Review: Zorro by Isabel Allende

I've always been a fan of swashbucklers and historical adventure, but I have to admit that my enthusiasm is targeted more to the 17th century than the early 19th - and thus all the various retellings and other stories of Zorro don't attract my attention so much. But when I browsed the sale of used books at the local library and found Isabel Allende's Zorro available for a single euro, I decided to give it a try. And although it was not the best historical adventure book I've read, it was still worth a read.

Review: The Duel - A Military Tale by Joseph Conrad

The Duel - A Military Tale is the novella behind the esteemed film adaptation, The Duellists by Ridley Scott, which starred Keith Carradine as Armand d'Hubert and Harvey Keitel as Gabriel Féraud. The tale explores the concepts of honour and pride through the acts and lives of two men, d'Hubert and Féraud, who have very different ideas of what they mean. I reviewed the film in the previous post and now it is time to take a look at the novella.

Review: The Duellists (1977)

It often seems to me that The Duellists (or The Duelists for our friends across the pond) is one of the forgotten classics in historical fiction films. Quite surprisingly, it is directed by Ridley Scott, who is not known for any strive for historical accuracy and who has even stated that he willingly ignores historical details in order to tell a good story. Perhaps we should count ourselves lucky that he did not see history and the story conflicting in this particular case.

Review: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

I'd better get this straight right from the start: Patrick O'Brian is my absolute favourite author. More specifically, I love his Aubrey/Maturin novels for how they transport me to another place and time so completely. I've read the series through twice and finished reading the first novel, Master and Commander, for the third time a few days ago, which led me to write this review love letter.

Review: The Beast Within by Jane Jensen

Jane Jensen's The Beast Within is a novelisation of the 1990's video game Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within. Game tie-in novels are known to be rather low quality reads, but - to my utter surprise - The Beast Within ended up being the exception to the rule. The story takes place in Bavaria, Germany, where Gabriel has moved to live in a castle that he's inherited from his uncle alongside the title of Shattenjager - Shadow Hunter.

Review: House of Corruption by Erik Tavares

Erik Tavares' House of Corruption is a great find to any fan of werewolves or the horror genre in general. Set in the 1890's, the protagonist is Reynard LaCroix, a werewolf, who has been able to avoid his curse for the past few years with the help of a silver bullet that is lodged inside his chest. Rather than focussing solely on werewolves, House of Corruption adds other more or less traditional horror genre creatures; undead demons.