Macedonians and leads to potentialy dangerous friction. Alexander is also forced to confront the practical limits of his power as he changes from a local warlord to the administrative pinnacle of a complex and wide ranging empire. He finds himself powerless to stamp out cruel and corrupt practices that have become intrinsic parts of the administrative structure. (Tell us about it!) Steven Pressfield has written a book of outstanding quality which will be read for many years to come and can be compared with the greats of previous generations such as Robert Graves and Mary Renault.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying is an early example of George Orwell as novelist although he had already considerable experience as a journalist and had published Down and Out in Paris and London which received acclaim. This novel was written prior to his travelling to the North of England to study social conditions and lead to the publication of The Road to Wigan Pier. This novel charts one man's attempt to take on the system single handed with the result which is almost inevitable from the start. The book is written solely from the standpoint of Gordon Comstock the last of a fading middle class familly who is expected to "do well" not just for himself but for his rather pathetic relatives. The honour of the House of Comstock rests on his shoulders. Gordon, however, resents and is repelled by what he calls the "money culture" of nineteen thirties Britain. He gives up a "good job" to work in a book shop supposedly to give him time to write poetry but instead he slides into poverty and depression. Is Comstock really rebelling against society or failing under the pressure of expectation placed on his shoulders by his familly. This book is a stunning exposition of character and it's setting in society both intimate and as a whole and thus is as revealing as any text book on Britain in the Thirties. It is exactly fifty years since I first read this book and it's impact is as immediate to me after a lifetime of experience as it was in my youth.

The Lost Throne

The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski is another of the "search for lost treasure which has been hidden for centuries and guarded by a secret army" type of book of which there are many these days. If this is the kind of book that turns you on then The Lost Throne will give hours of enjoyment and I must admit that I read through to the end carried along on Mr Kuzneski's rattling prose. The two heroes are perhaps a little too much even for ex Special Forces types. A little vulnerability on their part would have made them more appealing something that Ian Fleming realised as he created James Bond. Whilst books of this type are fanciful in the extreme nonetheless they require considerable research to give the plot a patina of credibility. It is obvious that Mr Kuzneski has not shirked this task and his scene-setting is excellent. The Lost Throne is just the job for a long-haul flight or a lazy afternoon by the pool though personaly I require a touch more of the bite of reality even in adventure novels.

Out Of The Past

In Out Of The Past Patricia Wentworth gives us another splendid "whodunnit". Miss Maud Silver is on holiday in Cliffton with her neice Ethel, mother of the children for whom Miss Silver is constantly knitting. Into this quiet backwater comes Alan Field, a prize rotter, who has money on his mind and no scruples about how he gets it. There is no surprise when he is murdered and no shortage of people with motives for committing the crime. When Detective Inspector Abbott of Scotland Yard is brought in the "old firm" is once again on the case and with Miss Silver's sense of justice a satisfactory, if not strictly legal, conclusion is produced. Miss Wentworth has spun another compelling yarn.

The Mesmerist's Apprentice

The Mesmerist's Apprentice is the second Victorian thriller by L. M. Jackson to feature the formidable Sarah Tanner. As the story opens she finds herself at odds with Jim Cranks, a vicious youth and leader of a gang that calls itself the Brass Band from the brass rings the gang members wear. She is also approached for help by Arthur DeSalle, son of Viscount DeSalle, and her former lover. His father has been disabled beyond medical help by a stroke and this has lead his mother to fall into the hands of Dr Stead, the mesmerist's apprentice. At the same time letters are missing from the offices of Mr Wilmot, the Desalle familly solicitor, that lead to blackmail and violence. Mr Jackson weaves all this together into a most satisfying mystery. He well deserves the praise that has been given to his work.