Conn Iggulden

sloweye said:
I've never really got in to the Rome stories before, but he really has me gripped. I'm more for the Saxon/Northmen stories. But i shall be on the look out for more of his from now on.
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Im in sweden so all those Saxon/Norse stories from the British POV is not cool. The viking sterotype is old news to us here.

Rome was not interesting to me before Iggulden.

My new fascination is Napoleon era, CS Forrester is great and i have read first Sharpe book chrono wise Sharpe's Tiger. Sharpe was character,battles wise was hardcore.
 
Bernard Cornwell is top of my list when it comes to HF. The sharpe books are amazing and his saxon books are out of this world. Sharpes Tiger is awesome, i have alot of the series but some i have had to loan from the library.

I've been watching the Sharpe TV series lately too, i have most but not all on DVD. it's So well cast.
 
I like Sean Bean but im glad i didnt watch the tv series, it wasnt as hardcore. Have you read Hornblower/Forrester ?

Sharpe saved Cornwell name for me. I tried reading the first book in Saxon series and didnt like it.
 
The DVDs are a little, but not much, better than the TV cut's (Waterloo is well done)

I couldn't get in to Hornblower, i'm not sure why, it just didn't grab me.

The Saxon series got better as it went on, but i read the second book first without realising it was part of a series. I bought it in a pound shop while i was hanging around town for an appointment, when i found out there were other books i went on the hunt :D
 
sloweye said:
The DVDs are a little, but not much, better than the TV cut's (Waterloo is well done)

I couldn't get in to Hornblower, i'm not sure why, it just didn't grab me.

The Saxon series got better as it went on, but i read the second book first without realising it was part of a series. I bought it in a pound shop while i was hanging around town for an appointment, when i found out there were other books i went on the hunt :D
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Let me guess it was sail jargon that was hard in Hornblower ? I thought he was joking with that since i ddint understand a word without using wiki dictionary.

I think Cornwell should not use first person POV he was weak with that the first Saxon book. Sharpe was third person and much more fluid,smooth read.
 
Contemporary historical fiction is much easier to read because of the language. As historical fiction fan though we have to try the writers that current writers admire. Hornblower is the most famous literary naval hero. Why i tried it.

Dudley Pope i liked reading of the naval historical i tried. I think he is from 60s,70s. Kent i have heard of but not read. Julian Stockwin also british navy series was sloppy.
 
I need the 'easy to read' stuff, just because of my reading problems. I'm really trying to expand my library, hence trying Iggulden, i tend to become fixated with one writer. i went through a stage of just reading Stephen King, then Terry Pratchette.
 
sloweye - Try Christian Cameron and Sam Barone very easy to read I am told. The nice thing about Iggulden is he has a similar style to David Gemmell and he quotes Gemmell as his major inspiration. Steven Pressfield is apparently very good, a bit more complex but still entertaining.
 
I enjoy historical fiction too much to focus on one writer. My contemporary favs are like this Conn,Scott Oden,Pressfield,Cornwell,Scarrow.
 
Biodroid, you might want to try Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels. There are about twenty of them, and a movie was made (Master and Commander: Far Side of the World) by mashing a few of them together, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey. They are written in a style reminiscent of the era, and the dialogue is very much that of the early 19th century.

To me, they easily blow Forrester's Hornblower out of the water (pun intended). Notwithstanding that, I'd still read Forrester, because it is great stuff.
 
Yeah we all have our fav authors im the opposite of Clansman POB language realism is nothing against the storytelling,characters of Hornblower hehe.

Biodroid you can find both authors in most bookstores in Historical fiction shelfs. Not like they are unknown writers. Find better stores or go to play.com,abebooks or other cheap online stores. Same thing with Pressfield,Oden,Scarrow.
 
Asda and Sainsburys often have quite a bit of Conn and Cornwell on sale too. Smiths have Wolf of the Plains in a large paperback for about a fiver at the moment :)
 
Thanks guys but South Africa only has a couple of major book stores. Just need to make time to have a look but my TBR pile is pretty large so focusing on that at the moment.
 
I didn't enjoy Iggulden very much. His books are mildly entertaining while being horribly historically inaccurate. I tried to get into his Genghis Khan series but some of the liberties he took made no sense and actually detracted from the real story of the Mongols. I don't read historical fiction just for the history part and am very ok with authors changing things for dramatic effect or whatever but Iggulden's changes made the Mongols very different and much less than what they were.

It will take a lot of convincing for me to try another Iggulden book.
 
I am reading the first book in the Emperor series now. It's a very good story, very absorbing with a lot of fast-paced action.
 
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