Historic novel

[Veronica]

I'm so into reading historic novels nowadays.
I have like "reading sprees", once I couldn't stop reading Agatha Christie's detective stories, then it was horror like Lovecraft, then Tolkien, and now it's this!

I've read Alexandros and it was quite good, and then I bumped into a Gary Jennings book called Aztec and became a total fan almost instantly. I just had to read the second and third books, but they weren't that good.
I've read The Journeyer too, and now Raptor. I have to admit, some parts are kind of violent but I believe it could have been true. He makes it so real and the books are very exciting, you won't get bored reading them.

[Thomas]

Have you read "Captain from Castille"? It's a terrific novel about the conquest of Mexico. Tyrone Power starred in the film, I liked the film very much, but it only covered the first half of the novel.

And "La Isla de los Hombres Solos"? It's about the island of San Lucas, for many years a prison in Costa Rica. It was written by a former inmate who had been involved in a burglary-murder in the cathedral of Cartago. While in prison, he became an attorney and an author. I had the good fortune to be invited to a soccer game on the island many years ago. The team from the San Lucas prison played against prisoners from another institution. The prose reads like poetry. It follows the life of a man imprisoned as a teen for murder who spends almost his entire life behind bars. Even tiny details in the novel are true. Yes, there was a Costa Rican president married to a prostitute. Yes, there was a man in a cage. Yes, a warden did go crazy and declared the island a republic. I believe the novel was translated into English as "And God Looked the Other Way". A movie was made based on the novel. The first hour was fine. The last 30 minutes or so were trash.

I just read "Son of the Morning Star". Although not a novel, it reads like one. It's about the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. I found it difficult to put down.