2012 books: Walton
Feb. 11th, 2012 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melita66I'm still on a re-reading kick. I didn't quite finish re-reading Martha Wells's The Serpent Sea but only because I was reading an ebook version on my phone (the hard copy was out on loan, and only recently returned).
Instead, spurred on by a review on a blog, I decided to read Jo Walton's The King's Peace and The King's Name. I don't believe I've read them since they were first published in the early 2000s. The King's Peace is her first published novel. Her career as a novelist has an interesting history. She widely posted on usenet, including rec.arts.sf.fandom and rec.arts.sf.written. When she mentioned that she had written a novel (or more), Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor asked to see it, and bought it for publication.
The books are set in an alternative Arthurian Britain, set around the time that the "Saxon" invasions were in full force and Christianity is beginning to take hold ('the White god'). Vinca (Rome) has abandoned its colony due to barbarian incursions closer to home, and while there have been 'high kings' in the past, currently there is none and the various kingdoms of Britain are fragmented. A new candidate for high king, Urdo, is beginning to unite the land and has instituted serious training of new cavalry units. But Urdo isn't the main character, instead a young woman, Sulien, is the narrator. A daughter of a small kingdom, she is attacked during a raid in which her brother, the heir, is killed. Sulien ends up joining one of Urdo's alae ("wing") and becomes an important officer and observer of the momentous history that's occurring. A pagan, according to the White God's adherents, as is Urdo, she has some magical connections to the land and the gods. So, yes, there are overt fantastical elements to the story.
The mix of cultures (British/Celtic, Irish, and Saxon/Viking) is very interesting to me, with serious consequences to characters and storylines.
Reading the two books back-to-back, I think The King's Name has much higher energy, and certainly starts off with a bang as Sulien is poisoned as one of the opening blows of a civil war.I think I like it better than The King's Peace, but it would be almost impossible to follow without reading TKP first. TKN focuses on the civil war and ends with peace re-established (can that be considered a spoiler? nah).
The Tanagan (British/Celtic) society is quite egalitarian. A leader of a kingdom is called "king" whether male or female and women are welcome as warleaders and members of the alae and infantry. It is pointed out that Sulien at least is quite tall for a woman and has the upper body strength to make her a good fighter. This conflicts with the Jarns (Saxons), who keep their women more cloistered.
If you like intelligent fantasy, I recommend any of Jo Walton's books. There's a third book, The Prize in the Game, which I haven't read yet. That will probably be the next new book I read (after I finish re-reading Stevermer's Scholar of Magic). At the time it was published, I decided not to read it yet because it covered events already in TKP and TKN.
Instead, spurred on by a review on a blog, I decided to read Jo Walton's The King's Peace and The King's Name. I don't believe I've read them since they were first published in the early 2000s. The King's Peace is her first published novel. Her career as a novelist has an interesting history. She widely posted on usenet, including rec.arts.sf.fandom and rec.arts.sf.written. When she mentioned that she had written a novel (or more), Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor asked to see it, and bought it for publication.
The books are set in an alternative Arthurian Britain, set around the time that the "Saxon" invasions were in full force and Christianity is beginning to take hold ('the White god'). Vinca (Rome) has abandoned its colony due to barbarian incursions closer to home, and while there have been 'high kings' in the past, currently there is none and the various kingdoms of Britain are fragmented. A new candidate for high king, Urdo, is beginning to unite the land and has instituted serious training of new cavalry units. But Urdo isn't the main character, instead a young woman, Sulien, is the narrator. A daughter of a small kingdom, she is attacked during a raid in which her brother, the heir, is killed. Sulien ends up joining one of Urdo's alae ("wing") and becomes an important officer and observer of the momentous history that's occurring. A pagan, according to the White God's adherents, as is Urdo, she has some magical connections to the land and the gods. So, yes, there are overt fantastical elements to the story.
The mix of cultures (British/Celtic, Irish, and Saxon/Viking) is very interesting to me, with serious consequences to characters and storylines.
Reading the two books back-to-back, I think The King's Name has much higher energy, and certainly starts off with a bang as Sulien is poisoned as one of the opening blows of a civil war.I think I like it better than The King's Peace, but it would be almost impossible to follow without reading TKP first. TKN focuses on the civil war and ends with peace re-established (can that be considered a spoiler? nah).
The Tanagan (British/Celtic) society is quite egalitarian. A leader of a kingdom is called "king" whether male or female and women are welcome as warleaders and members of the alae and infantry. It is pointed out that Sulien at least is quite tall for a woman and has the upper body strength to make her a good fighter. This conflicts with the Jarns (Saxons), who keep their women more cloistered.
If you like intelligent fantasy, I recommend any of Jo Walton's books. There's a third book, The Prize in the Game, which I haven't read yet. That will probably be the next new book I read (after I finish re-reading Stevermer's Scholar of Magic). At the time it was published, I decided not to read it yet because it covered events already in TKP and TKN.
