These are my favourite historical fiction authors:
1. Bernard Cornwell for his Sharp novels, which are awesome and set in Napoleonic era, He gives a great sense of huge armies sweeping across the country, battling it out in squares or line and cavalry, cannon and muskets (not forgetting a few rifles). Another great series is Rebel, but my favourite is the Warrior Chronicles, soon to be a TV series in the same mould as Game of Thrones, with any luck. Bernard Cornwell is the Tolkien of the historical fiction world in my view
2. Stephen Saylor - murder mysteries set in Rome. The detail is incredible. A bit slow perhaps but I love these books. He gives the best sense of living in the past of any author that I've come across.
3. Conn Iggulden for the War of the Roses and also Genghis Khan series. The latter is superb and follows Genghis from his childhood to great war leader. His childhood is unbelievable and no wonder he was such a tough character. Marvelous.
4. Simon Scarrow - I loved the Romano Britain tales with Marco and Cato. He does set the tale in other locations but his British tales work the best for me. Caratacus is a great example of his writing creations and he is larger than life.
5. Ben Kane Hannibal. Some of his other series are less good. Hannibal is a great tale and a very interesting period. That he so nearly defeated Rome is epic. Why did he not assault Rome itself, he had it at his mercy. What a great story and very well delivered.
6. Douglas Jackson for Defender of Rome. Hero of Rome not quite up to the same standard
7. John Stack Ship of Rome. This was a relatively short tale but well worth a read. It describes how Rome overcame the more superior Carthaginian navy. No mean achievement and it shows just how inventive Romans were.
8. Ken Follet - the Pillars of the Earth was my favourite. Less keen on Fall of Giants. His writing is very long and some books have adapted into excellent TV series. The plots are fairly similar in some books where you replace cathedral with bridge!
9. Wilbur Smith - tales involving Egypt are my favourite of his. His written word is superbly crafted. Again very long books and some of his books are better than others for that reason.
10. Stewart Binns - Conquest. This gives a great feel of the start of chivalry and knighthood. Perhaps too little chivalry as it is quite brutal. It is about a Conroy (group of Norman Knights) and their leader and how he faces various hardships. There's plenty of battles with a good mix of intrigue.
11. Alex Rutherford - Raiders from the North
12 Christian Jacq - the Tree of Life
13. Robert Low - the White Raven.
Check out my reviews on Goodreads for reviews on each book. The link to my site is on my website http://davidburrows.org.uk/
Interesting! I can't say that I have read any of these and they are all your favorite. I must be missing out! =D
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