Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "betrayal"

Battle's Flood by J. D. Davies

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


England in 1555 differs from the one in which Jack Stannard fought the Scots and witnessed the death of his friend aboard the Mary Rose. Henry VIII is dead; his daughter, Mary, sits upon the throne and expects her first child. Her husband is King Philip of Spain, but in spite of the peace between both countries, he has no desire to allow his wife’s people to venture into realms he deems the total domain of Spain, namely the New World and Africa. Not all Englishmen agree with this, chief among them being the Hawkins.

It is also a time when Catholicism once again holds sway, much to the delight of Jack and his daughter, Meg. Love blossoms between her and a young Spaniard whose father is friends with hers. Hope and prosperity give rise to great expectations, but that which is today isn’t necessarily true on the morrow.

The passing of twelve years brings many such changes. The Virgin Queen rules England and has restored the faith of her father to the land, much to Meg’s chagrin. She holds out hope that it is a temporary aberration, one that will change once again when Mary Queen of Scots succeeds her cousin Elizabeth. Jack, on the other hand, and his eldest son Tom are involved in the business of smuggling arms to France, where Protestant Huguenots are stockpiling arms for the day when the Catholic monarchy allies with Spain to stamp out the heretics. While Tom has been raised mostly in the Protestant church, his father retains many Catholic tendencies, and it is those that come to the attention of Francis Walsingham, the queen’s spymaster.

John Hawkins’s new expedition to Guinea and possibly the Caribbean is purported to be a trading venture into Spanish domains, but it has an ulterior purpose known only to a few. Walsingham wants Jack to accompany the expedition. Although hostilities with Spain are on the distant horizon, England is unprepared to wage war at this time. Therefore, Jack must do whatever he can to keep Hawkins from breaking the fragile peace between the two countries, and to keep a detailed record of everything that happens. Such unfamiliar waters to Jack and Tom require them to hire a skilled, black Portuguese, who is somewhat abrasive at times. But the voyage gets off to a rocky start; foreign ships entering the port fail to salute and a tavern brawl creates animus between Tom and Francis Drake, who one day vows to get revenge. And venturing to strange lands with unfamiliar customs and unknown dangers adds to the perils Jack and Tom face.

Such a journey means a lengthy separation from family and friends, so Jack puts Meg in charge of the family business. She tries to warn him that her stepmother is up to no good, but time prevents him from heeding the warning. Having despised and distrusted her stepmother from the moment they first met, Meg slowly unravels the intrigue and discovers that Jennet is in league with Jack’s most hated enemy. To thwart her stepmother, Meg devises a plan of her own, one that will protect the business, her father, and the secret she guards.

Battle’s Flood is the second title in the Jack Stannard of the Navy Royal trilogy. While the prologue takes place in 1555, the majority of the story takes place between 1567 and 1569. The backdrop for the story is Hawkins’s third voyage to collect slaves in Africa and then sell them to Spanish colonists in the New World. Yet even that one event did not occur in a void, as Davies shows as he deftly weaves the tumultuous European history into this tale in ways that make it easy to understand the intricacies of trying to survive in a world verging on war. He drops you into the midst of a battle or a storm at sea with just enough description that then compels your imagination to vividly fill-in the details. Peaceful interludes are woven into engrossing and sometimes nail-biting action, rife with mutiny, poisoned arrows, tribal warfare, the slave trade, smuggling, cannibalism, love lost, betrayal, enmity, feuds, scheming, regrets, and so much more. Equally compelling is his historical note, not only because he provides the history behind the fiction but also because he addresses inconvenient truths, thorny issues, and his treatment of these in the book. While history books discuss these events and recount the unfortunate circumstances that result in the abandonment of so many, those accounts are often mere words on a page. In Battle’s Flood, Davies brings to life the infamous and the famous, and transports you back to the sixteenth century in a way that makes you feel as if you are there.




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Captain James Lockwood by Mark Bois

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The new recruits to the Inniskilling Regiment aren’t yet soldiers in Captain James Lockwood’s estimation. Having served for twenty years in His Majesty’s army, he should know. And it is his duty to make certain each becomes the type of soldier who will do his duty and make the rest of the regiment proud. James himself might be English, but he’s served with the Irish regiment a long time and has been married to the lovely Brigid O’Brian Lockwood, herself an Irish Catholic, for twenty-three years.

Brigid came close to losing James five years ago, when he suffered a wound that nearly killed him at Waterloo. She feels he’s given enough for his country, but inevitably duty rears its ugly head and calls him back to service. After six years together, that day arrives with orders for the immediate departure of James and his men for Guyana, where rumors of a slave rebellion mean it will be years before she and James are reunited . . . if he survives. After all, such an assignment is akin to a death sentence. She’s all too aware of how many British soldiers have died because of the diseases that decimate troops assigned to the Caribbean. Still, she is an officer’s wife and a role model for the other regimental wives. Only a few women and children will be permitted to accompany their men overseas, and to show that she understands, she participates in the lottery to decide who goes and who must remain in Ireland.

Her willingness to show kindness and self-sacrifice endears her to the women, and when their hard-earned savings are stolen and they are turned out with nowhere to go, the women and children left behind seek out Brigid. She and her daughter, Cissy, devise a plan that takes advantage of a small hamlet of houses whose inhabitants were turned out for nonpayment of rent. Here the families will reside and work while they wait for their husbands to return. But this is Ireland, a land divided by loyalties and religion. The law and Protestant ministers would punish these indigent families, consigning them to workhouses, which Cissy equates to dens of misery. Some Catholics don’t want them around either. Their husbands are no better than traitors because they wear the red uniforms of English oppressors, and as far as the militant Catholics are concerned, that makes these men’s families traitors too. The White Boys, led by a priest no less, are just the ones to make certain these women and children, including the Lockwoods, pay the price for turning against their own kind.

In the meantime, James must deal with his own struggles. One of his men is a thief. The waters near Guyana are infested with pirates, including a particularly vicious man who adheres to the philosophy that the only good Englishman is a dead one. The colonial governor is accustomed to getting what he wants when he wants it. His fear of reprisals from the slaves, who seek only what the law has promised them, makes him lash out at James. When James refuses to bend to the governor’s will, he earns the lasting enmity of a man determined to destroy James any way he can. The abuse James witnesses and the slaves he meets also make him confront his own conscience.

This immersive third book in the Lockwood series is a tale of prejudice, betrayal, justice, and bigotry. Bois provides stark contrasts of slavery and oppression in ways that make readers react to the injustice meted out to the characters. At the same time, he deftly shows that not all people think and act the same, that there are good and bad people on both sides of the coin. Although soldiers normally fight on land, Lockwood and his men finds themselves waging war on water more than once. The first encounter demonstrates the wiliness necessary to thwart an enemy that is better armed and has larger numbers. The second is an edge-of-your-seat final showdown with a pirate who consummately portrays the viciousness inherent to those who preyed during the nineteenth century.




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The Dragon's Breath by James Boschert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Still hunted by his beloved’s brother, Master of the Assassini, and a sultan thwarted from marrying Rav’an, Talon takes her and his newly-met son, Rostam, to Oman. There lives a man Talon once saved from an executioner’s sword, one who may be able to help the fugitives resettle in a new land. Accompanying them on this journey is Reza, Talon’s brother-in-arms and fellow fugitive from the Assassini, as well as another woman rescued from the sultan’s harem.

The day Talon arrives in Oman, Allam al Mardini celebrates his victory against an arch rival. His camel, Jasmine, has won the most prestigious race of the year. He welcomes Talon into his home, even though five months have passed since they were imprisoned together. He knows well that although Talon claims to be a merchant, his friend is far more than that. Talon soon discovers that he and Allam’s family have similar interests – merchant ships and a good game of Chogan. Talon is invited to play, but one of their opponents is the man bested in the camel race. After a failed attempt to inflict a fatal injury and a second loss to Allam’s family, Nejem al Khulood vows vengeance – a pledge that necessitates Talon’s and Reza’s intervention after Jasmine disappears.

Knowing of Talon’s interest in his family’s ships and journeys, Allam intercedes with his brothers and father and they provide their new friend with guidance in purchasing a new vessel and in journeying to Africa, Al Hind, and China. But such voyages are rarely without perils, as Talon, Reza, and their families soon discover. A sick woman in their first port of call soon leads to mobs trying to flee rumors of plague. When illness sweeps through the brothers’ ships, Talon must continue onward into unknown waters. The sighting of three sails announces the arrival of pirates too numerous to defeat in hand-to-hand combat; surprise is Talon’s only option, yet it offers a slim chance of survival.

In the midst of a vicious storm a foundering ship, showing signs of a fire and no crew, demands a daring rescue to save the four people still aboard. The gamble pays off in unexpected ways, since one of those saved is Lord Meng Hsü who was returning home from a mission to India on behalf of Guangzhou’s governor. Talon is intrigued by his guest and his country, but as tantalizing as a visit to China might seem, it must wait for another day . . . until a cruel and dictatorial ruler on an island off the Malay peninsula attempts to maneuver Talon into selling his cargo at a loss. But China is a land of strange customs and political maneuverings, where death is but a whisper away.

The Dragon’s Breath is the sixth entry in the Book of Talon series, and it is rife with roller-coaster adventure, exotic locales, and breathtaking jeopardy. Boschert spins a compelling tale with subplots intricately interwoven to create the finest silken tapestry. His knowledge and research of the various cultures transport readers back to the twelfth century, where the intoxicating allure and inevitable reality place readers in the midst of ambition, intrigue, jealousy, espionage, greed, betrayal, and survival. Talon and Reza come close to meeting their match when they tangle with eastern pirates, as well as a new and formidable group of assassins, the Ninja. There is even a quest to find a dragon, which matches the serpentine curves of that legendary creature and inserts a bit of levity into a story where it’s difficult to determine just who can be trusted. Whether new to Talon and his journeys or a longtime fan, readers will find The Dragon’s Breath rewarding, spellbinding, and an excursion not to be missed.



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The Buccaneer Coast by James L. Nelson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As far as Spain is concerned, the New World belongs to it, not interlopers from France, the Dutch Republic, or England. To take back what is theirs, a Spanish force attacks the islands of Saint Christopher and Nevis and lanceros hunt boucaniers on the northwest coast of Hispaniola. LeBoeuf and his partner are stalking wild pigs when lanceros pursue them. Le Rongeur, a thief and abhorrent man whose only good qualities are his swiftness and his aim, flees. LeBoeuf expects this to be his last day, yet still he stands his ground and lashes out against his attackers.

A fleet of Spanish galleons and warships near their destination, Santo Domingo. Among their passengers is the new lieutenant governor of Hispaniola, Don Alonso Menéndez de Aviles, and his wife. Her father has the money and power, but Don Alonso knows this will not be for long. Traveling among the other vessels is a French ship laden with a surreptitious cargo and secret papers that will allow him to acquire the wealth and influence that he so desperately craves.

Benjamin Graves is either lucky or unlucky. It has always been so and now seems to be a mix of the two. He has lost the cargo that he stole from his employer, Señor Corregidor, because the Spanish attack Nevis, but being aboard his appropriated vessel, he has eluded the invaders. However, he fails to elude Maja, Corregidor’s henchman, and is now on his way back to Santo Domingo to await a fate worse than death . . . unless he can change his luck, which often happens if given the time to talk his way out of a hopeless situation. Two such opportunities present themselves – Spanish ships in pursuit and, later, pirates – and Benjamin has a plan, if he can get Maja to listen.

Maja is a brute of mixed blood, who keeps his own counsel and follows orders. Like capturing Graves and returning him, the ship, and its cargo to Santo Domingo. The problem is he has two of the three and Señor Corregidor will not be happy. But Maja is also savvy and waits for opportunities to present themselves. Like Graves’s risky schemes to elude their Spanish pursuers and to trick the pirates into making a fatal mistake. He knows that sooner or later he will no longer be just property. He will be free and more powerful than the man who owns him.

The Caribbean is a dangerous place, not only because of the various factions claiming ownership, but also because Mother Nature is an unpredictable force that unleashes her fury when it suits her. A hurricane obliterates LeBoeuf’s way of life, yet leaves behind hope for a new life. The same tempest wreaks havoc on Don Alonso’s plans, almost as much as those who are far more experienced in the ways of the New World do. The storm is the catalyst that propels these four men onto pathways that will eventually collide in wrathful ways that promise to be just as life-altering as the devastating effects of the hurricano.

This is the first book in a new series that brings to life the men who hunted wild pigs, but were forced to become the bane of Spain’s colonial empire. Nelson precisely sets the stage for the titles that follow and he does so in a way that makes the reader antsy for their next rendezvous with the characters. He provides maps and a glossary to assist those unfamiliar with Hispaniola and nautical terms. Adept readers may notice some sentences with missing and wrong words, as well as a few misspellings, but the action and character depth easily overcome these. There are a few words, like prithee, that may catch the reader by surprise, but they help recreate the time period. The constant use of Don Alonso’s full name, or even those of a few other Spaniards, may become tiresome to some readers, but they help establish the necessary pompousness of a character, as well as the strict formality of Spanish society.

The Buccaneer Coast is a tale of hope, betrayal, and the brutal reality of life where the best lessons learned may involve unlikely allies and the best way to survive is to trust no one. Nelson vividly depicts life as boucaniers and skillfully demonstrates a plausible way in which these men became buccaneers. A masterful storyteller, he takes simple scenes and crafts them into spellbinding events that transport readers from the present back to the seventeenth century where they experience individual lives as if they stand side by side with the characters.




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City of Liars by Michelle Fogle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The home to which Joachim Déulocresca returns is not the same one that he left. Fear and hate, tinged with greed – all under the guise of devout Catholicism – permeate Barcelona. No one is safe, especially if you are a Jew. After his contact is burned at the stake, Joachim removes the badge marking his religion to become a Christian pilot in search of a new ship.

The first Act of Faith is a powerful draw for devout Aularia Bautista. What better way is there to publicly demonstrate her Catholic faith? Her parents forbid her to attend, but willful naivete compels her to go. The auto-da-fé and anger she witnesses horrify her, and she confides this to her tutor who offers her a “better” way to demonstrate her piety.

Joachim and Aularia initially meet at the execution; their next encounter is at her home. Her father, a wealthy spice merchant, hires Joachim as his new navigator and agent. A shared attraction brings them together, while a confession nudges them to cooperate in helping Jews elude the Inquisition. But Barcelona is a city of liars, a place where everyone wears a mask. When the masks are lifted, Joachim and Aularia find themselves enmeshed in situations more portentous than expected and from which neither may escape.

The depth of Fogle’s research is evident and seamlessly interwoven into a story that incorporates graphic depictions of prejudice, murder, betrayal, deception, Barbary pirates, and rape. Absent is an author’s note to explain why she uses “Señyorita” instead of “Señorita.” While two first person viewpoints are initially disconcerting, Fogle deftly weaves a labyrinthine tale in which sectarianism is as relevant in 1487 Spain as it is today.




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(This review originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of Historical Novels Review: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...)

Silver Bounty by Victoria McCombs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dressed in his old uniform, Arn Mangelo masquerades as a naval officer captured by pirates. It is a dangerous plan; the king is out to destroy all pirates – especially turncoats like himself – and a rift has developed between himself and the man posing as his captor. Not to mention the fact that some of the crew blame Arn for the slaughter of half their comrades. Or that a debt is coming due and the form of that retribution may be more dear than he can afford. The primary reason he participates in this risky venture (to trick other imprisoned officers into revealing the king’s whereabouts) is to save the love of his life, Emme.

Time is not her friend. They both know this. Emme is bound by an oath and she is sick – both will kill her if they do not acquire the healing tonic and she fails to deliver on her promise. She loves Arn, but is he willing to forego the sea and live on land for her? This is but one question she confronts during their voyage, for she also deals with loss and the grief that accompanies it. Another is whether she dare trust the man Arn brings back to the ship (an acquaintance whom no one trusts but who claims to have access to the king). And then there’s the old fortune teller who predicts that Emme will be a catalyst – one that brings death to many – whether she lives or dies.

Stabbed by the Nightlock Thief and believed to be dead, Emric discovers the opposite is true. Instead, he’s in limbo on a cursed island that refuses to release those relegated to spend eternity there. The island is not a solitary prison; another is imprisoned here too, but she is heartless and single-minded. She possesses one chance to seek help, but refuses to use it. Emric, however, has no such qualms. When his companion is otherwise occupied, he summons the mermaid whom he loves. Coral agrees to help, but in doing so, each prisoner loses something precious because the island is reticent to release its prisoners. Is Emric willing to make such a sacrifice?

Silver Bounty is the second book in The Royal Rose Chronicles. Although readers new to the series need not have read the first to follow this story, they may be less invested in the characters. All readers will need to decipher some sentences to figure out how they should read (examples: “blood with be spilled” instead of “blood will be spilled” (25) or “into my pocked” rather than “into my pocket” (248).) There are enough that some readers may become annoyed.

Love and betrayal are key themes here, as is the fact that all actions, regardless of how large or small, have consequences. And those outcomes are rarely what the characters or the readers expect – earmarks of a dexterous weaver of tales. Clues abound for the many twists and surprises that occur. But at no time does the author betray the reader; each revelation makes sense and heightens the stakes because McCombs lays the necessary groundwork.

She also does well eliciting readers’ emotions and in portraying Emme’s illness. Beware, though, this is a tale that incorporates violence, including what the pirates (and others) seek from the king. There are villains to loathe and heroes to like and others who fall somewhere in between. All story threads are satisfactorily resolved, yet there are compelling kernels in the conclusion that entice readers to venture into book three.


(This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/adult-fant...)



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A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself by Katherine Howe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A hanging is a momentous affair. Especially when the execution is of a pirate. William Fly, no less, a totally unrepentant sinner. Everyone will be there . . . well, everyone but Hannah Masury. She’s been forbidden to go by her employer, but Hannah doesn’t necessarily heed what she’s told.

When Hannah finally returns to the tavern’s stable where she sleeps, she finds it occupied by a young lad. He claims to be Billy Chandler and he’s hiding because everyone wants him dead. He even shows her the black spot that marks him for death. She’s not fully convinced that he tells the truth until after they head for the tavern to get some food while everyone else is asleep. But they become separated. She hears a gravelly voice and an odd sound before she stumbles upon Billy’s dead body. Then her name floats through the fog. If she wants to live, she has only one chance: don male attire and pretend to be Billy. He planned on shipping out on a schooner as a cabin boy, which provides her with the means and opportunity to escape before the pirates catch her. As they say, the best laid plans don’t always work out exactly as one hopes, and she finds herself aboard the Reporter whose captain spends most of his time drunk in his cabin and the first mate is none other than Edward Low.

Travel forward in time from 1726 to 1930. Professor Marian Beresford teaches history at Cambridge College in Boston. One of her students, Kay Lonergan, has come across a handwritten diary from two centuries ago. Marian is skeptical about its authenticity, but there’s something compelling about the journal. The more she reads, the more she questions her initial findings. She decides to visit her father, an esteemed historian, in New York and get his opinion. He concurs with her initial assessment . . . but even a slim chance of it being real is sufficient for the trio to persuade the Explorers Club to finance a trip to find the pirate treasure that Hannah Masury writes about in her diary. Just imagine the glory that such a find will bring with it. Marian may finally prove herself worthy of following in her father’s footsteps. In the meantime, Kay wants to go for another reason . . . publicity. She thrives on getting her name in the spotlight, and so she joins them on their grand adventure.

The past and present are interwoven in a seamless tapestry that contrasts Masury’s life with Beresford’s. Marian also compares who she is now with who she was when she was Kay’s age, as well as measuring her own choices and career with that of her father. Howe provides an accurate depiction of Ned Low’s brutality as a pirate and hints at the fact that he didn’t start out being that way. The story is also rife with pirate tropes. Pirate life and behavior is realistically portrayed, although I found it interesting that Marian’s father cites The Pirates Own Book as being the source he uses as proof that the journal is a fake. (This 19th-century volume includes falsehoods as well as truths much like the pirate-age contemporary resource, A General History of Pyrates.)

Two words are key to whether this story works: “plausible” and “probable.” Women did masquerade as men and did become pirates, but how likely was it for one to join the crew of Ned Low? While I think the answer improbable, Howe weaves her tale with enough believability to make Hannah’s story plausible. The entwining of past and present strengthens that belief, while the themes of betrayal, humiliation, and proving oneself are universal and transcend time.


(This review originally appeared at Pirates & Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/adult-hist...)



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