Books 89-90
Chivalry by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
For me it is Doran's art that makes this graphic novel. It's honestly not my favorite Gaiman short story but it is bittersweet for all of that. The story I think was written thirty years ago and there is some of Gaiman's lack of age at the time showing in this (more of how someone in their late 20s/early 30s might see what being 70 is like). Doran's art is just this luminous watercolor (in her afterword she talked about the joys and terrors of creating this work and said some of it went for sale. I would have loved to have seen that)
Mrs. Whittaker is a pensioner who stops at the local OxFam store whenever she cashes her pension check and gets a little something, usually romance novels. This time she picks up a chalice that she takes home and puts on her mantle after giving it a thorough washing (There is something of a chill that goes with that knowing this is the Holy Grail).
She knows what it is and doesn't even bat an eye when the beautiful young man in full plate mail rides up on his equally beautiful war horse. Galaad (Galahad) wants the Grail so he can finally end his quest but the Grail looks so good on her mantle amidst the pictures of her late husband.
There is such a delicate sweetness to their interactions as he tries to find just the right thing to convince her to give up the grail but there is also a bitterness there when she is tempted to take one special item and realizes what she might have to give up.
I really did enjoy these characters who are truly elevated by Doran's art. I did recognize Galaad's face from A Distant Soil and now thanks to the afterword I know the sad history there. It's a treat if you like the Arthurian legend.
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A Lack of Temperance by Anna Loan-Wilsey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wanted to like this one a little more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but I had certain reservations in how Hattie was developed. For instance, she collects plants and presses them (almost 2 thousand of them) but we don't know why she's interested. She only seems to do this when it's needed for her to appear dirty or weird to the other women, doing things women shouldn't do in the late 1800s). She never talks about it, not even with the doctor who is romantically interested in her so it's just a weird McGuffin. There are other things teased about her, like a mistrust of doctors, that never really gel.
What I did like about Hattie is her job. She's a traveling secretary which means she can be anywhere (and I peeked at the series and that's exactly what she does). The job that takes her to Hot Springs AK is to be a secretary to the president of woman's temperance movement. Hattie is befriended by a pair of aged sisters who think she's sympathetic to the cause (Hattie seemed more horrified by the Carrie Nation-esque hatchet smashing of saloons).
Her would-be employer had her share of enemies as do her potential next in charge ladies,not to mention the obvious suspect, the saloon owner who got his place busted up.
I liked the mystery well enough but this skirted on my yeah-no rule of having a detective who doesn't like the amateur sleuth and wants her gone. It wasn't that big of a deal here but it did make me roll my eyes. At least it didn't go the route of having Hattie blamed and needing to clear herself. That trope is so old and over done it makes me want to skip book one of most amateur sleuth series.
I would read another of these but I hope Hattie gets more fleshed out as she goes. She needed more meat on her bones.
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