Book Log 30/2009 - Shadows and Strongholds

Elizabeth Chadwick - Shadows and Strongholds

( Fear the spoilers )

A well-written and engaging book that I read because someone left it here. I'm glad I did. I don't read many historicals, but I'm inclined to seek out more Elizabeth Chadwick and there is a continuation of Fulke/Brunin's story in 'Lords of the White Castle' (written four years before this book) which is now on my wants list.

Book Log 30/2009 - Shadows and Strongholds

Elizabeth Chadwick - Shadows and Strongholds

( Fear the spoilers )

A well-written and engaging book that I read because someone left it here. I'm glad I did. I don't read many historicals, but I'm inclined to seek out more Elizabeth Chadwick and there is a continuation of Fulke/Brunin's story in 'Lords of the White Castle' (written four years before this book) which is now on my wants list.

Book Log 31/2009 - Living With Ghosts

This is a gorgeous multi-layered work with a cast of characters which includes the city of Merafi - as much a part of this as are Gracielis, failed Tarnaroqui assassin-priest now courtesan and spy; Thiercelin, husband of one of the Queen's closest advisors and feeling like a spare part most of the time; Joyain, loyal soldier, out of his depth, just trying to keep it all together; Valdarrien, slain in a duel, but not yet gone.

And then there's Merafi, a city of many contrasts, prosperous and rich with shipping, docks, merchants, artisans and courtesans. The Queen and the high houses on the hill overlook the Low City with her toes in the river, dank, damp, dark and decaying, yet thriving despite it all - until the upstart Prince Kenan of the Lunedith and Quenfrida, the Tranaroqui spy mistress conspire to remove the bonds of ancient magic allowing the river to rise, setting free the opaque ghosts and demons, invisible to the Merafiens, but plain as day to Gracielis. The river's floodwaters bring pestilence and violence, and while loyal Joyain tries to do his duty, only Gracielis can end it - if he wants to. But Gracielis is in thrall to Quenfrida, while at the same time drawn to help Thiercelin, Thiercelin is driven by the apparent disregard of his wife, and  haunted by the memory of his dead friend, Valdarrien. Valdarrien, by now more than a revenant spirit, grows even stronger and seeks a way back to find his lost love, Iareth. Iareth is in the retinue of the prince, but also playing a dangerous double game by spying on him for her father, the Lunedith spymaster.

Gracielis knows the final solution requires a sacrifice, but who? Thiercelin is horribly afraid that he might know.

Complicated? Yes, or say rather complex, because all this unfolds at an almost leisurely pace, drawing out the tension to almost unbearable pitch before we finally get resolution. It’s not a happy ever after ending, but it does resolve and resolves well, with some characters left standing, but not all.

This is Kari Sperring’s debut novel. She’s a bona fide medieval historian with many academic books to her credit, and a self-confessed lover of the France of the Three Musketeers.  Her writing is as elegant, as complex and as multi-layered as her characters and plot. You can almost taste her descriptions of the city. Highly recommended.

Book Log 31/2009 - Kari Sperring: Living With Ghosts

This is a gorgeous multi-layered work with a cast of characters which includes the city of Merafi - as much a part of this as are Gracielis, failed Tarnaroqui assassin-priest now courtesan and spy; Thiercelin, husband of one of the Queen's closest advisors and feeling like a spare part most of the time; Joyain, loyal soldier, out of his depth, just trying to keep it all together; Valdarrien, slain in a duel, but not yet gone.

And then there's Merafi, a city of many contrasts, prosperous and rich with shipping, docks, merchants, artisans and courtesans. The Queen and the high houses on the hill overlook the Low City with her toes in the river, dank, damp, dark and decaying, yet thriving despite it all - until the upstart Prince Kenan of the Lunedith and Quenfrida, the Tranaroqui spy mistress conspire to remove the bonds of ancient magic allowing the river to rise, setting free the opaque ghosts and demons, invisible to the Merafiens, but plain as day to Gracielis. The river's floodwaters bring pestilence and violence, and while loyal Joyain tries to do his duty, only Gracielis can end it - if he wants to. But Gracielis is in thrall to Quenfrida, while at the same time drawn to help Thiercelin, Thiercelin is driven by the apparent disregard of his wife, and  haunted by the memory of his dead friend, Valdarrien. Valdarrien, by now more than a revenant spirit, grows even stronger and seeks a way back to find his lost love, Iareth. Iareth is in the retinue of the prince, but also playing a dangerous double game by spying on him for her father, the Lunedith spymaster.

Gracielis knows the final solution requires a sacrifice, but who? Thiercelin is horribly afraid that he might know.

Complicated? Yes, or say rather complex, because all this unfolds at an almost leisurely pace, drawing out the tension to almost unbearable pitch before we finally get resolution. It’s not a happy ever after ending, but it does resolve and resolves well, with some characters left standing, but not all.

This is Kari Sperring’s debut novel. She’s a bona fide medieval historian with many academic books to her credit, and a self-confessed lover of the France of the Three Musketeers.  Her writing is as elegant, as complex and as multi-layered as her characters and plot. You can almost taste her descriptions of the city. Highly recommended.

Book Log 32/2009 - Warriors of Ethandun

N.M. Browne – Warriors of Ethandun

I read this in draft and now my shiny copy of the book has arrived, complete with acknowledgements which include me. (Thanks, Nicky.) So I might be a tiny bit biased about this one. I might say it’s good just because...

But actually I’ll say it’s good because, quite simply, it is. It’s a book marketed for 9s – 12s which surprises me because I would put it more at YA level, but it’s possible I’m out of touch. It’s a time travel-by-magic book and the third of three about two misfit British schoolkids, Dan and Ursula, who travel through the veil and find themselves at important points in British history, having acquired a certain amount of personal magic and warrior prowess along the way (and a magical flair for languages). Never the same magic in any of the three books as the magic works differently in each timespan. They’ve already fought in the days of the Romano-British with the warrior King Macsen and at Camlann with King Arthur, but in that last battle Ursula, trained over the course of the previous books into a strapping six foot female warrior, was dreadfully injured. In Arthur’s time the wound would have been fatal, so Dan, grown to know battle-madness, and the feel of a sword in his hand, forces the bard Taliesin to open the veil and he carries Ursula through, looking for twenty-first century magic, in the shape of paramedics and antibiotics.

And that’s where this book opens. Warrior berserker Dan, mage Taliesin, the war dog Braveheart and the almost lifeless warrior-mage Ursula step out of the mist just an hour after difficult child Dan and lumpy, awkward schoolgirl Ursula disappeared. The coach is waiting; their classmates of probably a year or two ago are still looking for them.

Taliesin and Braveheart make a hasty getaway and Dan and Ursula are found covered in battle-gore. The well-meaning twenty-first century nanny-state kicks in. Ursula gets her medical treatment and Dan gets a quick trip to the local slammer, since he must be the villain, right?

After accusations, through which Dan sits dumb – because they’ll never believe the truth – Ursula eventually recovers enough to say they were attacked by unknown assailants and Dan’s off the hook. Things look to be settling down because they’re allowed back to school to do GCSEs. No one seems to realise that Dan has grown six inches and Ursula has lost pounds of weight and gained enough muscle to join an Olympic team. They shrug it off with ‘My haven’t you grown’ and ‘You’ve lost weight in hospital.’ Ursula’s mum takes her out to buy her a new pink skirt.

But if Dan finds school difficult, Ursula finds it almost impossible. Addicted to magic, she can’t bear it back at home. She needs to open the veil and go through once more. Taliesin reappears with the means to raise the veil and once she knows that, Ursula is set on it. After nearly killing a schoolgirl in the library by defending herself too strongly in a brawl, Ursula runs away, persuades Dan to lift the veil and without waiting for him charges into it in a blind panic, finding and falling into the magic she has been so desperate for. Falling into it so deeply that she’s lost in it.

But they haven’t returned to Macsen’s Romano-British time or even to King Arthur’s ill-fated reign, this time they are in the Britain of Alfred the Great and the Danes, separated and lost. Ursula is in thrall to the magic and to a blind child who seems to be able to control her better than she can control herself, and Dan finds himself swearing allegiance to Alfred, his loyalty tested in a terrifying trial by water. Yet all the time he’s trying to find Ursula – the love of his life, though he’s barely admitted that to himself.

Dan finds old enemies may have at last become friends and there’s help from the Bishop Asser when he discovers that the form his magic takes in this century is even more frightening than before and one step beyond being a berserker in battle. In the end Ursula must face the most difficult choice of her life, and then the two must find a way home if they can.

It’s gripping; a fast-paced bloody, smelly, gritty book, full of fights, battles and magic wrapped around a realistic historical background. Highly recommended, but don’t just read this, read the two books that went before it as well: ‘Warriors of Alavna’ and ‘Warriors of Camlann’. You won’t be disappointed.

Book Log 32/2009 - Warriors of Ethandun

N.M. Browne – Warriors of Ethandun

I read this in draft and now my shiny copy of the book has arrived, complete with acknowledgements which include me. (Thanks, Nicky.) So I might be a tiny bit biased about this one. I might say it’s good just because...

But actually I’ll say it’s good because, quite simply, it is. It’s a book marketed for 9s – 12s which surprises me because I would put it more at YA level, but it’s possible I’m out of touch. It’s a time travel-by-magic book and the third of three about two misfit British schoolkids, Dan and Ursula, who travel through the veil and find themselves at important points in British history, having acquired a certain amount of personal magic and warrior prowess along the way (and a magical flair for languages). Never the same magic in any of the three books as the magic works differently in each timespan. They’ve already fought in the days of the Romano-British with the warrior King Macsen and at Camlann with King Arthur, but in that last battle Ursula, trained over the course of the previous books into a strapping six foot female warrior, was dreadfully injured. In Arthur’s time the wound would have been fatal, so Dan, grown to know battle-madness, and the feel of a sword in his hand, forces the bard Taliesin to open the veil and he carries Ursula through, looking for twenty-first century magic, in the shape of paramedics and antibiotics.

And that’s where this book opens. Warrior berserker Dan, mage Taliesin, the war dog Braveheart and the almost lifeless warrior-mage Ursula step out of the mist just an hour after difficult child Dan and lumpy, awkward schoolgirl Ursula disappeared. The coach is waiting; their classmates of probably a year or two ago are still looking for them.

Taliesin and Braveheart make a hasty getaway and Dan and Ursula are found covered in battle-gore. The well-meaning twenty-first century nanny-state kicks in. Ursula gets her medical treatment and Dan gets a quick trip to the local slammer, since he must be the villain, right?

After accusations, through which Dan sits dumb – because they’ll never believe the truth – Ursula eventually recovers enough to say they were attacked by unknown assailants and Dan’s off the hook. Things look to be settling down because they’re allowed back to school to do GCSEs. No one seems to realise that Dan has grown six inches and Ursula has lost pounds of weight and gained enough muscle to join an Olympic team. They shrug it off with ‘My haven’t you grown’ and ‘You’ve lost weight in hospital.’ Ursula’s mum takes her out to buy her a new pink skirt.

But if Dan finds school difficult, Ursula finds it almost impossible. Addicted to magic, she can’t bear it back at home. She needs to open the veil and go through once more. Taliesin reappears with the means to raise the veil and once she knows that, Ursula is set on it. After nearly killing a schoolgirl in the library by defending herself too strongly in a brawl, Ursula runs away, persuades Dan to lift the veil and without waiting for him charges into it in a blind panic, finding and falling into the magic she has been so desperate for. Falling into it so deeply that she’s lost in it.

But they haven’t returned to Macsen’s Romano-British time or even to King Arthur’s ill-fated reign, this time they are in the Britain of Alfred the Great and the Danes, separated and lost. Ursula is in thrall to the magic and to a blind child who seems to be able to control her better than she can control herself, and Dan finds himself swearing allegiance to Alfred, his loyalty tested in a terrifying trial by water. Yet all the time he’s trying to find Ursula – the love of his life, though he’s barely admitted that to himself.

Dan finds old enemies may have at last become friends and there’s help from the Bishop Asser when he discovers that the form his magic takes in this century is even more frightening than before and one step beyond being a berserker in battle. In the end Ursula must face the most difficult choice of her life, and then the two must find a way home if they can.

It’s gripping; a fast-paced bloody, smelly, gritty book, full of fights, battles and magic wrapped around a realistic historical background. Highly recommended, but don’t just read this, read the two books that went before it as well: ‘Warriors of Alavna’ and ‘Warriors of Camlann’. You won’t be disappointed.