The best Historical Fiction i ever read was 'The Accursed Kings' by Maurice Druon, which G.R.R Martin called 'The original Game of Thrones'. A 7 book series about a power struggle for the throne, with not a SINGLE fight taking place. Nothing but plotting, scheming, intrigue, endless backstabbing. What makes it even more special is that it's not a power struggle between multiple cities or factions, but the Aunts & Uncles of the King, his Advisors, the Chancellor, and everyone who is supposed to be protecting the King, trying to abuse their own position for benefit.
One of the best historical fiction books i've read was Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. Incredible depiction of the 300 Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae.
I love historical fiction and have done multiple recommendation videos, but haven't read any of these! Love that there are so many great books out there.
Greetings Chaps! About to finish my notes on «Dreaming the Eagle» and had two questions: 1) Did you guys make or plan to make videos on the other books in the «Boudica series» or a spoiler discussion? Found only your «DtE» video and you mentioned making more there. 2) Does Scott’s depiction of Cassivellaunus having a multicoloured cloak representing the different tribes have any historical/legendary origin? I could only find that he in the later «Mabinogion» is said to have a cloak of invisibility, but I was reminded of Connovar having a similar cloak in David Gemmell’s «Rigante» stories (also inspired by the Roman Invasions of Britain), might that be an inspiration for Mrs. Scott? Cheers! 😎🙌
I shamefully still have not finished the series… once I do we will chat about the series and hopefully talk to Manda Scott herself at some point :). Love that point about the cloak! In short… I have no idea. But it’s something we can ask if her if she does come on the channel! Will
I'm callin' it. My 2024 6-stars-of-five read's gonna be GLORIOUS EXPLOITS. A book I loved deeply, can't stop talking about, and is also up for a Goodreads Choice award if y'all want to vote it up in this crucial first round. Hint. Hint. HINT.
I love Boudica sooo much. Now reading the second in the series. I've read 2/3 of the wolf den, which I also adored. I read a lot of WW1/2 fiction, of which I'd highly recommend In Memoriam by Alice Winn, which is phenomenal. Ancient history I love The Earth's Children series by Jean M Auel, set in prehistoric times. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton is a fantastic book set in historical Amsterdam. Glorious Exploits is on my Xmas list. The author is on BBC 2's Between The Covers this series, which was interesting.
I think this is the first Brothers Gwynne video I've watched in months (years?) where no one has mentioned that Will hasn't read Liveships yet... Some great books on the list though, and a few for my TBR...
The two of you truly are The Kings of Historical Fiction 👑 My historical fiction tbr is never-ending at this point, but Glorious Exploits is really high up on it, I'm so looking forward to reading it! Manda Scott is truly one of the best writers I've read, she deserves to be more popular. I can also definitely see the comparison between her books and Papa Gwynne's, you can see her influence in his books, and I love it!
I'll suggest an entirely different list: Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous (you could easily put "Kim" in this spot) Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe's Rifles (again, there are many other choices here) C.S. Forester, The Good Shepherd (I like it a bit better than the Hornblower books, but those are also excellent) Lindsey Davis, The Silver Pigs (start of the Marcus Didius Falco series) Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander (because it's book 1) Edward Beach, Run Silent, Run Deep Goscinny & Uderzo, Asterix & Obelix (some fiction is more fictional than other fiction 8-) )
I have God of Vengeance (just got it a few weeks ago). Wolfden and Boudica on my shelf. True Grit and Glorious Exploits on the TBR. Im looking forward to reading them all next year. 🥳🥳
I really want to try some Westerns, so the True Grit and All the Pretty Horses are going on my list. One of my favourite historical fiction books is Winter In Madrid by CJ Sansom. Such an evocative and grippling tale of an English socialist joining the war against Franco.
Wonderful video chaps. I really need to get to more historical fiction having only read Warlord Chronicles and Shogun (I loved both!). Looking at reading Boudica, hopefully next year!
I currently just finished Malice.. incredible.. I am starting the Sun Eater books in between each Faithful and The Fallen books. I will be checking out some of these HF books.. I am also very interested in The Pillars of The Earth.. Great Video!
Honestly, I would say War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Sure it’s long, but booktuber viewers will burn through all four Stormlight Archive books in a couple of weeks, and W&P isn’t that much longer than any one of those books. And it’s got some of the most remarkable characters I’ve ever read! (Just avoid the Constance Garnett translation…)
Great video guys. Have either of you read The Long Ships by Frans G Bengtsson. It’s based towards the end of the Viking Age and the infiltration of Christianity into the area. It’s really good so far.
Having watched a previous of your episodes on this and several lists on other sites, I notice that the authors mentioned are post-WWII American and British writers. Not even a mention of Robert Graves. Little to no mention of 19th century or foreign language writers. Where is Dumas(or Hugo and Zola)? For contemporary writers there are Jean-François Parot on the period of Louis XV and Boris Akunin on Tsarist Russia. Robert van Gulik was Dutch but wrote in English his stories about Judge Dee in ancient China. I could name others from Finland, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Japan, and Italy. If Americans, and maybe Brits, read, they do not read books in translation It seems that you all choose from the same limited bag of selection possibilities.
Please name some more for recommendations. Unfortunately we haven’t read anything - we’d love to though! Very keen to explore older his-fic. Dumas is next on my list. Thanks! Ed
@@thebrothersgwynneVery nice of you. I am old and do not have a lot of things on the top of my head, but here a a few: most accessable to you would be American Caleb Carr who passed away recently and wrote about Chicago and NYC in the 19th century along with a whole lot else; Chinese classics such as "The Three Kingdoms" and "The Water Margin". Not quite fiction, but an autobiography that reads like it is Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig with "The World of Yesterday". Austrian Schnitzler's "Road to the Open"(Der Wegs ins Freie). They were two of the most popular writers worldwide in the 20's. Their works were adapted to the screen. Finally, Mexican Paco Taibo II "Four Hands" and I think one on Pancho Villa. He wrote a lot of other stuff too, much translated into English. Oh, I also almost forgot Finn Mika Waltari best known for "The Egyptian". He wrote others.
Just curious, I see The Covenant of Steel books by Anthony Ryan behind you on the bookshelves … what do you think of this trilogy? Do you recommend it?
The best Historical Fiction i ever read was 'The Accursed Kings' by Maurice Druon, which G.R.R Martin called 'The original Game of Thrones'.
A 7 book series about a power struggle for the throne, with not a SINGLE fight taking place. Nothing but plotting, scheming, intrigue, endless backstabbing.
What makes it even more special is that it's not a power struggle between multiple cities or factions, but the Aunts & Uncles of the King, his Advisors, the Chancellor, and everyone who is supposed to be protecting the King, trying to abuse their own position for benefit.
Yes! One of the best historical fiction. My goal is to have the brothers reading it. 😊
One of the best historical fiction books i've read was Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. Incredible depiction of the 300 Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae.
Utterly incredible story! So glad you also loved it :).
Will
I love historical fiction and have done multiple recommendation videos, but haven't read any of these! Love that there are so many great books out there.
Greetings Chaps!
About to finish my notes on «Dreaming the Eagle» and had two questions:
1) Did you guys make or plan to make videos on the other books in the «Boudica series» or a spoiler discussion? Found only your «DtE» video and you mentioned making more there.
2) Does Scott’s depiction of Cassivellaunus having a multicoloured cloak representing the different tribes have any historical/legendary origin? I could only find that he in the later «Mabinogion» is said to have a cloak of invisibility, but I was reminded of Connovar having a similar cloak in David Gemmell’s «Rigante» stories (also inspired by the Roman Invasions of Britain), might that be an inspiration for Mrs. Scott?
Cheers! 😎🙌
I shamefully still have not finished the series… once I do we will chat about the series and hopefully talk to Manda Scott herself at some point :).
Love that point about the cloak! In short… I have no idea. But it’s something we can ask if her if she does come on the channel!
Will
I'm callin' it. My 2024 6-stars-of-five read's gonna be GLORIOUS EXPLOITS. A book I loved deeply, can't stop talking about, and is also up for a Goodreads Choice award if y'all want to vote it up in this crucial first round. Hint. Hint. HINT.
I love Boudica sooo much. Now reading the second in the series. I've read 2/3 of the wolf den, which I also adored. I read a lot of WW1/2 fiction, of which I'd highly recommend In Memoriam by Alice Winn, which is phenomenal. Ancient history I love The Earth's Children series by Jean M Auel, set in prehistoric times. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton is a fantastic book set in historical Amsterdam.
Glorious Exploits is on my Xmas list. The author is on BBC 2's Between The Covers this series, which was interesting.
I think this is the first Brothers Gwynne video I've watched in months (years?) where no one has mentioned that Will hasn't read Liveships yet...
Some great books on the list though, and a few for my TBR...
Hahaha shhh, Ed’s forgotten……
Will
😂
The two of you truly are The Kings of Historical Fiction 👑
My historical fiction tbr is never-ending at this point, but Glorious Exploits is really high up on it, I'm so looking forward to reading it!
Manda Scott is truly one of the best writers I've read, she deserves to be more popular. I can also definitely see the comparison between her books and Papa Gwynne's, you can see her influence in his books, and I love it!
I'll suggest an entirely different list:
Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous (you could easily put "Kim" in this spot)
Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe's Rifles (again, there are many other choices here)
C.S. Forester, The Good Shepherd (I like it a bit better than the Hornblower books, but those are also excellent)
Lindsey Davis, The Silver Pigs (start of the Marcus Didius Falco series)
Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander (because it's book 1)
Edward Beach, Run Silent, Run Deep
Goscinny & Uderzo, Asterix & Obelix (some fiction is more fictional than other fiction 8-) )
I have God of Vengeance (just got it a few weeks ago). Wolfden and Boudica on my shelf. True Grit and Glorious Exploits on the TBR. Im looking forward to reading them all next year. 🥳🥳
Awesome list guys!! Thank you!
Pleasure! Thank you for watching :)
Will
Just found you guys. Great recommendations. Humane takes. Will be back!
I really want to try some Westerns, so the True Grit and All the Pretty Horses are going on my list. One of my favourite historical fiction books is Winter In Madrid by CJ Sansom. Such an evocative and grippling tale of an English socialist joining the war against Franco.
Wonderful video chaps. I really need to get to more historical fiction having only read Warlord Chronicles and Shogun (I loved both!). Looking at reading Boudica, hopefully next year!
Have 90% of these on my tbr already. I really need to prioritize some BrothersGwynne favorites in 2025!
Ahah, hope you do!
Will
What a great video! Boudica is at the top of my list! Thanks!
I currently just finished Malice.. incredible.. I am starting the Sun Eater books in between each Faithful and The Fallen books. I will be checking out some of these HF books.. I am also very interested in The Pillars of The Earth.. Great Video!
And the ever-expanding tbr list grows
Great list! I would like to read All the Pretty Horses. I’ve heard it’s really good.
Honestly, I would say War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Sure it’s long, but booktuber viewers will burn through all four Stormlight Archive books in a couple of weeks, and W&P isn’t that much longer than any one of those books. And it’s got some of the most remarkable characters I’ve ever read! (Just avoid the Constance Garnett translation…)
Whaaaaaat? Jezal dan Luthar becomes king. I didn't see that coming.
Great video guys. Have either of you read The Long Ships by Frans G Bengtsson. It’s based towards the end of the Viking Age and the infiltration of Christianity into the area. It’s really good so far.
Having watched a previous of your episodes on this and several lists on other sites, I notice that the authors mentioned are post-WWII American and British writers. Not even a mention of Robert Graves. Little to no mention of 19th century or foreign language writers. Where is Dumas(or Hugo and Zola)? For contemporary writers there are Jean-François Parot on the period of Louis XV and Boris Akunin on Tsarist Russia. Robert van Gulik was Dutch but wrote in English his stories about Judge Dee in ancient China. I could name others from Finland, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Japan, and Italy. If Americans, and maybe Brits, read, they do not read books in translation
It seems that you all choose from the same limited bag of selection possibilities.
Please name some more for recommendations. Unfortunately we haven’t read anything - we’d love to though! Very keen to explore older his-fic. Dumas is next on my list. Thanks!
Ed
@@thebrothersgwynneVery nice of you. I am old and do not have a lot of things on the top of my head, but here a a few: most accessable to you would be American Caleb Carr who passed away recently and wrote about Chicago and NYC in the 19th century along with a whole lot else; Chinese classics such as "The Three Kingdoms" and "The Water Margin".
Not quite fiction, but an autobiography that reads like it is Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig with "The World of Yesterday". Austrian Schnitzler's "Road to the Open"(Der Wegs ins Freie). They were two of the most popular writers worldwide in the 20's. Their works were adapted to the screen. Finally, Mexican Paco Taibo II "Four Hands" and I think one on Pancho Villa. He wrote a lot of other stuff too, much translated into English.
Oh, I also almost forgot Finn Mika Waltari best known for "The Egyptian". He wrote others.
I hear Papa Gwynne will encounter a Goblin soon 😉
Just curious, I see The Covenant of Steel books by Anthony Ryan behind you on the bookshelves … what do you think of this trilogy? Do you recommend it?
I’ve only read book 1… but I really enjoyed it!
Will
Will there be more author interviews in the future?
There will be :). Maybe some author / agent ones coming up…..
Will
Fingers crossed I am part of 'MOST people', hahaha. Also, don't mind me kicking myself for still not having read Boudica and The Wolf Den... oops
Hope you guys are doing okay 🙂
I found All the Pretty Horses really hard to get through. Felt slow and boring to me. Hoping to enjoy another McCarthy book I future.
I forced my way through that trilogy on audiobook. I don't remember anything about them really. It was fairly underwhelming.