(More) historical fiction. Forthcoming reviews

In the last six months, for a series of reasons I’ll talk about in a future post, I’ve been watching a lot of historical fiction (reading it, well, I’ve never stopped. History books – fiction and not – are among my favourite since I was a kid), with mixed feelings. While you find good and bad stuff in every genre, I have discovered my threshold in terms of tolerance of mistakes or even incongruencies is lower in historical fiction (both series and movies) than in others (say, for instance, horror: I virtually gobble up *everything* Netflix and Amazon Prime decide to pass on the net, no matter the quality). Not that I like it all, quite the opposite, but I do watch all. When history is in the equation, I have often to force myself to continue, and at times I don’t even progress beyond the first season, or worse -as in the case of the case of the infamous The Reign, where I stopped at Episode 5 of the first. (You don’t know what this series is about, even if you do like historical fiction? Good for you – don’t even start).

When history is in the equation, however, I have often to force myself to continue, but often I don’t progress before the first season, or even worse as in the case of the case of the infamous The Reign, where I stopped at Episode 5 of the first. (You don’t know what this series is about, even if you do like historical fiction? Good for you – don’t even start).

Now, for time constraints I can’t at the moment review everything I’m watching, so please feel free to let me know which one among the following titles you’re interested in reading more about, and I’ll post it here in the following weeks.

The Reign [limited to the first 5 episodes of S1, yes. But somehow I feel the rest is not any better]

The Borgias [i.e., the American series with Jeremy Irons. I have already done the European version Borgia last year].

The Last Frontier

Ben-Hur [the recent remake, not the world-famous movie with Charlton Heston]

A.D. Kingdom and Empire

Medici Masters of Florence

Wolf Hall [After the fantastic Hilary Mantel’s book, I’m tackling the series]

The Crown

Marco Polo

Shaka Zulu

Hatfields & McCoys

Generation War

Anthropoid [true story on SS Heydrich]

Silence [Christian missionaries in Japan, by Scorsese]

By the way, you’re going to get the Medici (I’m a long-time fan of this Italian family that has churned out Queens and Popes for centuries) and Shaka Zulu (I’m partial to this amazing personage larger than life) anyway, so feel free to pick others.

12 Comments

  1. calmgrove

    I’m afraid I’m of your opinion — I usually can’t bear to read most historical fiction, let alone watch it. I’ve watching the trailers for the execrable King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and that’s enough to confirm my prejudice. Wolf Hall I’m told was commendably acted, but I didn’t watch it even though it was free to view. As for The Crown, The Tudors or The Borgias, they seem more far-fetched than classic TV serials such as the original BBC Borgia series, I, Claudius or The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

    The only imaginative historical stuff I could possibly bear to read is anything by Mary Renault or Rosemary Sutcliff, both of whom I read way back when. Personally, I’d rather a good non-fiction narrative any time.

    I know that doesn’t help you with your own decisions here, but I’m happy to read whatever critique you offer, whether I’ve watched it or not! (More likely not!)

    Reply
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      I must say I can’t disagree, and this is why generally speaking I read historical non-fiction more than fiction, let alone watching it. Still, I have a lot of good expectations re: Wolf Hall and The Crown, let’s see how it goes. 🙂

      Reply
      1. calmgrove

        Wolf Hall generally had a good reception, didn’t it, but The Crown’s has been more mixed.

        Reply
        1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

          I look forward to watching both 🙂

          Reply
  2. maddalena@spaceandsorcery

    The Crown had the feel of a well-crafted work and – apart from the personal details concerning the characters, where some… creative leeway might have come into play – I enjoyed the various portrayals, with John Lightgow’s Winston Churchill at the very top of the scale.

    Reply
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      I perfectly agree with you – and I love that actor (the fantastic villain Trinity of Dexter S4 :D)!

      Reply
  3. Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

    The Borgias has me curious. I don’t read/watch historical fiction as much as I would like to because of lack of time, but I’ll always squeeze in a story or two about the Borgias if I can…plus I’m a huge fan of Irons 🙂

    Reply
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      Me, too – this is one of the reasons why I’m going to have a look at it, even though I’ve heard is not very historically accurate. Let’s see…

      Reply
  4. ccyager

    Ah, Steph, I’m surprised to not see “Victoria” mentioned. I really enjoyed that series here on PBS — I’m thinking it was on BBC in the UK, although maybe not. I especially loved the first half of the series when she’s just been crowned and must try to figure out what she’s doing, the political intrigue swirling around her, and whom she comes to trust. “Wolf Hall” is on my list also — I started watching it when it first aired but couldn’t get very far due to schedule conflicts. I love Jeremy Irons so I am curious about the Borgias. It hasn’t gotten much play here in the U.S. or at least I haven’t seen anything.

    Reply
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      Thanks for flagging it for me – I don’t have here on Netflix or Amazon Prime… I think I’ll have to search a bit around for it. Well noted for the recommendations 😉

      Reply
      1. ccyager
        1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

          Thanks!

          Reply

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