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Recent reading
Sep. 2nd, 2017 10:49 pmDragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
This was delightful! It deconstructs some fantasy tropes in a nice way, but really I just liked the main characters a lot--Jenny is wonderful, and so is John. There is a warmth in their relationship that made me really ship them, even as I appreciate the very real and difficult choices that Jenny is making (and John too, actually). And there is an interesting dragon, too. I have heard that there are sequels that Must Not Be Read, though, so I won't. This one much recommended, though.
En annorlunda historia by Mac Key (A different (hi)story, only in Swedish--our words for history and story are the same.)
Reread. This is such an odd and charming little book, and I'm glad it found its way to my hands. It's self-published and from the '70:s, by some amateur who reinterprets Sweden's pre-medieval history using maps and place names and features of the landscape. Basically the issue is over where the main pagan temple of Uppsala actually lay. Such a book could easily be tendentious and tiresome and all "every actual historian is wrong and I am right". And it does have a me-against-the-establishment feel, but it's so playful and imaginative about it and admits that a lot of what he says could be wrong, but at least he and his wife had fun traveling around and looking at maps? My favorite part is where he traces the lines of the warning beacons used to signal invaders. Anyway, some of what he says sounds convincing to me, but what do I know? I actually have no idea what historians say about this today, much less what they said in the 70:s. And I enjoy the story either way.
This was delightful! It deconstructs some fantasy tropes in a nice way, but really I just liked the main characters a lot--Jenny is wonderful, and so is John. There is a warmth in their relationship that made me really ship them, even as I appreciate the very real and difficult choices that Jenny is making (and John too, actually). And there is an interesting dragon, too. I have heard that there are sequels that Must Not Be Read, though, so I won't. This one much recommended, though.
En annorlunda historia by Mac Key (A different (hi)story, only in Swedish--our words for history and story are the same.)
Reread. This is such an odd and charming little book, and I'm glad it found its way to my hands. It's self-published and from the '70:s, by some amateur who reinterprets Sweden's pre-medieval history using maps and place names and features of the landscape. Basically the issue is over where the main pagan temple of Uppsala actually lay. Such a book could easily be tendentious and tiresome and all "every actual historian is wrong and I am right". And it does have a me-against-the-establishment feel, but it's so playful and imaginative about it and admits that a lot of what he says could be wrong, but at least he and his wife had fun traveling around and looking at maps? My favorite part is where he traces the lines of the warning beacons used to signal invaders. Anyway, some of what he says sounds convincing to me, but what do I know? I actually have no idea what historians say about this today, much less what they said in the 70:s. And I enjoy the story either way.
