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Two pages on historical fiction and no mentions of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy? Let me correct that – absolutely brilliant.
Two pages on PULP historical fiction. Considering that James Clavell, Ken Follett and even Sven Hassell were all suggested before any actual history books (Max Adams was my first thought as well, even though they get a little repetitive), I'd suggest that Hilary Mantel might be a little highbrow for this thread. 😀
Sven Hassell was a great favourite from the 2nd hand book stall in the market when my friends and I were 13. I sometimes see his stuff around and wonder about how bad it could be..
+1 for Pillars of the Earth, I can't quite explain it, I'm pretty convinced it's actually really badly written but even so I loved it. Shame World Without End is basically the same book.
Bit leftfield maybe but Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. Now it's all alternative history, but it's ridiculously compelling alternative history that made me look again at the real world equivalents. It's a bit too ambitious really but still awesome.
Two pages on historical fiction and no mentions of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy? Let me correct that – absolutely brilliant.
I really, really wanted to like these, I soldiered on till about page 100 of the first book- just couldn’t cope with her writing style at all. Really disappointed and aware that it’s my problem not hers as everyone else raves about them.
On the other hand the BBC adaptation was wonderful
If you are looking for novels in the Tudor period, The Shardlake series by C.J. Samson are worth a look, as are those by S.J.Parris.
I enjoyed Wolf Hall but I think that rather than being a good gateway into the history, I was a bit held back by the fact that I didn't know the history. It feels like it's written with the assumption that you grew up learning divorced, beheaded, died and all that, like my mum did and like I didn't.
Shardlake- loved the first few but Heartstone kind of jumped the shark a bit in terms of credibility for me, it finally became too obvious that he was going to turn up at every major event like Forrest Gump.
I really, really wanted to like these, I soldiered on till about page 100 of the first book- just couldn’t cope with her writing style at all.
Fair. Constantly referring to Cromwell as "he", as well as using "he" for various other characters does mean I have to read some of the sentences more than once to figure out who's saying what.
There's very few books that make me laugh out loud these days though, but Wolf Hall managed it ("Call Me") and so did The Mirror and the Light ("would that be the pain in your b0ll0cks?")
If you like Vikings and Arthurian legend then I'd throw in Giles Kristian. Couple of different book series, great books.
David Churchills William the Conqueror books also very good. Leopards of Normandy is the first in a trilogy.
As much as I love David Gemmell the Valerio Manfredi Alexander books are much better.
Conn Igguldens Genghis and the Caeser books are the pick of the bunch. The war of the roses ones are good too but I'd read the other two first.
And as mentioned Pillars of the earth is really good, don't be put off by the blurb. But again as mentioned the follow up books are pretty much the same story. The Century books are excellent too though more modern.
If you prefer the politics rather than the hack and slash then Robert Harris's Rome stuff is worth a look.
It feels like it’s written with the assumption that you grew up learning divorced, beheaded, died and all that, like my mum did and like I didn’t.
I've got to disagree with that. I'm sure that you knew that Henry had several wives, and that Anne Boleyn at least was beheaded. The vast majority of people who know 'divorced/beheaded/dies/whatever' couldn't tell you much more than that phrase about the history of Henry's court, and before Mantel wrote these books, probably couldn't tell you anything about Cromwell other than maybe his involvement with the dissolution of monasteries.
The novels are about a person - Cromwell - who doesn't figure at all in popular history (or at least, not very much) and his imagined relations with the court etc. Does it really alter the way you read the book if you know/don't know that several of the major characters die? Does Cromwell's relationship with the Boleyn family depend on foreknowledge of her death? Of course it doesn't.
I enjoyed World without End, admittedly I read it during lockdown,and the storyline linked to the plague I found eerie to read as it had been written 12 years or so beforehand.
I'd agree with fd3chris on page 1. Last kingdom stuff is good, but the warlord trilogy is better.