Book rec: "The King's Peace" and "The King's Name" by Jo Walton

[luzula]

I read these over the holidays (when I wasn't buried in dSSS and Yuletide) and loved them to pieces. I saw someone else say this somewhere, but I'll repeat it: Jo Walton seems to have an ability to shift styles completely depending on what she's writing. This book is so different from the first one of hers that I read (Tooth and Claw). Anyway, these books are an Arthurian retelling, and one of the best such I've ever read. They're kind of like Guy Gavriel Kay, if GGK's books were down-to-earth and without sexual tension? By which I mean, they're the type of fantasy which is a lightly disguised version of history with the names of places/ethnic groups/religions changed, and with a touch of magic. But as I said, much more down-to-earth--the writing itself isn't like GGK's at all.

The protagonist is a character type that always hits my buttons so hard: a competent woman who goes out into the world and does things and has no love interest (also see: Paksenarrion). Sulien is one of the King Urdo's (Arthur's) war-leaders, and I'm not entirely sure if there's a character in the original myths which she is supposed to be. Now that I think about it, she is arguably a female Lancelot, for reasons which are spoilery. Anyway, I love her soooo much--she's practical and competent, but not perfect, and I got such a strong sense of her personality. I'm so going to be re-reading these books. (Oh, maybe I should warn that there is a rape scene in the beginning of the first book--Sulien is raped by the equivalent of Viking raiders. I thought it was handled well, but you might want to know about it going in.)

ETA: Oh, and also: there is monarchy in the book, but it does subvert the whole "the ruler must be of the True Royal Blood" thing that a lot of fantasy books have.

Comments

[the_antichris]

I'm so glad you like those books! I love them. If you can track down The Prize in the Game, that's great too.

I love the worldbuilding and all the little hints of how it works - like Quintilius Varus being a huge disaster because he's a fifth child. And it's one of very few books that actually handles the barbarian rape trope well, instead of just having it be set dressing or shorthand for Hey These Barbarians Are The Bad Guys. I like that everyone else is properly horrified, including the Viking kings, and that her recovery and the legal consequences are an important part of the plot.

And I just love Sulien. It's adorable how tactless and oblivious she is in social situations when she's so incredibly competent in the field. I think she is supposed to be sort-of-Lancelot and the books are partly an exploration of how things would have happened if gender roles were a bit less rigid and some of Arthur's knights were women, and one consequence is that The King's Name turns out less depressing than the end of our world's Arthur mythos. It's still pretty hard to read, though. Angas and Marchel! ;_;

[luzula]

If you can track down The Prize in the Game, that's great too.

Hmm, well, it looks like I can order it used from the UK at a cheap price. Why are her books so hard to get hold of? I really want Lifelode as well, and there are expensive used copies of that, or it looks like there's a recent reprinting, but why only in hardback? Grrrr. Have you read it?

And yeah. I liked the fact that Ulf actually ended up being someone she trusted, after years had passed and they had both changed. And the whole thing with Darien ending up as the heir anyway was great.

Also, I had this sense of dread about what was going to happen at the end, because I didn't want this world to fall apart, and generally Arthurian myth = unavoidable tragedy. So, yes, I was relieved that it wasn't as depressing, although it was hard to read.

I expect The Prize in the Game is rather different? I mean, that bit where Emer is mourning her true love and Sulien is all "oh, come on. Life goes on." must be rather different from Emer's POV. *g*

[the_antichris]

The Prize in the Game is *all the tragedy*, especially when you read it knowing what happens in The King's Peace/The King's Name. Stylistically it is very different - Emer's a very different person, and it's drawing on different myths, which does things to the tone.

The 'modern' framing bits of The King's Name always make me sad, with the White God's faith shedding all its ecumenicism and future Tanagan historians totally missing the point of everything that happened. I do love framing narratives like that, but it's depressing.

Lifelode is awesome. I sucked it up and paid US$25 for it because NESFA Press books are always small runs and hard to get hold of. That's why only hardback - they mostly only do hardbacks. Very pretty ones, though. I sort of see why no mainstream publisher picked it up, because it's kind of experimental with its plot, but it's got really cool worldbuilding and polyamory and the central character is a middle-aged woman. I loved it.

[the_antichris]

Incidentally, I found this today - the first three chapters of the probably-never-to-be-finished sequel to Tooth and Claw. So you may or may not want to read that, because on the one hand it's awesome but on the other... never to be finished. Woe.

[luzula]

Cool, thanks! I enjoyed Tooth and Claw, but wasn't blown away by it. OTOH, then I can probably read those three chapters without too much frustration that they're unfinished.