OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Sheep Wasps and the king" by Graham Williams.]

Sheep, Wasps and The King by Graham Williams is the second book in The Master Harry Series. Like the first book, it is a historical fiction book set in the reign of King James. It is a sequel to The Jug and Hare Bathhouse, and the events occur shortly after the end of the first book.

Soon after finishing the first book that is addictive and easy-to-read, I was very excited to read the sequel. Harry, the protagonist, is now the adopted son of wealthy importer called Jorne. As the plague is decimating the population in London, Harry and his friend Thomas (as well as other Jorne employees) move temporarily to Hillingdon.

The storyline is straightforward. Master Harry (now heir to vast estates) has to learn how to manage family estates as efficiently as his adoptive father. The description of the customs of the time is the highest point of the book. I loved reading a detailed explanation of how the English of the time faced the plague. This book also deals in more detail with some rotten things that occurred in the British court of the time. As in the first book, Graham Williams did not describe all nobles as being immoral and arrogant beings. Lord William is an excellent example of a nobleman who helped the protagonists when a misunderstanding put a friend of Harry in jail for attempted murder.

Unlike the first book, which is practically flawless, I did not like one aspect of the book. In The Jug & Hare Bathhouse, there are dangerous antagonists and an elaborate scheme of child prostitution. In the second book, however, the main antagonists are sheep thieves and stupid drunks trying to escape. It is embarrassing to compare a villain like Swift with Douglas "dog piss." Perhaps the latter could have some value as a minor character for the sake of humor, never as the main antagonist. The lack of relevant antagonists made this book slightly inferior to the first.

All in all, Sheep, Wasps and The King deserves 3 out of 4 stars. I may have started this book with very high expectations after reading the first one, but it is a fact that the storyline is not as good as the first book. The lack of antagonists makes the book boring in some chapters. Like many books by Balzac, it has value as a book documenting the customs of a particular era. The addictive aspect of the first book, however, has been lost. It's professionally edited as the first one, and I found only five grammatical errors (one missing article and four examples of comma misuse). I recommend this book to non-religious people over 16 who enjoy historical fiction. Unlike the first book, the sex scenes are not explicit.

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Sheep Wasps and the king
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Well, I'm glad this one is not as explicit as the first. Does this act as a stand alone, though? The plot does sound interesting, as that would be a good time period to check out. Thanks.

Fantastic review this sounds like an interesting story and will be a worth while read. Thanks for the through review.

Your summary has convinced me on the interesting aspects about the book. Just like you, I expect proceeding books in a sequel to be as interesting as the preceding books and really get bored when my expectations are not met.
Thank you for the wonderful review.

kandscreeley wrote: ↑21 Dec 2019, 18:53 Well, I'm glad this one is not as explicit as the first. Does this act as a stand alone, though? The plot does sound interesting, as that would be a good time period to check out. Thanks.

Yes, you can read this book without reading the first one. Anyway, I enjoyed the plot of the first book better. Thanks for passing by, kandscreeley. I appreciate it.

Falconcrest wrote: ↑22 Dec 2019, 15:36 Fantastic review this sounds like an interesting story and will be a worth while read. Thanks for the through review.

Much obliged for the compliment, Falconcrest.

Kanda_theGreat wrote: ↑23 Dec 2019, 09:38 Your summary has convinced me on the interesting aspects about the book. Just like you, I expect proceeding books in a sequel to be as interesting as the preceding books and really get bored when my expectations are not met.
Thank you for the wonderful review.

It's really frustrating, isn't it? Not that this book is not good, but the first one was exceptional. Thank for your feedback, Kanda_theGreat.

Sheep thieves and stupid drunks... seems that we're all trying to escape from something, lol. I haven't read either of the 2 books in this series, but they do sound historically-interesting. Thanks for the helpful review!

This is a great review. However, the mentioned antagonists may depict this book as "unserious". I, therefore, will pass it.

It's a shame that the book doesn't live up to its predecessor, but I'm gathering thst the stakes just aren't that high in this one in general. Harry seems to have very little to actually deal with and I do have to wonder how mich plot you can actually get from something like that.