This book and I never really jelled, and I am not quite sure whose fault it is. It started out well enough for me, with three very interesting characters in 14th century Europe, but then suddenly it's years later and they are adults, meeting up in an Inn and there is murder and intrigue and need to prevent or cause a war, or something, and I was never quite sure what happened. Then, they have all been separated for years, and there is murder and intrigue, and a whole bunch of characters sleep together, and then there is a war... of sorts. Perhaps I read this book too slowly, so I wasn't tracking it carefully enough, or I'm not familiar enough with English regal history to spot the signposts that were supposed to tell me what was going on.
All the way, I felt I was reading this book while doing something else, and I only paid attention when it was especially interesting. There were interesting parts, some very nice sections in Wales, some very delightful conversations, beautiful imagery with the red dragon manifesting as an army. Really cool. But confusing. When did Hywl (this means Sail or Spunk in Welsh, by the way) lose one eye and get an magic English glass marble one? And why didn't he use it for anything other than watching that final battle? I certainly must have lost something in my inattentiveness...
...which could be a writing lesson, I think. Don't let your reader wander away. The writer is molding a story around them, determining what they will see and where they will go, like a magician with words when you think about it. (As of late, I have really been able to feel the sense of that, and it is propelling me into curiosity about semiotics, narratology, and in the inimitable words of Ira Glass, 'narrative control.')
Read more about John M. Ford.
All the way, I felt I was reading this book while doing something else, and I only paid attention when it was especially interesting. There were interesting parts, some very nice sections in Wales, some very delightful conversations, beautiful imagery with the red dragon manifesting as an army. Really cool. But confusing. When did Hywl (this means Sail or Spunk in Welsh, by the way) lose one eye and get an magic English glass marble one? And why didn't he use it for anything other than watching that final battle? I certainly must have lost something in my inattentiveness...
...which could be a writing lesson, I think. Don't let your reader wander away. The writer is molding a story around them, determining what they will see and where they will go, like a magician with words when you think about it. (As of late, I have really been able to feel the sense of that, and it is propelling me into curiosity about semiotics, narratology, and in the inimitable words of Ira Glass, 'narrative control.')
Read more about John M. Ford.
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