Tag: mindfulness

Emma Southon, Servus, (Hodder Press, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8962835839

Hanno and wife Aurelia during Hannibal’s wars

The Second Punic War during the Spanish Campaign of 215-206 BCE. 212 BCE Rome has triumphed over Carthage in Italy and Sicily, but in Spain…

Aboard a ship from Sicilia to Iberia after the sack of Syrako (Syracuse), Carthaginian commander Hanno and his Roman wife-to-be Aurelia are seeking Gadir, Qart Hadasht or some ‘safe Carthaginian-held city’, when they are boarded by Lusitanian pirates and taken captive. Their escape relies on hoodwinking the local ruler Barekbaal the Fat into believing Aurelia is a Roman noblewoman worthy of ransom.

Quintus, Aurelia’s brother, and Jug, Roman principes, dock at Emporion intent on joining the new legion of the Scipiones brothers at Saguntum. They are ambushed en route by Suessetani tribesmen and rescued unexpectedly by a troop of Celtiberians.

Aurelia supports neither side, wants war to cease. In between battles, she and Hanno marry. Hanno’s commitment to Hannibal’s cause is unshakable, but Aurelia’s ambivalence concerning the conflict comes between the newlyweds.

Romans, Carthaginians, Numidians and various indigenous tribes of Iberia come to battle. I liked that it was not only successful military manoeuvres which are discussed. Mistakes are made on each side, Hanno’s own included, and lives are lost. So, we get an insider’s view of different battle strategies and tactics. Scipio’s conquest of Carthago Nova (Qart Hadasht), for example, relied on a lightning advance and local intel that the lagoon was shallow and marchable. Spoiler alert, Rome wins in the end.

Battle scenes are exciting, with good suspense building to short, sharp sentences and sensory clues. The hardships of marching and the horrors of war are not skipped over, accentuating the resolve and the bravery of the soldiers. The soldiers’ feelings about victory and defeat are sympathetically conveyed. The different cultures are portrayed well.

Book 4 in the Hannibal series.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Ben Kane, A Land Aflame, (Orion, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8962822164

Hanno and wife Aurelia during Hannibal’s wars

The Second Punic War during the Spanish Campaign of 215-206 BCE. 212 BCE Rome has triumphed over Carthage in Italy and Sicily, but in Spain…

Aboard a ship from Sicilia to Iberia after the sack of Syrako (Syracuse), Carthaginian commander Hanno and his Roman wife-to-be Aurelia are seeking Gadir, Qart Hadasht or some ‘safe Carthaginian-held city’, when they are boarded by Lusitanian pirates and taken captive. Their escape relies on hoodwinking the local ruler Barekbaal the Fat into believing Aurelia is a Roman noblewoman worthy of ransom.

Quintus, Aurelia’s brother, and Jug, Roman principes, dock at Emporion intent on joining the new legion of the Scipiones brothers at Saguntum. They are ambushed en route by Suessetani tribesmen and rescued unexpectedly by a troop of Celtiberians.

Aurelia supports neither side, wants war to cease. In between battles, she and Hanno marry. Hanno’s commitment to Hannibal’s cause is unshakable, but Aurelia’s ambivalence concerning the conflict comes between the newlyweds.

Romans, Carthaginians, Numidians and various indigenous tribes of Iberia come to battle. I liked that it was not only successful military manoeuvres which are discussed. Mistakes are made on each side, Hanno’s own included, and lives are lost. So, we get an insider’s view of different battle strategies and tactics. Scipio’s conquest of Carthago Nova (Qart Hadasht), for example, relied on a lightning advance and local intel that the lagoon was shallow and marchable. Spoiler alert, Rome wins in the end.

Battle scenes are exciting, with good suspense building to short, sharp sentences and sensory clues. The hardships of marching and the horrors of war are not skipped over, accentuating the resolve and the bravery of the soldiers. The soldiers’ feelings about victory and defeat are sympathetically conveyed. The different cultures are portrayed well.

Book 4 in the Hannibal series.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Jodi Bowersox, Time Agents: Alternations, (2025)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8962710890

Timeagents to the rescue in the Tudor court

Muriel O’Hanlan timetravels back to Henry VIII’s court, her pastries attracting the attention of the king, winning her a position as baker in his Privy Kitchen. She attracts less welcome attention from Henry, too. Anne Boleyn is not yet on the scene, but Muriel knows what happens in the future to the king’s women.

She also attracts the eye of one of his archers, Nicholas Kent.

And there’s the timetraveler’s conundrum. What might she do that would change history? And if she did, would it be a good thing? History gets twisted in big ways, and Muriel needs to set it right again. Oliver, a former love from a past/future life, comes to the rescue.

This novel portrays Tudor courtly life evocatively, and the Setting is well described. There are some interesting and witty factoids. Muriel remarks upon the paucity of names among the palace cooks, referring to ‘the third Stephen and the second Richard’. The king’s food has to be ‘assayed’ before it is served. I like how Muriel has to come up with a ‘badge’ and a ‘motto’ to delineate her 16^th C identity.

Muriel is a compelling protagonist, and the other characters are interesting, but I had some problems with the Voice and the historicity. Servants referring to the king familiarly as ‘Henry’, the king walking into the kitchens (as if he would have done that). I couldn’t tell whether she was flirting with Henry or avoiding his advances. Nicholas Kent comes in as a POV character, which is strange.

This is Book 3 in the series, and it assumes you’ve read Books 1 and 2 and already know the mechanics behind her timetravel and the backstory of her loves and escapades in past/future timelines. What happened between her and Oliver in Cripple Creek is never really explained.

When the Time Agents come ‘back’ to rescue Muriel and rescue the timeline from the alterations she has caused, the Plot gets interesting and exciting.

Conor McAnally, Bullets in the Water, (Stoney Creek Publishing Group, 2025)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8960570209

What’s going on in Taborville?

Disgraced journalist Mike Carson comes back to Taborville to sell the old house he inherited from his uncle. He interrupts a fight to defend a woman and ends up being arrested himself, only to find later that his opponent was the son of a powerful local, Duke McMillan, owner of the bar. Duke and his sons Zane and Karter are involved in some shady drugs business.

Mike takes an unpaid position on the local newspaper and is sent to cover a boring council meeting. But it turns out not to be boring at all, and McMillan is angered by Mike’s write-up. Mike is also investigating a local murder, and all the dirty doings of the locals seem to be connected, dredging up crimes committed in the past.

This is a good, well written detective story, and the characters are distinct and interesting. The way the baddies hide their criminal activities is genius, and the way Karter gets his come-uppance is fabulous.

It gets started rather slowly, but gets increasingly exciting as Mike uncovers more clues as to what’s going on in Taborville. As is usual in the genre, he has to confront some issues within himself (drinking, past professional mistakes) and within his own family (his brother’s fatal car accident) before he can solve the crime.

Christian Cameron, The Captain of Venice, (Orion Books, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8960480321

Great 14^th century politics and warfare

William Gold is a mercenary in the service of John Hawkwood during the 1377-1381 ‘War of the Eight Saints’ and the War of Chioggia between Venice and Genoa. He is a new sort of routier, ‘banker, diplomat and warrior’. This ‘good, fat war’ was especially exciting, as at one point Venice looked doomed, but then finally triumphed.

The story is as narrated to Geoffrey Chaucer.

Defying the pope and cardinals, William’s troops raid Tuscany, falling mercilessly upon marauding Bretons, mercenaries of the cardinals who had mercilessly harried the peasants. Disgusted by the brutality of their paymaster Cardinal Robert of Geneva (later antipope Clement VII) during the Massacre of Cesena, they switch sides and fight for Venice, now. William’s sword has won him riches, but throughout the politicking and bloodshed, he searches for a higher purpose.

Italian politics during the period featured many players: Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Bologna, the papacy—not to mention Turks, Bretons, Hungarians, English, French, Albanians–and as a mercenary, William treats with all the parties. We meet pretty much every mover and shaker of the late 1300s in Italy. It’s Book 7 in the series, so, they all have developed personalities and storylines. A Cast of Characters page would have helped.

Military fiction at its finest, but it’s not all ‘deeds of arms and flashing blades’. It’s how much it cost and whom you had to deal with to acquire horses, fodder, wine and cooks and prostitutes for the men; dealing diplomatically with adversaries and allies; the importance of scouting and securing food supplies; conversations taking place inside the campaign tent; shifting balance of forces. Sumptuously full of historical detail, all the ins and outs of 14^th century politics and warfare.

It’s no surprise that the author is a military expert, re-enactor and duellist in real life.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Joanna Courtney, Mary of Magdala, (Piatkus, 2025)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8960448393

Mary who walked with Jesus

Mary goes back to visit her home in Magdala, but her family still rejects her. Phoebe goes on the road to proselytise, as her parents Prisca and Aquila had done. Lydia’s abusive husband won’t let her go hear the woman preacher who teaches that we are all equal in God’s eyes.

Emperor Claudius exiles all Jews from Rome and they are Jews, yet the synagogues consider them non-Jews. Across the Empire, the Christians flee from persecution and drive to spread ‘the New Way’.

Hebrew and Hellenist Christians explore the tenets of the new faith and learn the meaning of ‘brothers and sisters in Christ’. Peter says Paul ‘makes up things as he goes along’, and the issue of table fellowship (Jews and Gentile converts eating together) divides the community in Corinth. Lydia runs a profitable purple dye business based in Philippi, but she struggles with doubts of her worth. Mary, in Ephesus, writes her ‘testament’ of Jesus on papyrus with help from Princess Salome. And there’s trouble at the Temple of Artemis. They are all on their way to meet Mary, who ‘walked with Jesus’.

Rome burns, and the Christians are blamed, but the ‘New Way’ struggles on and grows. Mary is writing again.

A vibrant, gorgeous novel. I was only disappointed that the revolution brewing in Judaea wasn’t much discussed, as I think that was a bigger issue for them than we were told.

Juicy details and narratives are added to what we know from the New Testament of the biographies of these early Christian women to flesh out the ancient Roman world and translate it to a modern reader. Even the dialogue is believably authentic. Being so familiar with the history doesn’t detract from our enjoyment, as the novel makes it such a good story and makes the characters so real.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Paige Lewis, Canon, (‎Corsair, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8960340071

6 stars, non-canonical, non-binary imagination

Inspired by the Biblical Book of Deborah, this is a non-canonical and non-patriarchal story of two prophets. They are non-binary, so they are ‘they/them’.

Yara is chosen by God – and God is personified, here – to defeat Dominic, leader of the Bad Guys. If you need to pick a time, ‘mostly, it’s the ‘90s’.

Adrena has a special power; they can disappear a thing or a person by singing about it. They can communicate directly with God. Nevertheless, He chooses Yara for the Dominic mission. They want to prove God wrong and convince Harpo, leader of the Good Guys who are at war with Dominic, that they are God’s chosen.

This is the first book I’ve read to use the ‘they/them’ convention. And that’s not the only thing that’s innovative.

Yara’s artist mother mixed Sherwin-Williams paints to get the exact colour of their skin – Tumbleweed, Gravel and Narcissus. Yara is a germaphobe, embroiders facsimiles of famous paintings and knows a lot about things like oysters – they call it ‘facting’. They embark on an Odyssean journey, riding on a sunburnt whale named HOWBIG!.

Adrena loves spiders and longs to be as holy as was their mother, who ‘assumpted’ into heaven.

God wears a mosquito-net hat and judges men’s body-building contests, insisting on handing out the trophies Himself.

HOWBIG! speaks in allcaps and exclamation points.

It’s magical realism, easy on the realism. Each chapter is a quirky vignette, not a narration per se. It’s not a true-to-life plot, yet the puzzle-piece structure eventually gets somewhere. As the Big Battle looms, just when a narrative might be emerging, someone has a wacky dream, a soldier transforms into an eagle, or two people inexplicably fall in love.

This is the most imaginative book I’ve read in years. Beautifully literary and so witty, it’s sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.