speesh's reviews
416 reviews

A huge and hugely impressive and moving book, 'All Hell Let Loose' is a concise and precise, but detailed and passion-filled history of the war years of the Second World War. The book is a rivetingly fresh look at a period I thought I knew something about. It challenged me and it has - certainly -  rewarded me with increased understanding both of the situation and for those who had to try and survive it. On both sides.

Max Hastings never loses sight of his objective; to put into words an experience that which most ordinary people found indescribable. Explaining how the title came about, he writes; "Many resorted to a cliché: 'All hell broke loose.' Because the phrase is commonplace in eyewitness descriptions of battles, air raids, massacres and ship sinkings, later generations are tempted to shrug at it's banality. Yet in an important sense the words capture the essence of what the struggle meant to hundreds of millions of people, plucked from peaceful, ordered existences to face ordeals that in many cases lasted for years, and for at least sixty millions were terminated by death."

As hinted at above, you will get a thorough and nuanced idea of what the Second World War was actually like to live through for people like you and me. The leaders do get a look in here, and grand stratagems are discussed and illustrated, but it is the even-handed perspective with which he discusses how the war irreversably affected the lives of the ordinary person that shines through. Everyone who was forced to endure it, suffered. Some more than others, some like to say, but thankfully Max Hastings has the rationality to see through the modern cynical smokescreen: "It would have been insulting to invite a hungry Frenchman, or even an English housewife weary of the monotony of rations, to consider that in besieged Leningrad starving people were eating each other, while in West Bengal they were selling their daughters. Few people who endured the Luftwaffe's 1940-41 blitz on London would be comforted by knowledge that the German and Japanese peoples would later face losses from Allied bombing many times greater, together with unparalleled devastation."

We mostly all know the rough outline of the conflict. Our background and up-bringing makes us think we know who the good guys were, who the bad guys were. This book doesn't attempt to change that overall 'big picture', but by giving us provocative examples of how it was to be a participant or an 'active participant', willingly or un-willingly, we are challenged to come away with a much more thought-provoking image of what really went on.

But my over-riding impression from the first two-thirds and one of the main impressions I came away from the book with; is how un-prepared, amateurish and even cynical we 'victors' were before and during the first phases, wherever in the world 'we' were at the outbreak of conflict. Then even going towards the eventual victory over Nazi Germany and Japan, we often did our best to attempt the snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory. Rather than entering the conflict determined, sure and with a grand strategy that would lead us inexorably on the path to justice and victory, I got the impression we could be said to have often relied on the other side making worse lash-ups of it than we did.

History and histories will always be written by the victors, but this book is a lot more objective than that might lead you to expect. Arrogance, broken promises, cynicism, fumbling, bumbling, incompetence, unreliability, naivity, it's all here and revealed in detail - on both sides. And who had to deal with all the shit? People like your parents and mine. As he points out: "Combatants fared better than civilians: around three-quarters of all those who perished were unarmed victims rather than active participants in the struggle."

The final chapter is brilliantly perfect. One of the best pieces of concise writing I can ever remember reading. It gathers together most of the big themes explored throughout the book and discusses them in a riviting and incredibly moving way: "It is impossible to dignify the struggle as an unalloyed contest between good and evil, nor rationally to celebrate an experience, and even an outcome, which imposed such misery on so many."

I never thought I would be so moved by a history of something I thought I knew so much about. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's a brilliant book, I'm sorry I came to the end of it, I'm glad I didn't have to live through it.

It's good, but you could argue that not an awful lot happens over a lot of pages. But, once I got over that, I really enjoyed the developing character of the main man, and began to care about his, and the other character's fate. It could certainly have done with more action, but I'm going to see the big picture with this one, and get searching for number two in the series.
Where it does score, is in the depth of research and knowlege the author displays. He really does know his (Roman) onions, that's clear, but he shows it in a subtle and convincing way.
Enjoyed it and can recommend it.

Anyone who is in any way interested in spies, spying and the world of espionage in general, has surely read at least one of John le Carré's genre defining classics. Not the later gardening and Panama nonsense, but the unforgettable Cold War, 'Smiley' intrigues.

Especially if you're English, that is.

And if you are lucky enough to be English and of a certain age, then you probably already have the whole '30's Cambridge spy ring, the old boy network running the country from their hushed, mahogany and teak Club in The City, the Cold War and the whole East vs West thing as a big game, already with you when you read a book like this. You don't need the spy world explained to you again from scratch. You know what a 'dead letter-box' is, you know what 'tradecraft', 'Moscow Centre' and 'C' are. The author can, with a nod and a wink and relatively few words, have you with him and get on with other things. You understand the world he is writing about and what I can well imagine would seem a rather unbelievable, class-ridden, privileged, strange world - makes perfect sense.

(However, that could be surely be why a non-middle-aged, non-English person would get nothing from, for example, the recent (poor) 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' re-adaption. My Danish wife, for example).

But one big problem the way I see it, is like this: How much is fact and how much is John le Carré fiction become fact in our collective recollection? I can imagine that it might also be a problem for any new authors wanting to write a novel set in this world: Do you write about actual institutions, actual events and run the risk that no one believes the world you're describing, or do you use some of le Carré's inventions, base your fiction on fiction and have your readers assume you're writing about the truth.

Basically what I mean is, that all novels written into this particular period of the spy genre, surely have to be compared in some way or another, with the world le Carré created. How they stand up to that comparison is, unfortunately, how we then rate them. "It's good, but it's not as good as le Carré." "It's better than le Carré." "It's unrealistic (doesn't use le Carre's world)" That kind of thing. Maybe.

Whatever your opinions or experience of le Carré and the spy genre, it's well worth giving Charles Cummings' 'Trinity Six' a go. it won't disappoint. It is set in the recent past, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but is actually all about the present day repercussions from events that took place over the eighty years up until the fall of Communism. A middle-aged, recently separated from his wife academic, a lecturer in Russian affairs and part-time writer, gets dragged into present day intrigues and puts himself unknowingly in danger by getting himself caught up in other, old spy games. We travel around in Europe (surely a little less exciting since the fall of the Berlin Wall?) and we meet a variety of nice, not so nice and not so sure if they're nice, characters. There are young spies, middle-aged spies and un-reformed old Cambridge spies. It's very nearly bang up-to-date, technology-wise, but with enough links back to the good old spying glory days, to satisfy those still missing decent books about the Cold War - me, for instance. It's nicely paced and focussed, it doesn't dash unnecessarily about all over the place, it stays believable and has some decent twists, turns and revelations. Of course, the ordinary person caught up in an extraordinary world the don't understand, is nothing new, but the intrigue is genuine and there's some nice moments of suspense and uncertainty.

'Trinity Six' is a good, enjoyable read which often feels like an Alan Furst, (obviously set today rather than between the wars). That's absolutely ok with me. For those of us who have read le Carré's spy books, there's no avoiding the fact that it's not quite be up there with the Master's best. But if you haven't read le Carré, you may actually be the lucky ones and so 'Trinity Six' is an excellent entré to the mirror world of British old-school espionage.

You know what you're getting when you get into a Robert Ludlum book.

Fast paced, exciting action, taking place in exotic, globe-trotting locations - a real page-turner, as long as you don't think too much about the intricacies of the plot. And probably a couple of sleepless nights as you read "ok, just one more chapter then..."

You know what you're getting, you know what you're getting into and you know it's going to deliver.

If that's not for you, don't start one. Don't start one looking for deep meaning, and then pretend to be disappointed. Don't pretend you were expecting high prose and then feign disappointment when you don't find it. Robert Ludlum books don't have pretention; the readers sometimes do. Don't criticise, just accept them as what they are, or accept that they're maybe not for you.

With an Eric von Lustbader 'Robert Ludlum' book, it's perhaps a little less certain. He writes in the style of Robert Ludlum, but 'it's not quite there', as my old boss used to say.

Most people will have come to the Jason Bourne books after the success of the three films. I did. Though I had previously read several of the non-Bourne Ludlum books. And thoroughly enjoyed them. This one, seems to be No.8 in the Bourne series, so as I haven't read 6 or 7, I maybe shouldn't have got to this one just yet. Though I figured they would probably be pretty much stand-alone, with the links being the US Intelligence services, Treadstone, and Bourne's memory loss. That's correct here. Bourne starts in Bali, I think, then has to travel here and there unravelling this and that, all the while dodging bullets and in the process, gradually finding more clues to his own, forgotten, past.

More, you don't need to know. There are twists and turns, double-crossing (possibly triple-crossing) and general, to quote my old Grandma; "dirty-dickery" at every page turn.

The main thing that grated with me here, was a very little thing. He often, mid in the hectic action of a fight or shoot-out, mentions the type of gun being used. The villain doesn't just grab a gun and shoot at Bourne, he grabs (for instance) a Walther PK67 (I've made that up) and fires. As if that is supposed to impress me and tell me soooo much about the villains dastardly character. He is a discerning villain who only uses the very highest quality of gun, by a manufacturer we've never heard of, so must presume that it signifies an intelligence a couple of notches above our own. But because we've never heard of the gun make, it is meaningless. Just a word, a sound in our heads. He may as well have written 'Sowlsmexvofmdl'. To his credit, he doesn't do like others i could mention, and use the characters' choice of shirt-, sock-, cigar-, or fountain pen-manufacturer, to 'reveal' the dastardly villains character. As if paying over the odds for something we plebs thing nothing of picking up for a couple of coins in the local supermarket, indictes a level of sophistication that a villain absolutely shouldn't have. When James Bond asks for a Martini to be shaken, not stirred, he is admirable in his level of taste. When a Russian mobster insists on the same (and that the bartender be flown in from an exclusive Paris hotel to do it), it is supposed to indicate that he (or she, I guess), is even more ruthless and heartlessly despicable than was previously indicated by their wiping out of an innocent victim's whole family.

Oh, and; where does Bourne keep his money? It's not like he can nip to the local bank, yet he's never short, no matter what country he's in, or how much he needs. Can't figure that one out.

That'll do.

Good, but not great. A Lustbender, not a Ludlum. But I'll still read the others.

Spies and the second world war. Who doesn't love stories about one or the other?

Spies in the Second World War? Getting better.

Spies today and spies in the Second World War - Now that's a match made in some sort of secret (service) heaven for me.

So 'The Arms Maker of Berlin' had ticked all my right boxes even before I began reading it. And I wasn't disappointed when I finished. Actually, I was disappointed, but only that I had finished it.

What's it about? Hard to pin down without writing a review nearly as long as the book itself, really. Events in Nazi Germany in the closing months of the Second World War, love and betrayal - on many levels - the ripples this causes through the various protagonist's lives through the intervening, post-war partition of Germany, to re-unification and into today's international espionage world. 

I found the book really quite moving and genuinely thought-provoking. Yes, there are spies; war-time spies, cold-war spies, the start of the CIA, the Stasi in East Germany and the current international espionage wars of today. It is also about a much more intimate picture of love and emotion and what the emotions caused by love, made people do when under almost unimaginable pressures, like the Second World War. People finding that love and war makes it almost impossible for them to do right, for doing wrong. And about how the effects of World War II, still reach out to today; the emotional 'ripples' from that period, are still being felt.

The book's timeline moves back and forth between the early 1940's and the present day and you will have to pay attention. But it then pays dividends as the story develops and secrets, motives and why people did what they did, gradually become clear.

As I say, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and whilst the cover comment about Dan Fesperman being the new John le Carré, is inappropriately wide of the mark, this is nonetheless one of the best novels I've read in a long time.

A real shame it is to have come to the end of this one. Really enjoyable, really well-written, really satisfying and surely, one that's going to be really hard to beat in the whole Viking saga genre.

And, while reading books on the iPad is very convenient and generally an all-round excellent idea; how fab was it to hold the actual paperback in your hands while reading the story? Almost gives you the impression you're physically a part of the action... Quick, slap me before I start getting over-emotional and start burbling on about the magical and mystical qualities of the feel of the paper and the entoxicating smell of the ink...

Ahem...

It was surprisingly easy to slip back into Raven's world, even though it had been a year or so since I read no.2. But the Viking world Giles Kristian has created, is so enveloping, so effortlessly realised and so 'real', that even though I have read several other Viking-period sagas since the last Raven book, there was never any doubt about where I was, or who Raven and the Wolfpack are. I tried to hold myself back; I tried not to race through it but only partially succeeded. It's hard when a book is so interesting and so action-packed.

And. Maybe finally figured out what this series has had me thinking of.

I know from the book jackets (and, to boast a moment) from what he told me on Twitter (!), that Giles Kristian is part Norwegian. I now live in Denmark. I don't know whether they have put a name to the stoic, self-depreciating, beware of thinking of yourself as being more than you are, feeling, up there in Norway, however, in Denmark it is called 'Janteloven.'

'Janteloven', says you should never think you are better than others, never think you are more than you are - generally keep your head down and do your bit and don't try and claim you're better than anyone else. It is seemingly in-built for modern-day Danes, though not something I suppose that might be readily associated with the good old Vikings. However, reading this book and reflecting on how the whole Raven saga has dealt with the Vikings' relationship with their gods and the control they believe their gods have over their world - the fatalism and the way they expect anyone who sticks their head above the parapet to be struck down at some point or other, certainly did made me think about Janteloven.

As mentioned earlier, Religion - Pagan, Islam and Christian - generally seems to play a large part in this book. There are several savage encounters with the Muslim world, as they journey eastward through Europe and their path takes them via a rapidly declining Rome, to seek their fortunes in Constantinople. But it is the ultimately unwinnable fight against the inward march of Christianity, that is casting a longer and longer shadow over the Vikings' world. The Northmen's own pantheon of benevolent, or malevolent, warrior-gods don't help - seemingly just waiting for the best opportunity to sabotage the Vikings' plans at every turn. Theirs' is a raw, earthy, honest and blood-thirsty faith, superbly represented in Kristian's writing style and the elements he chooses to make up the story. The fight scene descriptions - especially the one-on-one fight scenes - are the best I've ever come across.

So, a thoroughly enjoyable book, an excellent read and a worthy climax to this section of the Raven saga. From the notes Giles Kristian has written at the end of the book, it is clear that he is taking a break from writing about Raven, to do the English Civil War series, but will return to the lands of ice and snow at a later date. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Raven is still young, still hungry for success, silver and all the experiences the Viking world can offer. He's still curious about/dreading what his gods have got planned for his future - and so am I.

(I also want to know how Raven's broken nose gets on).

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. I've previously read 'The Tourist', which was also excellent, though probably more of a mainstream spy novel.
'The Vienna Assignment' is particularly good because it doesn't do, as in the main character doesn't do, what you probably expect it/him to. At least, that's how I felt anyway.
It's set in Eastern Europe - and, as Vienna and Austria are in Western Europe - Western Europe, in the mid-sixties. It's about spies, about Socialism about suspicion and trust, betrayal and idealism when all the evidence points against it.
Atmospheric, intriguing and thought-provoking. Read it, you won't be disappointed.

A powerful, provocative and thought-provoking read, this is the second installment in Angus Donald's re-interpretation of the Robin Hood myth.

Even though you are prepared for this not being your usual Robin Hood story, Angus Donald still keeps you gripped and surprises you at nearly every turn. Mainly, I'd say, because like the first in the series, 'Outlaw', whilst of course headlined as a Robin Hood story, it was in reality more about the tale of Alan Dale, than of Robin Hood.

'Holy Warrior' is the same and more so.

Angus Donald's Robin Hood is a dark and fairly mysterious presence, often in the background of the story. When taking the lead, he is an interesting enigma; a pragmatic, powerful figure, an idealist, but also a realist. Happily for me though, he is still the pagan Robin from 'Outlaw'. He hasn't a lot of time or patience for Alan's 'new' Christian preaching, preferring I thought, to steer his own course through his own beliefs and ideals. Here, he seems to be what I hope I interpret correctly; a coalescence of the pagan history, legends and folk heroes of old Britain (older than 'England'), an honourable man, of and for the people.

It's a harsh book in some ways. The first one I thought, was necessarily harsh in its description of Robin Hood and his earthy, matter-of-fact paganism. Some incidents which, for me, were integral in both separating this Robin Hood from the one we think we knew (thanks to tradition, Hollywood and the Nottingham tourist people) and emphasising the fact that the Robin Hood legend has developed out of a strong, much more ancient British pagan tradition - encompassing, amongst other traditions, the Green Man - was not to everyone's taste. And those who found a certain 'sex' scene too much in book one, will certainly find plenty to enjoy being shocked about here. Better stay indoors with your Mills & Boon 'histories'  the rest of your life then, because this is how it was. Not always as nice as Errol Flynn would have you believe.

But, as I've said before, this is really the story of - and of course, by - Alan Dale. Alan worships the ground Robin walks on, especially you could say - as Alan is a good God-fearing Christian - when they reach The Holy Land. But, as Robin confuses, insults, disappoints and angers Alan on a regular basis, the hero worship is often also against Alan's better judgement. He cannot leave him, though he sometimes wishes he could.

We learn more about Robin and what he believes in, partly because he is taken away from his comfort zone of England and Sherwood. The story roams through the Mediterranean, from the Norman stronghold of Scicily, to Cyprus and on to The Holy Land with The Third Crusade. Robin and his band of men are at the beck and call of King Richard, in repayment of a debt and clearly against his better judgement. But who is using who? It seems that Robin has his own agenda to follow out in The Holy Land. And it is, shall we say, more about pennies, than pennitence.

There is no way Robin is the title's 'Holy Warrior'. Maybe Richard is and Alan would probably like to think he is.

Whilst the next book in the series is called 'The King's Man', I would say that title actually was more relevant here, as a reference to Alan's relation to Robin. Robin is the 'king' of Alan's world and Alan is, though he might frequently say he wishes it wasn't so, is always going to be his man.

Looking forward to the next one. Ooh! I just downloaded it!

I'm going to have to stick my neck out and say this (number six) is the best of the series so far. Certainly the most enjoyable one for me.

There's no doubt about it, 'Death Of Kings' is much more sure, more direct, more honest and more perceptive than most of Cornwall's competitors out there. A really satisfying, considered and poignant exploration of the main character of Uhtred and origins of what we now think of as 'England'.

I don't know about anyone else, but Alfred The Great was always an irritation and I'm glad he dies in this one. Now, Uhtred the Saxon raised as a Viking, can really come into his own and shine. And shine he does - and he needs to, as after Alfred's death there are no shortage of Britons and Danes wanting to take advantage and take the country for their own. But then if you're reading this one, you've probably read the previous ones and/or have a reasonably good idea of the real history that lies behind the story and you know all that.

Uhtred really wants to go north and try to reclaim his ancestral home in Norhumberland, but his loyalty is torn and that mission must wait for another time. Now, he has to cut through the crap being scattered about by various usurpers and claimants to the throne of a land that is still struggling to come together.

Can't recommend 'Death Of Kings' highly enough and while half of me thinks a couple more battles wouldn't have gone amis, the other half of me finds myself thinking that this is a story of history of such grand stature that it doesn't need them.

This is without doubt a big, glorious, involving book. One you can get totally lost in.

It's a rich, twisting, and thoroughly absorbing tale. One that travels through Spain, France, England, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Finland (I think), what is now Russia and all the way down the rivers and rapids to Constantinople. Whilst the cover says it is a novel of the Norman Conquests, it isn't - as such. I'd say it is fundamentally a journey through the world as known by later period Vikings.

Personally, had I been the author, I'd have argued against (presumably) the Marketing Department's suggestion of putting 'An epic novel of the Norman Conquests' on the front cover. Yes, there are Normans in it - and they are of course bad - and it takes place in the period shortly after the conquest of England, but if you're looking for a 'Sworn Sword' or another 'Hereward', you'll be better looking elsewhere. It is at least an epic, that bit's spot on.

It just goes to show how hard it is to pin down what this multi-faceted book actually is. On the face of it, it's a reasonably simple tale. An Arabic leader demands a ransom for a Norman knight he holds. Money, lots of it, or four rare, snow-white hunting hawks. From the title of the book, you can perhaps guess which option they decide upon.

A motley band of adventurers come together through accident and circumstance and proceed try to to carry out the quest of the title and the book is their adventures along the way. Vallon is a Frankish knight on his way back from being held captive by the Moors in Spain, when he runs into Hero, a young Sicilian scholar travelling with his master and teacher. The old Arab is dying, but has the details of the ransom wanted for a captured Norman knight out in the Middle East. The journey goes to England, where they meet up with a wild kind of woodland-dwelling outcast boy, called Wayland. Handily, he is an expert when it comes to handling Hawks. They are effectively chased out of England and travel to Iceland, then Greenland after the Hawks they need. They collect other adventurers on the way and are pursued by all manner of Normans, Icelanders and on the 'return' journey through Norway and Russia, by Vikings and marauding Steppe nomads.

Whilst Vallon is the leader of the group, the most interesting character, perhaps not surprisingly given the author's background, is young Wayland. The author is a falconer and Wayland is the character in the book who hunts, captures and cares for the hawks of the book's title. Passages describing him, and his adventures in the countryside - both fighting, protecting his comrades and capturing the Hawks - are superb. Robert Lyndon really brings the wildlife, forests and countryside of 11th Century Europe vividly to life. You can almost smell it!

There's a little and a lot of everything here (well over 600 pages in the hardback version I have, so lord only knows how many it'll have when it comes out in paperback). But whilst it is a long story, it's one that is constantly moving, action-packed and manages to stay focused the whole way through.

So while it is a quest and it is set in the (in England anyway) Norman period, it isn't a novel of the Norman conquests. Vikings are in it, but it isn't a Viking novel. It's a quest, a long involved one at that, but it isn't 'Lord of the Rings'. Maybe it's just written for the love of it. Yes, that must be it. Stop trying to sort out what it is or isn't, Steve. Stop over analysing and enjoy - is what I told myself about a third of the way in. And enjoy it I did, very much indeed.