Review: Lancaster and York (The Wars of the Roses), by Alison Weir

I sought this book because I was after a single volume covering the Wars of the Roses, and, having finished it yesterday, must say I enjoyed it a lot.

For people unfamiliar with the period there’s a helpful setting of the early 15^th century scene, with the reign of Henry IV supplanting Richard II, and the heroic (if short-lived) Henry V following. The book then settles into the meat of the matter: the disastrously incompetent Henry VI, his domineering French wife Margaret, and the clash between them (the House of Lancaster) and the House of York.

The book covers the entirety of Henry VI’s reign (or, perhaps, that of his wife), and the reign of Edward IV. It ends in the 1470s, after the dynastic clash is settled (although mildly surprised it didn’t go to Bosworth in 1485 I do think that legitimate given the succeeding house was Tudor, not Lancaster).

It’s not as bad as reading a biography of King John, but it’s nevertheless remarkable how much incompetence there was at this period in history. Vindictiveness and complacency led those in seemingly unassailable positions to throw away their advantages. Many men changed sides (willingly or not), many remained neutral, but, beyond those competing for the crown, the charismatic, ambitious, and talented Warwick was a fascinating third part of the story.

What’s striking is that the wars were so unnecessary. Factionalism and mistreatment of a man with a better claim to the throne, and who had rendered good service to the crown at his own expense, precipitated a conflict that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

The book’s easy to read, although I’d prefer there to be a map at the front (there is one but it’s partway through) for reference. Happily, there are footnotes rather than the Devil’s work of endnotes. These are sparing and useful, so there’s no need to worry about a Gibbonian proliferation of notes.

All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who, like me, knows sod all about the Wars of the Roses and would like to remedy the situation.

Thaddeus

Quarantine Reading

Hey, kids.

I don’t blog much nowadays but thought it might be useful for some people (the elderly, asthmatics, those with other underlying conditions) facing potentially months in isolation to have some hefty reading recommendations to help fill the time.

Note that all of these are books/series I’ve entirely or largely read, and come in both physical and electronic forms. I’ve tried to mix things up a little according to whether people read a lot or a little and different types of books. NB these are all text-based books, obviously su doku, crossword, and other types of puzzle book could be good ways of killing time.

The Lone Wolf gamebooks

These were some of my favourite books growing up, and I still have most of the first 20. They’re a lot of fun, mostly ok for kids (maybe not very young ones) and engaging for adults. I recently replayed the first couple until my full playthrough was interrupted due to various (non-pandemic) factors. Best of all, almost every book is available online for free at Project Aon (with the blessing of the sadly departed author Joe Dever). These won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and the first couple only took me an hour or two each, but there’s a lot to sink your teeth into and I recommend giving them a shot.

The Sharpe series

Another staple of my teenage years were the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell. There are tons of them covering the eponymous hero as he fights for Britain from India to Europe, enjoying a nautical adventure at Trafalgar along the way. The books are easy to get into, not excessively long, but there’s a large number of them. I can also highly recommend, by the same author, the Warlord Chronicles (an Arthurian trilogy), and the Starbuck Chronicles (a quartet focused on the American Civil war).

Outlaws of the Marsh

Despite being pretty massive (there are different versions, with around 2,000-2,200 pages being usual) I’ve read this Chinese classic three times and will likely keep re-reading it. Imagine Robin Hood set in Ancient China, directed by Quentin Tarantino and written by a man who thought the problem with the Lord of the Rings was the small size of the cast. It’s packed with bloody action and cool characters like Sagacious Lu, the tiger-killing Wu Song, and Nine Dragons Shi Jin. If you like action and politics then Three Kingdoms, of a similar size, is well worth checking out. It’s a book of historical fiction covering the fall of the Han Dynasty around the end of the 2^nd and start of the 3^rd century AD. If you prefer things simpler, then try Journey to the West, which has a main party of just four travelling to the west and knocking seven bells out of the assorted demons that try to stop them (I’m most of the way through re-reading this one myself).

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

About 4,000 pages long, Edward Gibbon’s six volume masterpiece of history chronicling millennia of the Western and Eastern Empires is fantastic. It’s worth stressing this isn’t one for beginners as it’s not only massive, but densely packed and can drag sometimes (the Mongols and origins of Christianity and Islam both get quite a few pages). However, it’s also really rather good. I’d advocate getting the Everyman’s edition as the notes are included as footnotes (some versions have a separate volume for the significant number of notes.

The Complete Works of Shakespeare

I admit, I’ve got this and have been a little lax working through it. But if you like the Bard and haven’t got to grips with his plays, sonnets, and assorted whatnot then why not take this opportunity to indulge yourself and read up on epic tragedies and a smorgasbord of cock jokes? (The Taming of the Shrew’s central message has aged appallingly but it does have some good one-liners. “Away, you three-inch fool!”).

Some extra suggestions, from others:

Europe: A History

By Norman Davies, this sizeable tome covers the continent from the Ice Age to the Cold War.

The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels

Written by Patrick O’Brian, the boxed set of historical novels comes in at thousands of pages. Nautical fans may prefer these to the mostly landlocked Sharpe.

Fighting Fantasy

As a friend reminded me, those who want more besides the Lone Wolf gamebooks have plenty of options and amongst these are the Fighting Fantasy books, of which there are rather a lot.

Thaddeus

Review: A Mage’s Power (Journey to Chaos Book 1), by Brian Wilkerson

Disclaimer: I was asked to review this book honestly. So I am.

A Mage’s Power is a fantasy story, initially set in the real world before moving into a fantastical one. The protagonist is one Eric Watley, a chap with low self-esteem and a bit out of a down-and-out. He encounters a cosmic trickster, whose blend of help/annoyance soon propels Eric off Earth and into a strange new realm.

Clearly influenced by classic fantasy RPGs, the plot sees Eric enter the world of Tariatla and he discovers a penchant for magic. After a spell in school, he becomes a mage and a mercenary with the Dragon’s Lair. Although there are a series of almost self-contained story arcs, Eric is always at the centre as our protagonist and there are some interesting twists, particularly towards the end when he finds himself confronted with political intrigue and some characters of dubious loyalties.

The style is a bit lighter/more young adult than what I usually go for, and a little more grit would’ve been my preference. The setting’s interesting, mixing together ye olde swords and spears with magic and (effectively) technology powered by magic. It’s a bit reminiscent of some Final Fantasy worlds, and it all fits together nicely. There’s a nice pace to the story and some interesting twists and turns. Because of the tone, the peril/adversity seems a little on the low side, but that’s a choice the author’s made rather than a failure to execute anything else, so more of a style point than a criticism. The upside of that is that the story’s fun and the character interactions, particularly Tiza and Nolien’s bickering, work well.

There was some head-hopping which could’ve been handled better, and sometimes it was unclear which dialogue came from which character. It does take a little while to get rolling, although later on I did end up reading more than intended on numerous occasions (my reading time is pretty short right now).

If you’re after a fun story with an easy to read style, then I’d suggest downloading a sample and giving it a look.

Thaddeus

Review: Civilization VI (PS4)

Please note that this is a review of the base game only, and that, at the time of writing, I’ve played exactly three games (winning the last) all on standard/Prince difficulty.

My prior experience of Civilization was Civ II (released in 1999) and Civ Rev for the PS3 (but which is a lot more streamlined than main Civ games).

For those entirely unaware, Civ is a strategy game whereby the player picks a civilization and leader from history and aims to lead them to greatness, with victory being achieved in various ways (science, culture, etc. In my win I went for a domination victory, which means conquering everyone else’s capital city). Players can forge alliances with other civilizations, research together, trade, or declare war. Cities themselves flourish or flounder based on food, resources, housing, amenities and whether or not your enemies invade and annihilate your hopes and dreams.

In terms of the learning curve, it took me about three games on standard difficulty to feel like I’d gotten to grips with most of the mechanics, using the base game (there is an expansion bundle available as DLC).

Generally, controls worked well but there is room for improvement. There’s no handy button to flick from city to city. The game does auto-prompt you to pick things when a city’s finished whatever it’s doing and lets you know when housing/amenities are a problem, but it still would’ve been nice.

The AI isn’t the most challenging. Once you get how combat works, the computer-foes tend to be rather foolish and easy to defeat. This is both in terms of combat and diplomacy. I was attacking everyone, one by one, and regularly got denounced as a warmonger, but nobody ever declared war on me.

Barbarians, however, are more numerous and a bit trickier early on than they were in other games. Scythia can be a handy civ for this as they gain a bonus against damaged units and heal upon defeating enemies, which can make an early game a bit more straightforward.

Changes I enjoyed include cities with walls getting to shoot nearby enemies, and the ability to link units as escorts (so your settler can have a warrior companion) without needing to move them separately.

Changes I did not enjoy were housing and, to a lesser extent, amenities. Housing decreases growth when you don’t have enough (you get it from water sources, plus improvements). It just seemed a pointless faff to me. Amenities are pleasant distractions to keep people happy. That said, on Prince I had a lot of unhappy cities but not one ever revolted.

There’s a nice variety of civilizations from which to pick although I must admit it still annoys me Victoria is described as English (a far better choice would’ve been Elizabeth; Victoria was British).

The search function in the Civilopedia didn’t seem to work. Most stuff is easy to get to grips with but early on that would’ve been handy.

And I only found the lens menu (L1, the left hand menu) late on. Probably very useful for people after a religious victory.

In terms of PS4 performance and the jet engine noise that certain games cause: this didn’t happen. From start to finish, there was a low amount of noise but with earphones in I couldn’t even hear it. This was a pleasant surprise given that (albeit on a standard-sized map, which is still pretty large) at the end of my third game I had a hefty empire and quite a lot of units moving about.

Good music, and I like Sean Bean’s narration. That said, still a very good game for the radio or playlists.

One annoyance was the total absence of any instructions. It’s an ideal game for a basic instruction book, even if it's just civics and research trees.

Overall, I like Civ VI a lot. It’s very moreish, most of the mechanics etc are easy to get to grips with, and there’s a lot of customization possible when it comes to setting up games. It’s not without the odd flaw or room for improvement, but the base game is well worth a look.

Thaddeus