What I'm reading Wednesday
Hey, it's Wednesday, and it's actually occurred to me to post about what I'm reading! I keep seeing other peoples 'what I'm reading' posts on Thurs, and thinking vaguely 'maybe I'll do that next week'. And apparently, this is that week.
What I have just finished reading: The King's Peace by Jo Walton. Dark Age Arthuriana set in a mildly alternate universe, told from the point of view of Arthur (Urdo)'s war leader, a woman called Sulien, Fabulous world building, with a lovely epic Irish feel in places and in others, a little End of the Empire Sutcliff. Sometimes a little confusing - there's a huge cast of characters, some of them pretty minor, and some who are mentioned in half a sentence towards the end of the book after having died years earlier. There are definitely some places where the story could have used a little revision to make it clearer who is speaking, or remind the reader which character is which. The format of the book is, similarly to Sword at Sunset, a telling by the elderly hero reporting on the events of her past life, and I don't think Walton slips from future to past as effortlessly as Sutcliff.
But on the whole: a compelling retelling, and I shall read the next one.
What I'm reading now: Mist over Pendle by Robert Neill. It's 1611, and Margery Whitaker, youngest daughter of a family of relentlessly joyless Puritans, has been sent off to live with a remote (but rich) cousin, because she has a disgraceful tendency to crinkle her forehead enticingly at young gentlemen. I am not sure where this is going, but it seems very readable so far.
What I have just finished reading: The King's Peace by Jo Walton. Dark Age Arthuriana set in a mildly alternate universe, told from the point of view of Arthur (Urdo)'s war leader, a woman called Sulien, Fabulous world building, with a lovely epic Irish feel in places and in others, a little End of the Empire Sutcliff. Sometimes a little confusing - there's a huge cast of characters, some of them pretty minor, and some who are mentioned in half a sentence towards the end of the book after having died years earlier. There are definitely some places where the story could have used a little revision to make it clearer who is speaking, or remind the reader which character is which. The format of the book is, similarly to Sword at Sunset, a telling by the elderly hero reporting on the events of her past life, and I don't think Walton slips from future to past as effortlessly as Sutcliff.
But on the whole: a compelling retelling, and I shall read the next one.
What I'm reading now: Mist over Pendle by Robert Neill. It's 1611, and Margery Whitaker, youngest daughter of a family of relentlessly joyless Puritans, has been sent off to live with a remote (but rich) cousin, because she has a disgraceful tendency to crinkle her forehead enticingly at young gentlemen. I am not sure where this is going, but it seems very readable so far.