Review of "Pilgrims" by Ann Chatham (it amused me to pick this story to read and review the week of Thanksgiving, though these are very different typeReview of "Pilgrims" by Ann Chatham (it amused me to pick this story to read and review the week of Thanksgiving, though these are very different types of pilgrims). Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Magda is on a solitary pilgrimage, trekking on foot through the wilderness. When she sees a man’s dead body, she somewhat reluctantly takes the time to bury it, even leaving her last ring on his tongue as a burial gift. Two days later she meets a knight on horseback, who greets her politely and tells her that he is under a geas to do a great service for the first living soul whom he meets. Magda, who has eaten the last of her supplies, asks him for food or drink. He willingly shares his food with her, then accompanies her on her journey.
Magda is more or less glad for the escort and company, until she realizes that he is the man whose body she buried a few days ago. Despite her understandable fear, they continue on their way together, both of them in search of absolution.
“Pilgrims” is a well-written but somewhat opaque story set in an Arthurian type of world, where religion and magic uneasily co-exist. Magda tells the knight, “I seek the root of the Tree that the Lord cut down to end His war, that I may build a shrine at its heart, and burn an offering there.” But the theology in this story seems to be a quarter-turn off of Christianity, something unique to this world. I would have preferred some additional world-building, but I enjoyed this poignant, thoughtful tale.
I picked up Adam of the Road at a library sale several months ago for a dollar. As a Newbery Award winner in 1943, it was one of those books that I reI picked up Adam of the Road at a library sale several months ago for a dollar. As a Newbery Award winner in 1943, it was one of those books that I remember seeing frequently during my childhood but had never read. And it fits into one of the squares in my 2016 Classics Bingo card, so here we are!
[image]
Adam of the Road is the story of a couple of years in the life of a young boy who is a minstrel in training in England in the late 1200s. Adam’s father Roger is a quite successful minstrel who has left his eleven year old son at a monk’s school for several months, while he went to a minstrel’s school in France to learn more romantic songs and tales to tell the lords and ladies. Adam pines to leave the school and learn to be a minstrel like his father, so he’s overjoyed when Roger picks him up and takes him ― and Adam’s dog Nick, a beautiful red spaniel that Adam loves with all his heart ― on Roger’s journey with Sir Edmund, who employs him.
It’s an enjoyable life for a young boy, and Roger is a loving though slightly flawed father: he loses his money and a valuable war horse (which was a gift from Sir Edmund) in gaming with another minstrel, Jankin. [image] Jankin manages to ride the horse lame and, when he meets up with Roger and Adam on the road, decides to surreptitiously “trade” the horse for Adam’s dog Nick. Frantically attempting to chase down the dognapper, Adam gets separated from his father, and in trying to find each other, they only get farther apart. (It made me appreciate cell phones!)
The rest of the book relates Adam’s adventures on the road, trying to find both his father and his dog, and to make a living as a minstrel when he can. It’s a rather episodic tale, as Adam wanders from place to place, meeting new friends and enemies, dealing with robbers and thieves, but also being helped repeatedly by kindhearted people, and learning a few things along the way (like not being a braggart).
The tale is told simply, on a middle-grade level, but the author did her research and various details of life in 1290’s England fill the story. It’s a little superficial, and we don't get to know any of the characters well except for Adam and his father. But it's a good reminder of how different life in general, and expectations about entertainment in particular, were at that time. The story is infused with a 1940s kind of sweetness and optimism that is typical of children’s lit of that time. Those who like nostalgic children’s literature may really enjoy it. I was a little bored, and I tend to think most kids would be as well, but if you have one who needs to read a book about life in medieval England for whatever reason, you could do worse than Adam of the Road.
I don't know how I overlooked "The Masque of the Red Death" when I was going through my Poe phase a while back, but someone's review reminded [image]
I don't know how I overlooked "The Masque of the Red Death" when I was going through my Poe phase a while back, but someone's review reminded me of it (Thanks, random Goodreads friend!). So I found a copy of it online here and gave it another read to refresh my memory.
This story is both less and more than I recalled. It's long on setting and mood and short on plot. The plot could probably be described in about two sentences. Let's give it a try:
A deadly plague is ravaging the land, and the unfeeling Prince shuts himself up in his castle with about a thousand of his partying friends.(view spoiler)[But Death, personified, crashes the party and everybody dies. The end. (hide spoiler)]
But the setting - whew! If you like creepy Gothic and grotesque Baroque, you really need to give this a read. The seven rooms, with their different color schemes and the disturbing black and red room at the end, the strange ebony clock, the bizarre masqueraders...
Random thoughts gleaned from surfing the web:
☠ The Red Death plague is not an actual disease, though Poe may have been thinking of the Black Death, or tuberculosis, or cholera, or some amalgamation of these or other actual diseases.
☠ "Masque" could be short for the partiers' masquerade ball, or an alternative spelling of "mask," recalling the mask worn by the Red Death. In the story's initial publication the title was actually spelled "The Mask of the Red Death." But "masque" is also defined as a "short allegorical dramatic entertainment." That's a fascinating description of what the Red Death is doing at the end of the story!
☠ There's an interesting Minecraft image of what the seven rooms may have looked like: [image]
☠ There are also some interesting theories about the seven rooms representing the seven stages of life, with birth (blue) at the beginning and death (red and black) at the end: [image] Though personally I feel like most of the colors and their order are a bit random for this theory. However, I think the mystical symbolism of the number seven does play into Poe's use of it in this story.
Poe stated that he disliked didactic or preachy stories. But in spite of this dislike, I believe he created an allegorical story here with a strong moral message.
Superficiality and melodrama kick historical accuracy to the curb and stomp on it a few times on their way to the medieval wedding altar.
I saw this wSuperficiality and melodrama kick historical accuracy to the curb and stomp on it a few times on their way to the medieval wedding altar.
I saw this was a Kindle freebie today. The blurb (sort of a medieval-era Bachelorette contest) didn't ring any bells at first, but then I checked Amazon and realized it was one of those silly romances that I read (or skimmed) last year and discarded without even bothering to review it. I'm doing it now just so I don't forget what kind of books this author writes. ...more
Medieval peasant Keturah, a beautiful 16 year old girl known for her story-telling abilities, sees a lovely hart in the forest and decides to follow iMedieval peasant Keturah, a beautiful 16 year old girl known for her story-telling abilities, sees a lovely hart in the forest and decides to follow it for a while (because medieval peasants had lots of time to wander after stray harts) and ends up hopelessly lost. After three days of wandering in the forest, she meets Death in person when he comes to take her.
[image] Not this guy.
Lord Death is kind of hot, but ice-cold at the same time. [image]
So Keturah bargains with Lord Death, trying to get another chance at life. After several arguments fail, she does the Scheherazade thing, beginning a story to suck him in and telling him that he can get the rest of the story the next day, if he'll only let her take care of a few more things in her village--and also try to find True Love--before he takes her away. So he gives her one day, and then another, and another, while Keturah frantically tries to figure out who her true love is supposed to be and, in her spare time, also tries to figure out how to stop the plague, which Death let slip is on its way to her village.
The writing is poetic and Laden With Deep Meaning:
Compared with the forest, what was our village? We hid in our hovels, pretending the forest was not all around us, though it sang while the ax gnawed at its edges. It grew and breathed and cast its long shadows.
It might be a bit much for some tastes, but I enjoyed it. However, there were several things that bugged. Among them (not an exhaustive list here):
1. The "search for true love" thing is driven by (I kid you not) an eyeball that Keturah gets from a witch in her village. It wiggles around in her pocket until she sees the man she is to love.
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The whole idea just didn't work for me, and not just because of the squickiness factor. Figure out your own dang heart, girl.
2. Keturah's two friends, who keep trying to push her toward the guys they actually love themselves, even after Keturah says she's not interested. Sweet, but not convincing. At least there are no mean girls here. (view spoiler)[(Just mean villagers.) (hide spoiler)]
3. The love, um, quadrangle? Three-pronged trident? Whatever.
4. The characterization: on the shallow side.
On the other hand, some of the writing really was lovely. I think the author had some interesting ideas and metaphors. It went down easy, for the most part; it just felt a little flat for me in the end.
Yea, verily, a young mouse yclept Matthias doth live peacefully in the walled city of Redwall, wherein reside all manner of goodhearted animals like mYea, verily, a young mouse yclept Matthias doth live peacefully in the walled city of Redwall, wherein reside all manner of goodhearted animals like mice, badgers, squirrels, etc. (not to be confused with the mean villain predators like rats and foxes). It comes to pass that their bucolic lifestyle is disturbed, nay, gravely threatened, by an incursion of an evil cohort of rats. Mayhap Matthias will rise to the occasion and become the heroic warrior that will save his people animals in their time of greatest need!
This is a fairly enjoyable middle grade/YA medieval fantasy in a world populated entirely by mice, rats and other woodland creatures, with nary a human in sight.
So I was maybe a little too old for this one when I read it; it's more for the younger teens and tweens. I think I might have adored it as a 10 or 12 year old. Anyway, it has many thousands of fans and has spawned like a million sequels, so if you haven't read it yet and it sounds interesting, you may want to give it a try. The language in Redwall isn't as archaic as my review may make it sound. :)...more
Kindle freebie time travel romance, 4/25/2017. This is a fun one but don't be looking for any serious or even semi-serious historical authenticity. ItKindle freebie time travel romance, 4/25/2017. This is a fun one but don't be looking for any serious or even semi-serious historical authenticity. It's a cute, very light time travel romance.
Modern day American Gillian, on a trip to Great Britain, unwittingly travels back in time to the late 1200s and is promptly mistaken for the fiancée of the local lord, Sir Kellan Marshall. The plot is thickened by a murder mystery and by Gillian's efforts to figure out how to return to modern times ... if she can drag herself away from Kellan (who's incredibly hot, of course). And of course once the real fiancée shows up, there could be serious trouble for Gillian...
It's fun reading on a rather brainless level, but it constantly irked me because the historical accuracy is so slipshod. Just for starters, here's how English people spoke 700 years ago:
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour . . . *
That's it, authors. Deal with the issue if you're doing medieval time travel,** or stay away.
Read only for fun and romantic feelz. It's pretty much a clean romance, with a little innuendo.
*I would just like to add that, many years after I was required to memorize 100 lines of the Canterbury Tales for a college English course, I still have memorized and can quote, with a fair accent, the first 10 or 15 lines, in the original middle English. *takes a bow*
**Like, for example, Doomsday Book. Every time I read a halfhearted attempt to deal seriously with time travel and language/culture issues, it increases my love for this book more....more
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
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