While I was offline, I managed to do quite a bit of reading, and I thought I should finally get around to putting some of my thoughts about them.
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Now, I've seen the film version of this years ago, and that has more of a fluid narrative than the book which is more a serious of interlinked scenes. Even so, it was still really good. The hardest thing about it is the dialect, as it is all in dialect and needs to be read quite attentively to understand what is being said, but it gave the right flavour to the book...and that is from someone who doesn't care for reading it. If anything, though, I didn't find it as hard hitting as the film. Perhaps because I'd already seen in and was expecting the worst scenes and could visualize them as from the film, still it had a lesser impact on me. 8 out of 10
The Religion by Tim Willocks
Excellent. I bought this on my last trip to England as part of a 3 for 2 deal, and picked it up because it looked an interesting third book to make up my pile. It turned out to be the best of the lot. It's the story of the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565, and is mostly told through the point of view of Matthias Tannhauser (and yes I can see GB playing him!) an adventurer and former Jannisary, who is now enlisted to help the last of the Hospitalliers defend Malta. At the same time he is hired by Contessa Carla La Penautier, to find her bastard son who she was forced to give up at birth. It contains a lovely blend of historical detail as well as romance with some great sex scenes for a mainstream novel, and there is more than a hint of slash. The battle scenes are excellently written, and on par with Bernard Cornwell, but with a lot more blood and gore. The Religion is apparently the first of a planned trilogy, so I'm going to keep my eyes open for more. 10 out of 10.
Attila by William Napier
If it has the name Attila on it, I'll read it, even if I end up grouching my way through it because of all the inaccuracies. This one wasn't too bad. It tells the life of a young Attila who was a hostage at the Imperial Roman court (a few writing have placed him as such, but there is no great evidence). He becomes the enemy of Placidia Galla, at that time the Emperor's sister and as the Visigoths march on Rome, she plans to assassinate Attila and blame in on the Goths. Instead, Attila escapes and has to make his across Italy and the Alps back to his homeland in Pannonia. This would have been a good story as glimpses of the man Attila will become grow more and more evident as the novel goes on, but where it falls down is the historical inaccuracies for which Napier has just pulled out of the air. Such as Orestes, who is a Roman slave boy that Attila meets and takes into servitude with the Huns, where the real Orestes was a Greek mercenary whose father was a Roman officer at Aquinicum. There was also the secondary story of a Roman guard who returns to his Britannia homeland, and while the two plots come together at the end, it is really superfluous. Again, this is the first of a planned trilogy. 6 out of 10.
Attila: The Scourge of God by Ross Laidlaw
Compared to this one, the above book is brilliant. In fact, I threw this book down in disgust about a third of the way through, and I'm not sure I'll pick it up again, despite my keenness on Attila. Where the other had inaccuracies this had moments of pure WTF!? The early part of the book centres on Aetius and his rival Boniface. The author seems more interested, though, in recording every Latin place name that his characters go through and then skims over important battles. I had enough though, when the banished Aetius finds shelter with the Huns and Attila, still a prince, is depicted as a benevolent ruler to be with plans to turn the Huns into a kinder, gentler tribe by doing away with certain barbaric punishments, and it is Aetius who persuades him not to. WTF!? A generous 3 out of 10.
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