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luzulaI 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.
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.
