May Book Reviews For Fleet Life and EH Directory

Here are the books which made it to my magazine book review pages for the month of May.

For the online version of Fleet Life go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, click on the online directory, load and turn to page 32

Last Child by Terry Tyler

The Faerie Tree by Jane Cable

The Last Dragon Slayer by Martyn Stanley

A Spell in Provence by Marie Laval

Back Behind Enemy Lines by Chris Bridge

For the online version of EH Directory go to http://www.ehd.org.uk, click on the online directory, load and turn to page 9

The Gift Of Charms by Julia Suzuki

Two Rivers by Zoe Saadia

The Magic and Mystery of Birds by Noah Strycker

Death in a Dacron Sail by N.A Granger

Britannia Part II: The Watchmen by Richard Denham

Britannia Part II: The Watchmen by Richard Denham & M.J. Trow

The Watchmen by Richard Denham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Britannia Part II: The Watchmen is the second book in this historical fiction series set around Roman Britain in the late 4th Century. Magnus Maximus is the Military officer commanding Britain – the Dux Britannorum. Power seeking he is gaining support from the legions and calling himself Caesar of Britannia. He’s causing political uproar too by marching on London and demanding the support of the Vicarius, the Governor of the province.

The four heroes of The Wall (Hadrian’s Wall) from the last book have moved on, one has died, Justinus is now Commander of The Wall, keeping the rebels such as the Picti from advancing. Vitalis turned away from his army roots and is a basket seller in London and Leocadius has slept his way into the political role of Consul in London.

This book follows these main characters in the next chapter of their lives. Maximus wants to gain the support of all of Britannia and then head off to over throw the Emperor Gratian. Vitalis’s sister comes from Gaul to ask him help her find her husband who has disappeared. Leocadius finds that politics is not his thing and Justinas faces rebels with a strong Saxon backing.

There’s plenty of action as well as insight into the likely political twists which would have gone on all over the Roman empire in real life. Power hungry men, fighting men and those just trying to survive as best they can. I enjoyed reading how a Roman army wielded itself in battle as well as learning about the local tribes of Britain and their traditions and beliefs. There is a useful glossary of place names and Roman terms, plus a map of Britannia showing many of the main areas from the book. As I read the paperback version this was really useful to be able to flip to these pages.

This review is based on a free paperback copy of the book given to me by the author.

Find a copy of this book here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Good Deeds Challenge Year 2 Week 48

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I am into my second year.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

March 15th – It’s Mothering Sunday here in the UK, as a mother myself I’m sandwiched in the middle of giving and receiving gifts. Wrote my review of Crashing into Love by Melissa Foster ready for my place on the book tour next week.

March 16th – My morning in school volunteering, and a lunchtime walk to deliver some thank you notes.

March 17th – Delivered a whole car load of items to the charity shop on behalf on the in-laws.

March 18th – Finished reading Britannia Part II: The Watchmen by Richard Denham book two in his Roman Britain tales around men who protected Hadrian’s Wall. Went for my walk and picked up litter.

March 19th – Collected some books from my Mum to pass on to other readers, finished reading Reality Is In A Dream by Lauren Mayhew

March 20th – Have been reading Aquarius Addiction by Trish Jackson. Everything went rather dark this morning for the eclipse 2015, but as it was cloudy no one could see too much, I went for my walk early just to be out in the eerie atmosphere and picked up litter, even the birds went a bit quiet.

March 21st – Getting ready for the A to Z Challenge theme reveal on Monday, an early walk in the park, it’s our town half marathon tomorrow and the park is being fenced off in readiness for all the runners. A swift walk and litter pick on the way home. I’m been reading A Twist Of Fortune by Mike Martin ready for an April launch and I’ve just started  reading The Sand Dollar by Maggie Christensen