Revenger is the sequel to Rory Clements' Martyr, the book that introduced the world to spy John Shakespeare (fictional brother of playwright William). In his last adventure, Shakespeare foiled an attempt on the life of Sir Francis Drake; this time round, the stakes are higher as he is called out of retirement to uncover a possible plot by the Earl of Essex to seize the throne from the aging Queen, Elizabeth I. Martyr was an excellent read, albeit one which perhaps showed a lack of imagination at times. It carefully followed the successful blueprint established by C J Sansom's Shardlake books so whilst it was fun, you were always left with that slight nagging ...  Read the complete review

I'm a big fan of these sort of historical, action novels. Made popular by Bernard Cornwell and later Conn Iggulden with the Emperor and Genghis Khan series, there's been an explosion in stories across the breadth of history. I wish we'd had these sort of books to read in 'O' Level History rather than the boring old textbooks we ended up with! But I digress. Revenger is the second novel by Rory Clements to feature his character John Shakespeare (older brother of a certain William Shakespeare) who is what is known as an 'intelligencer', a kind of spy working for representatives of her Majesty. Without going into the plot in great detail, this story ...  Read the complete review