julesjones

Note: I received a review copy through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

The demon Dismay/Smoke is in what turns out to be essentially self-imposed exile from his native country. He's viewed as evil by those in power in the land of his exile. That's because he answers the prayers of abused women desperate to escape misogynistic violence. There's no shortage of such women in Lutawa, a land where oppression of women is such a bedrock of the culture and law that it's a capital offence to teach a woman to read. That could be the basis of a dull political tract, but fear not -- it's a highly entertaining "overthrow the evil ruler" quest fantasy. It's also the sequel to an earlier book, but I found that it worked well enough as a standalone. Occasionally I was left wondering about some detail of the world that must have been given in the first book, but in general Nagata feeds in enough backstory over the course of the book that all is clear by the end.

The book's theme is fairly dark, and the text can be dark to the point of disturbing in places, but there's nothing gratuitous about the nastier bits. And it's well leavened by humour and character development. It won't be to everyone's taste, and the pacing does suffer slightly from it being a sequel, but I liked this one a lot.

http://www.librarything.com/work/12340912

58) Jonathan Swift -- Gulliver's Travels

Or to give it its full and proper title, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. Like many children, I had an abridged version with just the Lilliput section (probably bowdlerised), and I'd also read excerpts from the other sections. I have very fond memories, and since the complete text is available on public domain ebook sites, I decided that it was time to read the whole thing from start to finish.

I don't have the background in history to know exactly who and what Swift was lampooning without having to look it up on Wikipedia, but it doesn't matter. His biting satire is just as relevant to today's politics, even if the exact targets have changed. There are places where the modern reader will probably cringe at Swift's own prejudices, but by and large this is a hilarious take-down of bigotry, prejudice and hypocrisy that rings just as true now as it must have in 1726. The parody of the traveller's tales books popular at the time isn't quite as accessible, but it doesn't require very much effort to draw a parallel with modern writing. I found the fourth section dragged a bit, but that's partly because Swift had quite thoroughly made his point by then, and was repeating himself to some extent. But this book is a classic for good reason.

LibraryThing entry
Free public domain ebook at Feedbooks

46) Alex Epstein -- The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan Le Fay

Note: I received a review copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers programme.

Young adult novel about what happened to the sorceress Morgan le Fay between the point in her childhood when her father was murdered by Uther Pendragon, and her return as an adult to trouble her half-brother King Arthur. The book opens at the council of war amongst the Romano-British leaders where Uter (as it's given in the book) first sets eyes on Ygraine, wife of Gorlois. Uter wants Ygraine enough to make war on Gorlois, enough to seek the aid of the magician Merlin -- and with the death of her beloved father, the child Anna finds herself sent to exile by her mother for her own safety. An exile so complete that she must change her name and tell almost no-one who she is when she arrives in Ireland. A safe place with a distant relative proves less than safe when the tribe loses a battle with its neighbours, and Morgan spends years in slavery, learning a little magic openly from the village wisewoman who owns her, and a great deal more magic in secret. Then there is escape, and a few months of peace and study with a new Christian settlement, and then a chance of love with a chieftain's son who can appreciate the knowledge of Roman battle tactics she brings. By the time she is eighteen, Morgan has learnt a great many things, but the one thing she has not learnt is how to let go of the need for vengeance. It has, after all, kept her alive through the dark times...

I found the book a bit hard to get into at first, but once I got into the rhythm of the writing I was hooked. Epstein has taken the historical period of 500AD as the basis for his story, a time when the Roman legions had long withdrawn from Britain but many of the British still thought of themselves as Roman. He's drawn on Irish mythology and blended it with modern Wiccan practice to create a believably consistent picture of magic, in a time when both Druid priests and Christian missionaries can draw on the power of the earth, and a young exile can learn to use it to protect herself and the people she loves. The result is a solid addition to the Arthurian legend, covering an area not much touched on, and giving a plausible reason for the adult Morgan le Fay to be who she is. Here she is a strong and sympathetic character, and it's only too easy to understand why she makes the choices she does.

The book's been written in such a way that it can be enjoyed both as a free-standing novel suitable for someone not familiar with any of the mythology and literature that has accreted around Arthur, and as a fascinating new contribution to that ongoing literary conversation. An excellent YA fantasy novel that should appeal to adults as well.

ISBN 978-1-896580-6-30
trade paperback at Powell's
trade paperback or Kindle ebook at Amazon UK (available now)
trade paperback or Kindle ebook at Amazon US (for pre-order)
LibraryThing entry

Book 91

Short fantasy novel using the siege of Jericho by Joshua and the Israelites as its setting. But since this is a fantasy novel, Rahab is an ugly changeling, exchanged one night for the young brother of the Cretan exile Bard. Bard recognises that Rahab had no say in the matter, and loves her as a sister -- even when she emerges from her ugly form a year later to be revealed as a beautiful woman with butterfly wings. When Rahab disappears, Bard goes looking for her, knowing that she has probably been taken back to wherever she came from. The plot is driven by who exchanged Rahab for a human hostage, and why. There's some wonderful world-building in this book, and a page-turning story. It's all told in tight, compact prose that's a joy to read. It was the first book of Swann's I read, and I've loved it since I bought my copy some thirty years ago.

Librarything entry