Operation Read All the Sutcliff: Frontier Wolf

[sineala]

I love this book. You know how sometimes you think you will never find a book that is new to you that you love as much as the books you loved when you were, oh, fourteen, because now you are a cynical bitter adult and you just cannot love another book as much as everything you loved that has all that nostalgia bound into it

Comments

[riventhorn]

I will have to read this soon. I think I would adore Hilarion. And it's in my library system! Because yes, hard copies are really expensive.

BTW, would you like me to mail you Flame Colored Taffeta? I started it, then was distracted by the holidays, but I can finish it quickly if given incentive to. A whole book devoted to a female protagonist. :) If you want it, PM me your address.

[sineala]

You definitely have to read this! Everyone should read this. Of course, now I have spoiled you for the entire book, but you should still read it!

Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I should be next on the FCT pass-around, because I'm still working my way through the Dolphin Ring here before letting myself read the rest of them. I would like to read it eventually, though. :)

[carmarthen]

I was thinking about a reread and an essay (because YES, fuck-up protagonists! I do like the slash, but if you took all slash potential out of this book, it would still be my favorite), but you said it all, down to my issues with the female characters (Teleri especially, thanks Sutcliff) and the Evil Druid (Evil Organized Religious Figures, kind of a thing for Sutcliff, also).

I really want Arcani fic. Might request it for Swap. More thoughts later!

[sineala]

You should still totally make a post. I am sure you don't have the exact same thoughts as I do! But, yeah, I'm with you on how it would still be the best even if it weren't slashy -- for me the slash and h/c and whatnot is the icing on the delicious YOU'RE A FUCK-UP, PROTAGONIST cake. (Which would probably be a very strange cake.) But, hey, I have my kinks.

I didn't even notice Teleri until this reread, I don't think, and now I can't believe I never noticed her before, because what the fuck, Sutcliff, it's not her fault.

Ooh, Arcani fic. That would be fun!

[carmarthen]

I actually do have pretty much the exact same thoughts as you, maybe with some additional ones on why I'm most interested in post-canon fic.

I think for me the heart of the novel is Alexios making the same decision again (which is what makes this the ur-fuckup-protag story for me--that his redemption is the same as his downfall), but that's a minor difference.

I don't know if Arcani fic would be *fun*, but I am really curious about them and their motivations, and why the one who remained loyal did so. It's kind of a big black box in the narrative that I'd like someone to unpack. (I have been vaguely considering an AU for a while where Hilarion is one of the Arcani, and I'd have to go back and look at my notes, but I think Cunorix is in Hilarion's role--but Connla's still one of the Votadini, to kind of pick at that "no divided loyalties in the Family" thing. But it's only very very vague thoughts.)

[bunn]

It's interesting how you've read this. It had not occurred to me that Sutcliff was blaming Teleri - that bit struck me as 'Connla is so full of himself, any tiny unintended thing at the wrong moment could set him on a course that will kill him and his brother. Here's a tiny unintended thing

[sineala]

I just didn't feel there was another good way to read "If the red-haired girl had not laughed, much of what happened after might never have happened at all." (And then of course we see that this is what the evil druid wanted, so clearly it was intended by someone. I don't know, it seemed like blame to me.)

That seems like a good way to take the presence of the village woman; thanks for the thoughts! I was/am actually unfamiliar with the washer at the ford, so that would never have occurred to me. I just thought it was strange that she basically showed up to scream and rave and then be killed. But I really like the idea of her representing the collateral damage.

It is sad to think that the other books are not this good, then. But maybe I will read this one again when I'm done!

[bunn]

Re the collateral damage, I think that Sutcliff's own life may be relevant here. Now, OK, during most of WWII, she was living in a fairly quiet rural spot - but she did visit Plymouth, and Plymouth was very, VERY blitzed. Think a city flattened, with occasional buildings sticking up out of the wreck, and all the hills around full of people who have fled and are now living in chicken-sheds and barns and trying to cope while Not Making a Fuss because There Is a War On. I think that has to colour her perception of the impact of war to some extent...

I think my absolute favorite of her books is actually The Lantern Bearers - will be interested to read your comments on that - but I think FW may be the better book.

[carmarthen]

Yeah, I think the Washer at the Ford shows up as a theme in another book, but I can't remember which now. I wonder a little Howe much of Sutcliff's intended audience picked up on it, though...I grew up reading mythology, and I still had to google that one.

[halotolerant]

This was the first book I got hold of after 'The Eagle of the Ninth' when I was wondering if there were other Good Sutcliffs and boy howdy, I was pleased as you can imagine *g* I too worried that it would be Epically Bleak (have you read 'Outcast' yet? that will break you a little but it's OK, maybe, anyway it will make you scared of the marshland) and was racing through the end in that 'if everyone will die I want to get it done' way, and the last paragraphs made me so very, very happy *g* (they remind me of Hornblower and Bush at the end of Lieutenant Hornblower in the understated devotion thing). And then I wanted all of the Alexios/Hilarion but back then there were literally two Sutcliff fics on the whole internet (and very good they were, but they were Eagle) so I'm so glad people (you!) are writing them now.

Just looked up the prices on amazon - gosh! They are expensive. So glad I had a Sutcliff-buying fest back when they were a penny a go. But they should be in print, that's just silly that they aren't.

[sineala]

I have not read Outcast yet, but it's here on my Kindle, waiting. But yeah, I'm with you on the "oh my God, she's going to kill everyone in this book" dread, because that was pretty much my experience. Reading it multiple times has made it better, if only because I already know the death toll. And, hey, slowly fandom is producing Frontier Wolf fic! Some of it is even written by people who aren't me!

(Also I never got around to reading/watching Hornblower... maybe I should.)

I have no idea why this one especially is so expensive. It makes it difficult to recommend to people! I am hoping some of the out of print ones will still be cheap after I finish the ones I've got!

[carmarthen]

I have no idea why this one especially is so expensive. It makes it difficult to recommend to people! I am hoping some of the out of print ones will still be cheap after I finish the ones I've got!

That happened in the last couple years, too, because I think I got my copy fairly recently, and it was still in print then. I'm hoping that whatever happened with the shift in ebook publishers, they'll reissue all the ones that got pulled. (And Blood Feud and The Shining Company, ebooks now plz.)

[halotolerant]

Reading and watching Hornblower are very very different experiences. I personally recommend watching it (incredibly pretty Hornblower is whumped for three seasons, repeat as needed, Epic Friendship, monumentally slashy moments [if I wanted to show someone what hurt/comfort was, I'd use this show to demonstrate] Samuel West is hot etc)

I don't know how much you know of what happens - I don't want to spoil - but let's just say when they adapted the books for TV they made some pretty amazingly pro-fannish-catnip decisions *g*

[sineala]

Aww, thanks. And you should totally reread it! Everyone should! :)

[carmarthen]

Yeah, the original crop of Sutcliff ebooks are all "out of print" again. The new ones are coming from a different publisher.