Reviews and Comments

Didactylos

Didactylos@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

Eclectic reader but inceasingly annoyed at the commodification of books and the way our reading is being exploited

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Historical non fiction about the Norman rule from William Rufus to Henry 2.

Very interesting

4 stars

Not what I thought it was going to be. I expected a focus on the actual White Ship and possible exploration of what might have happened and why. Instead this forms the centre point of a very interesting history of the Normans up until the end of the Anarchy and the beginning of Henry 2 as a Plantagenet. Fascinating to see just how political and robber baron it really was.

Giles Milton: D-Day (2018, Hodder & Stoughton) 3 stars

Pieced together accounts from participants on the day

Very readable but

3 stars

There are numerous errors which grate and maybe suggest this is not anything like as factually correct as I thought it might be. Some of the beach descriptions are odd, the reference to German 88's as mortars when they were dual purpose AA and direct fire weapons, the pulling of a grenade pin by teeth (seriously impossible and just Hollywood), the officer who is actually a corporal.....

Ian Rankin: Rather Be The Devil (2016) 4 stars

John Rebus, now a couple of years into his retirement finds himself drawn into a …

Not greatly impressed

2 stars

This feels very much like squeezing a little more out of a well wrung out towel. Rebus is pulled back into the action and seems able to go and do whatever he likes despite no longer being in the 'polis'. Strained my credibility. The ending seems rushed and a cop out.