Rite of Conquest by Judith Tarr
Sep. 26th, 2009 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreThis historical fantasy focuses on William the Conquerer and his wife, Mathilda (Or Maud, or Matilda, whichever you prefer), from William’s youth through the battle of Hastings.
Tarr knows her history pretty well, but still plays fast and loose with it at times, and not just with the fantasy aspects. Here, a somewhat romanticized William is a reincarnation of King Arthur, and he and Mathilda are both descended from druids. The Saxons have all but driven magic from England, and Norman rule (specifically, William) is meant to fix that. The first half focuses on the early (and rather ahistorical) courtship of William and Mathilda, which is actually Mathilda (who seems to serve the role of Merlin, Morgan, and Guinevere, at different points) teaching him how to handle his magic and destiny, and ending with their marriage.
Unsurprisingly, Mathilda is largely on the sidelines in the second half (As we all know, women don’t do much once they’re wives and mothers, though being husbands and fathers doesn’t affect men.), which focuses more on the Norman and Saxon politics, and much of her page time is given to Harold.
A pretty good read, but not a very involving one, and some of the uses of both history and mythology made me go “Oh really?” in different ways.
As an aside, anyone have any good books about Guinevere to rec? The only one I’ve read is Kim Headee’s Dawnflight (which, IIRC, was supposed to be the start of a series, but I guess didn’t do well enough, unfortunately).
Tarr knows her history pretty well, but still plays fast and loose with it at times, and not just with the fantasy aspects. Here, a somewhat romanticized William is a reincarnation of King Arthur, and he and Mathilda are both descended from druids. The Saxons have all but driven magic from England, and Norman rule (specifically, William) is meant to fix that. The first half focuses on the early (and rather ahistorical) courtship of William and Mathilda, which is actually Mathilda (who seems to serve the role of Merlin, Morgan, and Guinevere, at different points) teaching him how to handle his magic and destiny, and ending with their marriage.
Unsurprisingly, Mathilda is largely on the sidelines in the second half (As we all know, women don’t do much once they’re wives and mothers, though being husbands and fathers doesn’t affect men.), which focuses more on the Norman and Saxon politics, and much of her page time is given to Harold.
A pretty good read, but not a very involving one, and some of the uses of both history and mythology made me go “Oh really?” in different ways.
As an aside, anyone have any good books about Guinevere to rec? The only one I’ve read is Kim Headee’s Dawnflight (which, IIRC, was supposed to be the start of a series, but I guess didn’t do well enough, unfortunately).
no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:02 pm (UTC)