Link :Amazon, Goodreads. £8.99
In a depressingly believable future where we failed to do anything about climate change, income inequality or rubbish global leadership, the vast majorities’ only escape is a fully immersive virtual reality known as OASIS. In his will, the creator of OASIS declared that whoever found three hidden Easter Eggs would inherit the entirety of his estate. Now the race is on between the independent Gunters and the evil IOI corporation to determine the future of the world.
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Link : Amazon, Goodreads. £8.99
Here we are at the third book in the Accursed Kings series, and Louis X still isn’t a very good King, but he is very excited at the prospect of a new Queen (having murdered his last one). So much so that he neglects or outright ignores the brewing conflict between Robert of Artois and his Aunt Mahaut, and the violent struggle between his father’s progress or a return to feudalism.
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Druon M, The Strangled Queen, Historical Fiction (Harper: 2013), tr. Humphrey Hare
Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price: £7.99
Philip the Fair is dead, and his feeble, sadistic son Louis X is King of France. Even though France is in the grip of Famine, and divided between warring factions at court, Louis is obsessed with the state of his marriage. His first wife cuckolded him and has been confined to a monastery, he cannot have the marriage annulled as there is no Pope, and he lacks the political and financial power to install a new Pope. Will victory for this weak-minded King be the beginning of the end for France?
I have spoken elsewhere of how Druon is both a fabulous historian and writer, and this book reads just as well as the first in the Accursed Kings series. It does, however, face a particular problem: the reader already knows the outcome. You do not need to know anything of the history of France to be aware that if a King wants rid of one wife to replace with another, he is going to get his way. Plus, there is the title of the book.
Druon’s clever solution is to tell you straight away. He is totally up front about how things are going to work out for Louis (in this regard), and the long-term consequences for France. This lets him concentrate on the ancillaries, the nobles and clergymen and bankers, fighting one another to be the one to realise or defy the Kings wishes, and whether or not they will survive them. It makes for compelling reading – almost like wondering who will get off the Titanic. This is a time when life is precarious and power fleeting, and I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns on the way to the strangling of the Queen.
Rating: *****
Solaris, Lem S, Science Fiction (Faber & Faber 1961)
Link: Amazon, Goodreads. £6.99 at time of review
Psychologist Kelvin is sent to the Research Station orbiting one of the greatest mysteries encountered by mankind: an oceanic planet that appears to exhibit signs of intelligence. His mission is to evaluate whether the research is a failure. What he finds is utter chaos, scientists driven past the edge of sanity by a force that may be the ocean – and that Kelvin may not be able to escape.
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