Tag archives for Parliament
Red Horse by M.J. Logue [Book Review]
Red Horse by Logue My rating: 5 of 5 stars Red Horse is set at the beginning of the First English Civil War in 1642. The primary characters are Captain Hollie Babbitt and his young Cornet Luce Pettitt. Babbitt is a grizzled and damaged English mercenary back from the continent to fight for Parliament. Pettitt fights from conviction and conscience, he is a distant relation to the Earl of Essex. This sets us up nicely for a tale from a cavalry viewpoint with the odd glimpse of higher command. There are a troop of supporting characters as well. For the most part they simply give enough context for the main characters not to be in isolation. Both main characters are flawed, and this makes their character development engaging. Luce starts off naive and relatively innocent. I could identify my…
Book Review – The Last Roundhead by Jemahl Evans
Roundhead in the English Civil War (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The Last Roundhead by Jemahl Evans My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Last Roundhead is the best historical fiction I have read in years! This is the tale of Blandford Candy, the last roundhead alive in 1719 when he wrote his memoirs. In the long hot summer of 1642 he is forced to leave home because his sister has discovered that he is having an affair with his eldest brother's wife to be. He rides up to London in search of fame and fortune, just in time to be enlisted in his uncle's Regiment. It is by far the best historical fiction that I have read since I finished reading the Flashman papers. The Last Roundhead Laid out in the style of the Flashman papers, Candy's story is very well…