The Librain……retired

Welcome to my first Reading Roundup post of 2024! In this post I am “rounding up” the final books of 2023, which I managed to read during Christmas and the time before New Year.

Here they are…

My first book was Wolf of Mercia by M J Porter (#02 Eagle of Mercia Chronicles). I wrote about the first book in the series in my final roundup post of 2024. Anyway, I decided to continue with the series and this is the blurb:

“As a lone wolf inside a Wessex stronghold, Icel must ensure his own and Mercia’s triumph.

Icel is becoming a warrior of Mercia, but King Ecgberht of Wessex still holds the Mercian settlement of Londonia and its valuable mint.

King Wiglaf of Mercia is determined that the last bulwark be reclaimed from his sworn enemy to complete his rehabilitation as Mercia’s rightful ruler.

In the heart of the shield wall, Icel suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the battle and thrust into the retreating enemy stronghold where he must take on the pretence of a Wessex warrior to survive and exact a cunning plan to bring down the Wessex force cowering behind the ancient walls.

His allegiances are tested and the temptation to make new allies is overwhelming but Icel must succeed if he’s ever to see Tamworth again and bring about King Wiglaf’s victory, or will he be forced to join the enemy?”

This was my response on Goodreads:

Wolf of Mercia by M.J. Porter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another well-written episode in the series, although I did find some jarring mistakes here and there! The book was more exciting this time with plenty of battles and mayhem. Our hero grew up further towards adulthood and became more able with both fighting and healing (two rather interesting and opposing skills!).

I found the descriptions of the ruins of Roman London very interesting and also quite poignant, comparing the civilisation of the Roman Empire with life in Dark Age Britain.

I plan to read more books in this series at a later date.

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The second book was a return to one of my most favourite authors, Stuart MacBride:

Here is the blurb:

“It was supposed to be an easy job. All Detective Constable Edward Reekie had to do was pick up a dying prisoner from HMP Grampian and deliver him somewhere to live out his last few months in peace.

From the outside, Glenfarach looks like a quaint, sleepy, snow-dusted village, nestled deep in the heart of Cairngorms National Park, but things aren’t what they seem. The place is thick with security cameras and there’s a strict nine o’clock curfew, because Glenfarach is the final sanctuary for people who’ve served their sentences but can’t be safely released into the general population. Edward’s new boss, DI Montgomery-Porter, insists they head back to Aberdeen before the approaching blizzards shut everything down, but when an ex-cop-turned-gangster is discovered tortured to death in his bungalow, someone needs to take charge. The weather’s closing in, tensions are mounting, and time’s running out – something nasty has come to Glenfarach, and Edward is standing right in its way…”

And this was my short response:

The Dead of Winter by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Stuart MacBride’s writing and he has become one of my favourite authors. The black humour, larger than life characters and twisting plots are very hard to beat.

It was interesting to read the first book in what I assume is a new series. As usual, there were plenty of amusing moments, amongst the gore and violence. I was not so sure about the main female character, whilst she was different to other senior policewomen in MacBride’s books, she was definitely over-the-top. I will enjoy seeing how this will develop.

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The next book was worth the full five stars in my view!

Rosamund Lupton’s Three Hours was a completely random choice from an ebook offer. I am so glad that I chose it and this is the blurb:

“In a rural English village in the middle of a snowstorm, the unthinkable happens: the school is under siege.

From the wounded headmaster barricaded in the library, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the pregnant police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the terrified 8-year-old Syrian refugee, to the kids sheltering in the school theatre still rehearsing Macbeth, all must find the courage to stand up to evil and try to save the people they love . . .

In an intense exploration of fear and violence, courage and redemption, Rosamund Lupton takes us deep into the heart of human experience.”

 

And this is my response on Goodreads…

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Phew! I really was gripped by this tale and couldn’t stop reading. I read into the evening so that I could reach the end and find out who had survived.

Of course, no book is perfect and there were some slight issues here and there, but, after all, this is a work of the imagination. It is fiction. I liked the interweaving of Macbeth (the only Shakespeare play that I know).

I get that some people did not feel this way about the book and that is fine. There are so many books for us all to enjoy!

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My final book of the year was this one…

My choice was Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes. All of these four books were so different from one another! Anyway, this is the blurb for Stone Blind:

“So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.’

Medusa is the sole mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her Gorgon sisters, she begins to realize that she is the only one who experiences change, the only one who can be hurt. And her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.

When the sea god Poseidon commits an unforgivable act in the temple of Athene, the goddess takes her revenge where she can – and Medusa is changed forever. Writhing snakes replace her hair, and her gaze now turns any living creature to stone. The power cannot be Medusa can look at nothing without destroying it. She is condemned to a life of shadows and darkness.

Until Perseus embarks upon a quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .”

This was my review:

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was so interesting! Although it is such a long time since I studied or read Greek myths, I found it really fascinating to read them in this form. Instead of heroes fighting hideous, evil monsters, we are shown weak humans, petulant gods and goddesses and hideous, but sympathetic “monsters”. I enjoyed the twists from the usual retelling of these stories.

It was a great book to read as my last one for 2023!

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So, I reached my 2023 Reading Challenge in the end; in fact I read three more books: the challenge was 60 and I read 63. This was pretty good considering the issues that I am still having since the stroke in 2019, both visually and cognitively. Also, Lovely Husband was injured in April and was stuck up here in bed with me for six months, and he is definitely not a keen book reader so became very bored when I insisted on some quiet reading time. Trying to reach an arbitrarily chosen target is a bit daft, I suppose, but it is fun. Thinking about this, I might drop 2024’s target to 50 to prevent any possible pressures.

Here is 2023’s Year in Books…

So, next week’s post will start the 2024 Reading Year!

Happy Reading to you all.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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