Susan Hated Literature

Author: John M. Ford
ISBN:9780575073784 DDC: 813
LibraryThing ; Other reviews

The road the Romans made traversed North Wales a little way inland, between the weather off the Irish Sea and the mountains of Gwynedd and Powys; past the copper and the lead that the travel-hungry Empire craved.

Where to start with this book’s plot summary? Cause there is a whole load going on. From Florence’s Lorenzo de Medici to England’s Richard III and a whole host in between. I suppose you could say it is a look at a Europe that might have been. An alternate Europe with wizards; one where the Byzantine Empire a threat and vampires rule Milan.

Actually that all sounds a bit trashy, but this isn’t a trashy novel at all, not in the least. It has plenty of action and the odd fantasy cliche, but it is very well-written and makes the reader work. I think that might be why it took me so long to get into it. In the beginning it just didn’t grab me and make me keep on reading. But it did more than enough to make me come back to it; so I’m going to complain there.

Course the reason i picked it up in the first place it because of the new cover. Not that one anobii are showing you, but the re-issued Ultimate Fantasy cover. Its got its dragon, but it also that that clean minimalist feel to it. I likes.

Back to the book.

I’m still not sure what to say. I’d recommend it, without a doubt, to any fantasy or historical fan. But there is just so much going on, it is a densely written book, that I think it really does need a reread. There are whole sections the book skips, letting the reader know what happened but never going into huge details. The characters don’t reveal all to us. We are left to speculate and wonder in many instances. That’s not a negative, by the way, it isn’t done in a lazy way, as if the author couldn’t be bothered, it is just that it serves the story better this way.

It probably works a lot better if you know a bit of history, having read Penman’s The Sunne In Splendour helped me a lot with the Richard III storyline. And it helps that, although influenced by Shakespeare, this book is more in Richard’s favour than interested in painting him the villain of the piece. What can I say, I’m loyal to my favourite literary characters, I don’t really care what the history *really* says.

Tags: 8 Stars, 813, alternate history, Britain - middle ages, British royalty - Edward IV, British royalty - Richard III, C11th, C16th, de Medici family, England - middle ages, historical fiction, Italy - Florence, John M. Ford, sff, The Dragon Waiting, Wales - middle ages, War of the Roses, World Fantasy Award winner

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A history of power, love and greed in 11th-century England
Author Harriet O Brien
ISBN 0747574898
DDC: 942.018092
Read with Medieval Britain book group

She looks a little peevish, although this would not have been the intention of the artist

This is the story of Queen Emma, by birth a Norman, who married two kings of England. Her first marriage was as peacemaker between her family and England. Her second came about because Cnut defeated her first husband and came to power. She was, in effect, the spoils.

But Emma was not a woman to be taken lightly, nor was she one to sit back and let events unfold. This book attempts to show her as an active, manipulating Queen, one who held power in her own right.

The problem of course is that there really isn’t all that much evidence left to us today about the people of the 11th century. And what does remain may not be strictly true. Emma herself commissioned a book to be written about the times she lived through. But this cannot be believed as it is not merely a recording of events, but a piece of political propaganda. Despite the lack of evidence, O’Brien has created an interesting, readable book. I’m too sure if her method of interspersing speculation and motivation of character really ever worked for me. But overall it is an interesting account of a woman I’d never heard of before.

Tags: 942.018092, biography, Britain - middle ages, British royalty - Cnut, British royalty - Queen Emma, C11th, Harriet O'Brien, history, non-fiction, Normans, Queen Emma and the Vikings

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Author: Georgette Heyer
ISBN: 0099416441
DDC: 823.912
You know the way sometimes you see a trailer for a film and think that looks like an entertaining comedy only for it to turn out to be a dark and depressing into someone’s horrorific memories (I’m exagerating for effect here), well the blurb on the back of this book is that misleading.

I suppose the reason is that most people who read Heyer are looking for a light, easy to read, fun romance, and the publishers probably felt that it was best to market this book the same as all the others. And that is why we get a quote about Mathilda on the back, indicating that the story will be about William the Bastard having her; “Either for love or for hatred”. Well that isn’t what the book is about at all.

Set in the 11th Century The Conqueror is a novel about William the Conqueror, the Norman base-born Duke who became king of England. You know, battle of Hastings, 1066, and all that.

I’d have to say that this is the best of the Heyer’s I’ve read, but in a way it isn’t really fair to compare her other work with this one. This is a serious novel, told through the pov of Raoul de Harcourt who wishes only for justice and peace, for a Normandy with

“law and justice, so that men may no longer burn and slay and pillage at will. I have thought that perhaps some day a man might rise up, with the will and the power to bring order into the Duchy. I would like to fight in his cause.”

Is William to be this man?

I’ll admit I don’t really know a lot about this period, well apart from very basic facts, but Heyer brings it to life. As always she is very careful about the language used, and so this is full of nitherings and beau sires and gonfanons.

Characterwise it is very hard to identify with the Duke himself, but the reader can easily understand why Raoul respects and follows him. William may be a hard man, driven, unemotional, but he is a leader who thinks things through, who is just and fair. But we also see Raoul’s opinions regarding his Duke’s ambitions.

But he knew that he would never be as they were; he must always see the smaller joys and griefs life held, and count them dearer than a distant, splendid goal. There is not one jot of greatness in me , he thought.

Does the end justify the means?

---

Wikipedia on William the Conqueror | Georgette Heyer.com | Article on William as a leader (pdf) | The Normans

Tags: 823.912, Britain - Normans, British royalty - William the Conqueror, C11th, Georgette Heyer, historical fiction, romance, The Conqueror

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