Review: The Secret of the Bastille by Paul Féval, fils and M. Lassez

I've now progressed to the third book in my read-through of Paul Féval and M. Lassez's The Years Between series. This is a 4-part series where they take the famous characters (more or less loosely based on real historical people) created by Alexandre Dumas and Edmond Rostand, namely d'Artagnan and Cyrano de Bergerac. The events of the series take place in-between Dumas' The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, in 1641.

The third novel continues directly from the events of the second novel and thus the following review will contain spoilers for those not familiar with the story. If you don't want to be spoiled, you can jump directly to the last paragraph.

Review: Martyr to the Queen by Paul Féval, fils and M. Lassez

In my previous blog entry, I reviewed the first part of Paul Féval and M. Lassez's The Years Between series of novels where they take the characters created by Alexandre Dumas and Edmond Rostand, namely d'Artagnan and Cyrano de Bergerac, and bring them together in a new adventure that takes place in-between Dumas' The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

The second novel in the series continues immediately after the first one ended and thus the following review will contain spoilers for those not familiar with the story. If you don't want to be spoiled, you can jump directly to the last paragraph.

Review: The Mysterious Cavalier by Paul Féval, fils and M. Lassez

In my search of historical fiction set in the 17th century, I happened across the name of Paul Féval, fils and his series of stories, some of them written in collaboration with M. Lassez. What makes them especially interesting is that the authors quite freely took characters created by other authors - d'Artagnan and the familiar three musketeers and Cyrano de Bergerac - and wrote new stories about them.

Review: Sword of Skelos by Andrew J. Offutt

Andrew J. Offutt wrote three Conan stories that are often praised as the best Conan stories not written by Robert E. Howard. Having read Robert Jordan's adequate but not memorable entries into the saga of Conan, I have been reluctant to pick up any of the stories from other authors. However, when I realised that Offutt had written the original story for one of my favourite non-REH Savage Sword of Conan comics - Sword of Skelos - I simply had to take a closer look.

Comics Adaptations of Robert E. Howard's Queen of the Black Coast

Robert E. Howard's Queen of the Black Coast is one of his most memorable stories and it has - deservedly - been adapted several times, most famously by both Marvel and Dark Horse in their Conan comics. Both of them attempt to extend the story from the original: instead of a single quick short story, they add to it and attempt to show how influential it was to Conan's character. They both also moved the story in Conan's chronology so that it takes place in his youth. Howard's original told a story that spanned a long time of Conan's life in mere four chapters, so this attempt to expand upon it is very welcome. A third adaptation was made by Petri Hiltunen, a Finnish comic artist.

The approaches the adaptations took are very different. I'll use this chance to provide an overall look of all of them and will then continue to give the reasons why I think one of them is a far more successful retelling than the others.

Review: The Devil's Fire by Matt Tomerlin

Matt Tomerlin's The Devil's Fire is the first novel in a series of three, telling the story of Katherine Lindsay whose husband is brutally killed in front of her before she herself is dragged aboard a pirate ship. It is set in the somewhat over-used time period when Nassau was the pirate haven in the Caribbean. Forced to share a cabin with a pirate captain for several months, Katherine begins to get used to the life at sea. But the shadow of her dead husband is ever-present...

Review: Black Sails First Season

Black Sails is a Starz produced series telling the story of events leading up to Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. The protagonist is Captain Flint, the year is 1715 and the setting is mainly Nassau on the New Providence Island of the Bahamas - the historical pirate haven from 1713-1718. In addition to Stevenson's pirate captain, the show stars historical figures such as Anne Bonny, Benjamin Hornigold, Jack Rackham, and Charles Vane.

Review: Family Pack by Michael Jasper

Michael Jasper's Family Pack tells the tale of Tommy Rolins who has abandoned his studies in order to take responsibility of an unplanned child in a relationship that doesn't really work. As the parents are struggling with their money problems and their failing relationship, a bloody murder takes place in a nearby forest - a forest that Tommy considers his own territory and where he spends his nights prowling as a werewolf every full moon...

My Top Five Reads of 2014

At the turn of a year, it is fun to look back at everything that you've read over the past year. The nice statistics offered by Goodreads tell me that I read a total of 76 books - including traditional novels, but also graphic novels and one or two short stories that were published on their own.

Picking out my five tops reads is not such an easy task, since quite a few of them ended up receiving 4 or 5 stars from me - and I also have an urge to avoid the obvious choices and pick out the ones that surprised me in a good way. So, although the books below are hereby selected as my 5 top reads, they are not necessarily the 5 best books that I read. If that makes any sense...

Review: The Noble Pirates by Rima Jean

Rima Jean's The Noble Pirates is a tale of a woman participating on a booze cruise with her friends when a sudden storm removes her from her own time of 2011 and throws her through time in to the year of 1719 and into the hands of pirates. I did not expect much from a time travel pirate novel, which sounded suspiciously too much like a romance novel to boot, but I was very pleasantly surprised by what it turned out to be.