Lamentation by CJ Sansom - anyone read it and want to discuss it?

Yay Guy! With your DH there, squoosh.

That's a shame, 1944 girl. Which one is your favourite? I love Dark Fire.

I hope you're right about Jack OldestCat. He says Guy is fashioning him some kind of Tudor prosthetic hand, and we all know how talented Guy is so maybe he'll be okay!

kurri I'm racking my brains trying to remember what Bealknap's connection to the lost book was and I can't remember. Not sure if this is a reflection on me or Sansom!

Yet another Shardlake fan joining in! (and DH too!)

Agree with Squosh - I started sighing every time there was a 'boat back from the palace' bit, BUT I love the writing and the plots.

I don't think we've seen the last of Jack, you know. He's going to rise again.

Toby Jones as Shardlake would be fantastic.

Fellow Shardlake fan here.

I waited eagerly for Lamentation to be released and did enjoy it but...........both it and Heartstone have been noticeably weaker than the four that preceded them.

Too much getting boats to the palace, getting boats back from the palace, having meetings, mooning over the Queen, worrying about his friendship with Guy. Not enough action.

Well I say not enough action, there was far too much action when poor old Jack had his hand chopped off! I love Jack and his earthy ways, why would Sansom do that to me!

As far as actors who could play Matthew and Jack I agree with Toby Jones for Matthew, he'd be amazing. For Jack it would need to be someone swarthy and brutishly handsome. None of this Richard Armitage nonsense. His face is far too prissy.

Sovereign is my favourite in the series, followed by Dark Fire.

Another Shardlake fan - just finished Lamentation. Not necessarily the best novel in the series but I just love the characters - I wish Matthew would findhimself a partner and stop mooning over Catherine Parr. I;m looking forward to him moving into a new era. Can anyone explain the Bealknap bit was that anything to do with the plot and I've completely forgotten it or was it just a total side issue. I was very distracted reading some of the reveal stuff with Paget because all i could think about was Jack so I sort of skimmed through it to get to news of Jack.

Nicholas is OK and might shape up to be interesting, but he's no Barak. It's a pity Josephine married off and is the worng class of woman as she would have been a nice girlfriend for Matthew (very over invested in fictional characters also).

I love all the historical stuff and get a real feel for Tudor England and Tudor life from them - I thought the terror of living under a tyrannical regime really came through.

Another huge Shardlake fan here! Hope you don't mind me joining the thread.
I love these books and like you all, I was in shock at the barak ending. I started to read a lot quicker to get through to see if he survived. He is such a strong character and I enjoy reading about his life.
As for Shardlake himself, I actually really like him. He's a deeply complicated man. No idea who would play him in a TV adaptation though. As for barak, they would need to be rough and manly and very sexy!!! Because he just is all those things.

I'm really into much earlier history now. I have read soooo much Tudor history books and moved onto plantagenet history, some fiction but mostly non fiction (I'm a history teacher!!) I am fascinated by the lives of these people.

Sansom has a real knack for describing Tudor life and for developing characters that you really feel connected to.

I could highly recommend some plantagenet books if anyone is interested in earlier medieval history!

I am trying my first John Shakespeare novel. So far I am enjoying it, not enthralled in the historical detail but it's a good read. I have Heresy to try on my kindle too. I do need a bit of Tudor drama in my life.

he also overuses sharp

finished now, it was excellent.

in the middle of it, very good so far

Just finished queens Gambit by Fremantle. Enjoyed it, so ta for the recommendation! Off to try John Shakespeare...

Just Googled Aidan Turner. Hell, yes!

I enjoyed them all, although i was stunned by the ending! (Poor Jack! Poor Tamasin! How could he?!) I did think the plot was rather stretched this time, too, but still very readable. I didn't notice the over-use of 'sardonic' but it is a while since i read it.

I have read the first 3 Parris books, but i gave up the will to live with the last one and it is still unfinished. What i didn't like about them was the use of first person. I find that very off putting in a book and I expect that was a good part of why I gave up reading the last one.

I'll definitely stick with Shardlake through another novel - and after that we'll have to see.

Interesting to hear others' views on who should play Barak - my nomination is Aidan Turner (about to be Poldark on the BBC). He's swarthy, hirsute, has dark eyes and curly hair - absolutely my mind's eye image of Jack. Toby Jones would also be a great Shardlake. Ages ago there was a rumour that Kenneth Branagh was looking at doing it but I don't think there is any adaptation planned. It did influence me to imagine him as Shardlake ever since though and I also think he'd be great though doubt he would do another crime fighter after Wallender?

'Heresy' I think. Can't remember much about it tbh.

Oh that's a shame, Remus - I've always had a weakness for monks & Italians :) John Shakespeare is great, though - just enough connection to documented events without being strangled by them.
I wonder if the parallels with current religious difficulties explain why the Tudors are so popular? When I first read the Shardlake novels, I found it hard to understand how anyone could be so fanatical about religion, but there are definite echoes in modern life. Fortunately no equivalent of Great Henry though (yet).

Parris didn't do it for me. Only read one, and that was enough.

Recently finished Lamentation which was a Christmas present. It was a vast improvement on Heartstone, though I thought it was saved by the gripping and empathetic description of the Mary Rose disaster. My favourite books in the series are Dissolution, Revelation and Dark Fire.
Back to Lamentation, I enjoyed seeing more of an insight into Shardlake's character and his relationship with the main characters. So glad that the conclusion left the door open for another Shardlake's novel! Devastated about Barak, won't say more so as not to spoil it for other readers.
Wish the TV/ Radio would serialise the Sansom books. Who's my Shardlake's? How about Toby Jones, can see him evoking all the lawyers strengths and weaknesses. What do you think?? As for Barak my vote goes to Richard Armitage - think I've got the right name, anyway he was the one in North and South, and Spooks.

You're right, we don't need spoilers - but picture me, if you will, with my mouth actually hanging open, for quite a long time.

I will give these other books a try. I tried one Parris and just got cross because it wasn't Shardlake. I suppose it would be good for him to be less pathetic over women he's saving himself for me