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kilroyPrint date: 2006 (20s: 1, 60s: 2, 70s: 1, 80s: 3, 90s: 3, 00s: 6)
With the new rules the pattern for my reading books has become "two I'm not sure about, followed by one I know will be good." I think last year sometime I read the first book in this series, and immediately went out and bought the other three (sound familiar?). It surprised me. The books (in America anyway) are from Luna, the fantasy imprint of Harlequin-- which I didn't realize until I was 2/3 of the way through the first one. Yeah, it had romance, but it was also an astonishingly well-written book.
The series does a number of things right. As you could tell by the title, it's Arthurian; but rather than re-tell the story of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot for the millionth time, it tries to fill in the edges of the story. Each book focuses on a woman who will end up falling in love with one of the sons of Lot, starting with Gawain. And each story is something I've never seen before in Arthurian mythology. Not only that, but the characterizations of the people everyone knows are unique to this universe, both deep and surprising. They're around, but it's worth noting that they're usually kept to the background, letting the main characters properly keep center stage.
The female characters are ridiculously strong and well-written, and the unquestioned leads of each book. They're also heroic in the classical mold: brave, intelligent, skilled, able to hold their own in a fight and generally run around doing stuff that's traditionally limited to men in fiction. I like all of the main characters, which is more than I can say for, say, Mists of Avalon. Yes, they fall in deep, true love by the end of the book, but the real trick is that it generally feels believable. The books take their time and show the relationships developing, shaded with doubt and questions and strengthened by shared danger. You don't feel like the characters are falling in love by narrative fiat, which is always the trick (at least with me).
Out of the three I've read so far, this book was probably the weakest precisely because it doesn't take its time with the romance. The reason is simple: the book is jam-packed with metaplot about Morgaine and there simply isn't enough time to execute the elaborate plot and give the appropriate depth to the love story. There were at least two sub-threads that could have been cut to make more room or the author could have added another hundred pages or so; either way it would have improved the book.
Still, make no mistake: this was a good book. Wishing it could have been longer is definitely a better problem than wishing it were shorter. What's there is consistently interesting, you like the characters, and things move along an elegant--if slightly rushed--path. And I'm looking forward greatly to reading the series conclusion so I can see if all this metaplot pays off. :-)
Verdict: Keep. (9/23 keepers)
Page count: 553 (6126 total)
Completed: 16 (8 female authors, 8 male authors)
Rejected: 7 (4 male authors, 3 female authors)
Next book due: 5/30
With the new rules the pattern for my reading books has become "two I'm not sure about, followed by one I know will be good." I think last year sometime I read the first book in this series, and immediately went out and bought the other three (sound familiar?). It surprised me. The books (in America anyway) are from Luna, the fantasy imprint of Harlequin-- which I didn't realize until I was 2/3 of the way through the first one. Yeah, it had romance, but it was also an astonishingly well-written book.
The series does a number of things right. As you could tell by the title, it's Arthurian; but rather than re-tell the story of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot for the millionth time, it tries to fill in the edges of the story. Each book focuses on a woman who will end up falling in love with one of the sons of Lot, starting with Gawain. And each story is something I've never seen before in Arthurian mythology. Not only that, but the characterizations of the people everyone knows are unique to this universe, both deep and surprising. They're around, but it's worth noting that they're usually kept to the background, letting the main characters properly keep center stage.
The female characters are ridiculously strong and well-written, and the unquestioned leads of each book. They're also heroic in the classical mold: brave, intelligent, skilled, able to hold their own in a fight and generally run around doing stuff that's traditionally limited to men in fiction. I like all of the main characters, which is more than I can say for, say, Mists of Avalon. Yes, they fall in deep, true love by the end of the book, but the real trick is that it generally feels believable. The books take their time and show the relationships developing, shaded with doubt and questions and strengthened by shared danger. You don't feel like the characters are falling in love by narrative fiat, which is always the trick (at least with me).
Out of the three I've read so far, this book was probably the weakest precisely because it doesn't take its time with the romance. The reason is simple: the book is jam-packed with metaplot about Morgaine and there simply isn't enough time to execute the elaborate plot and give the appropriate depth to the love story. There were at least two sub-threads that could have been cut to make more room or the author could have added another hundred pages or so; either way it would have improved the book.
Still, make no mistake: this was a good book. Wishing it could have been longer is definitely a better problem than wishing it were shorter. What's there is consistently interesting, you like the characters, and things move along an elegant--if slightly rushed--path. And I'm looking forward greatly to reading the series conclusion so I can see if all this metaplot pays off. :-)
Verdict: Keep. (9/23 keepers)
Page count: 553 (6126 total)
Completed: 16 (8 female authors, 8 male authors)
Rejected: 7 (4 male authors, 3 female authors)
Next book due: 5/30