What are we reading?

[ArizonaTank]

I just finished "Essex Dogs" by Dan Jones.

This is a historical novel following the trials and tribulations of a company of English mercenaries who are fighting for the English King Edward III and his son, the "Black Prince," during the Crecy campaign at the start of the 100 Years War.

Jones is mostly known for his solid portfolio of medieval histories, so he brings a historian's eye to the tale; the book is just dripping with atmosphere.

I thought it started out a little slow, but about 1/3 in, I became fully engaged with the characters and happily went along for the ride.

If medieval armies and campaigns are your thing, you really can't go wrong with the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Essex-Dogs-Novel-Dan-Jones/dp/0593653785/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1682031362&sr=8-1

[Gusington]

^Thanks, I've added it to my cart. Amazon also has a 2nd book listed, confusingly part of...a trilogy?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BWW1F9JR?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_1&storeType=ebooks

[Gusington]

Now reading Persians by Lloyd Llewellyn Jones.

About done with the first chapter which is extremely revisionist and keeps hammering home how it was the ancient Greeks who were truly barbaric, much more so than the Persians.

I will soldier on with this title anyway hoping to learn more.

[ArizonaTank]

^Thanks, I've added it to my cart. Amazon also has a 2nd book listed, confusingly part of...a trilogy?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BWW1F9JR?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_1&storeType=ebooks

Looks like it is to be trilogy then...:)  Of course he still hasn't published the 2nd book.

I guess I knew more were coming because there are a couple of plot threads in the first book that were never closed.

[Destraex]

Been reading something called Omega Rising. It has a compelling premise -

Jason Burke was a man hiding from himself in a small cabin high in the American Rocky Mountains when his simple, quiet life was shattered one night by what he first assumed was an aviation mishap. But when he investigates the crash, what he finds will yank him out of his self-imposed exile and thrust him into a world he could have never imagined. He suddenly finds himself trapped on a damaged alien spacecraft and plunged into a universe of interstellar crime lords and government conspiracies, along the way meeting strange new friends... and enemies. As he struggles to find his way back home he is inexorably drawn deeper into a world where one misstep could mean his death. Or worse. He desperately wants to get back to Earth, but it may be the end for him. ... or is it just the beginning?

It's one of those books that's just good enough to keep my attention, though now that I'm more than halfway through it I feel like I'm obligated to finish it. The author is driving me insane because he has NO idea what a semicolon is, and is separating ideas with commas instead. Plus, mispellings (such as "he wondered down the hall" - ugh) make me feel like I'm reading fanfic and not an actual, real author's work. I hate that feeling.

I recently finished all of Daniel Dalzelle's Warship series and really enjoyed it apart from like you say the spelling and gramatical errors. I definitely agree with you about these books in that respect. However I thought the series was a fabulous read and a lot more technical in it's depiction of space combat than most science fiction series I have read that "focus" on space battles.

I am now looking at reading what I think is the ground based combat part of the series. Which I think would be the Omega Rising books you read way back in 2017! I am though having trouble with the timeline and thus the order I should read these books in.

If you have any idea of the order these books should be read in rather than their publication order it would be appreciated. Without spoilers of course. This authors whole style is built on suspense and climax; which is what makes them hard to put down for me.

P.S. Is this how you would define usage of commas or semi-colons? Because my usage of those writing separation tools is something I need to start using properly.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/brand-style-guide/writing/grammar/punctuation/commas-colons-and-semi-colons/

[Sir Slash]

I finished, "Meat Grinder: The Battles For The Rzhev Salient 1942-43" by Prit Buttar. Another great book by him covering this fight I really knew little about but apparently about a million men died on both sides during the almost constant fighting, many more Russian than German. It reminds me a lot of the present battle for Bakmut in Ukraine today, the relentless Russian attacks to capture this city that really wasn't strategically important to either side. A very even-handed telling of the story from both sides with lots of personal accounts of the fighting and horrible conditions they fought in. Good book.

Next up..."Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of the Central Ukraine 1943" by...Prit Buttar. The guy writes a lot of books. 

[JasonPratt]

Hm, I thought I recalled Rzhev being a key gateway to the Caucasian oilfields?

[bobarossa]

Hm, I thought I recalled Rzhev being a key gateway to the Caucasian oilfields?

You may be thinking of Grozny.

[Sir Slash]

Rzhev was the closest point the Germans held to Moscow after the 1941 Winter counteroffensive drove the them back form the city. Both sides felt they had to have it so the other side couldn't threaten, or protect, Moscow. Nothing strategically important there for either side.

[JasonPratt]

No, I'm thinking of Rostov probably. Though Bob's Grozny is more appropriate. I know I've heard of Rzhev before, but clearly not enough to have an accurate context!

(Unless maybe that's where Vance / Bartheart got around my central wall and kicked my ass in our epic multiplayer match of DC:Barbie.)

[Sir Slash]

I remember that. It truly was epic. Knowing Barth, he probably invented a Wormhole to send his army through past your flank. 

[JasonPratt]

Heh, he didn't even need to do that! -- I opened a wormhole for him, trying to counterblitz one of his main supply lines with a ignorantly overpowered stack that got in its own way. He didn't even need three turns to begin the unstoppable catastrophe. Very well played by him, not so much by me (at that moment).

[W8taminute]

Highly recommend this.  It's very heavy in the subject matter but thankfully easy to read. 

https://www.amazon.com/Return-Gods-Jonathan-Cahn/dp/1636411428/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+gods+have+returned+cahn&qid=1683316473&sprefix=the+gods+have+re%2Caps%2C273&sr=8-1

[Gusington]

Now reading Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors by Adrian Goldsworthy.

https://amzn.to/452H8pZ

[ArizonaTank]

After reading "Essex Dogs" (noted above) a friend of mine suggested I continue medieval historical fiction with books by Christian Cameron.

I started with the "Chivalry" series of four books. I am just finishing the second book and haven't been able to put them down.

Book One: "The Ill-Made Knight" follows the William Gold, an English man of arms during the Poitiers campaign, who gains fame fighting, and eventually after many battles in France and Italy is made a Knight.

Book Two: Sees Sir William as a Knight Hospitaller, on the Alexandrian Crusade.

There are two books left.

The author's hobby is medieval reenacting, and this is telling in his descriptions of armor, weapons and fighting. It is some of the best medieval combat writing I have read.

BTW, Camerson is a prolific author who also writes fantasy novels under the name Miles Cameron.

https://www.amazon.com/Ill-Made-Knight-Christian-Cameron/dp/1409137503/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1684119545&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Sword-Christian-Cameron/dp/1409137511/ref=pd_bxgy_vft_none_sccl_1/147-3152478-3838443?pd_rd_w=a0tuI&content-id=amzn1.sym.26a5c67f-1a30-486b-bb90-b523ad38d5a0&pf_rd_p=26a5c67f-1a30-486b-bb90-b523ad38d5a0&pf_rd_r=H47VHMQQZ1MSMEG9PWHF&pd_rd_wg=D37JW&pd_rd_r=87bc2f04-ce8e-4e1f-a3fa-6101dd00cbbd&pd_rd_i=1409137511&psc=1