Nicolas de la Reynie has the distinction of being Paris’s first police chief, a position he stepped into during the reign of King Louis XIV. Paris was a nasty cesspool full of criminals at the time, and de la Reynie turned things around by putting lamps up everywhere (which is how Paris came to be known as “the City of Light”). But not everything in Paris could be cured with a well-placed lamp. During de la Reynie’s tenure, people in Paris were getting poisoned left […]
Putting the Blitz in Blitzkreig
Do you think you know a lot about World War Two? I think I know a lot about World War Two. I’ve read a lot of books, I’ve watched a lot of movies, I’ve listened to my husband natter on and on and on about his enormous mental collection of World War Two facts. But you know what I didn’t know? That the Nazis were on drugs the whole time! And that this explains literally everything about the war! Before I get into that, though, […]
The French are Coming – Wait, What?
Laurence’s overarching character traits throughout the series have been his sense of duty, honor and morality (sometimes a bit stuffy and old-fashioned). As a result, it was shocking but not out of character for him to make the decision he did in Empire of Ivory, and commit treason when the British government chose a course that conflicted with Laurence’s own sense of right and wrong. Having seen the deadly effects of the dragon virus on the English beasts, and no longer considering dragons merely beasts […]
The moonlit wings reflect the skies that guide me towards salvation
This time, the story kicks off right where the last novel ended, with Temeraire, the mercenary ferals and the remains of the Prussian army in sights of the English coast after their escape from the occupying French forces. However, there are no dragons to be seen, adding to the questions that have been building since the previous novel. It’s always hard to tell with series how much novelists plan ahead and know exactly where the broad strokes are going vs how much is figured out […]
The fire’s starting to die out a bit now
3.5 stars Spoiler warning! This is the third and final book in the trilogy, and will without a doubt contain spoilers for the earlier books in the series. Don’t read this review if you want to remain unspoiled and aren’t caught up with the previous two books. If you want to start at the beginning, book 1 (by far the best book in the series) is A Promise of Fire. Cat and her warlord husband Griffin have defeated the rulers of tyrannical Tarva and united two thirds […]
“It’s Drivin’ Me Mad, It’s Makin’ Me Crazy”
The Lost City of Z is both the tale of Percy Fawcett’s multiple expeditions to find the mythological City of Z (El Dorado) and David Grann’s, “expedition” to discover, once and for all, what happened to Percy Fawcett? What did happen to Percy Fawcett? At times it plays out like an inception-style story of the author searching for previous expeditions that were searching for the Fawcett expedition. There is plenty of mystery and intrigue in the book. Percy Fawcett comes across as a fascinating […]
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