one trilogy ends and another begins
Aug. 12th, 2014 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraThe Bitter Kingdom, the last book in Rae Carson's series that began with Girl of Fire and Thorns, brought the trilogy to a satisfying close, with the same mix of action, vivid settings, and good character moments that have characterized all the books. I really like how Carson handles magic, religion, and legends from the distant past, a good balance of interesting revelations and lingering mysteries. I'm definitely interested in what Carson will write next.
Hild, by Nicola Griffith, is apparently the first book in a planned trilogy about the seventh-century saint, which I think is useful information for managing your expectations about the pacing and conclusoriness of this novel. I really liked it - it's a deep, slow immersion into the world of seventh-century Britain and what daily lives and royal politics might have been like back then. Is it SFF? They shortlisted it for the Nebula, so clearly some relevant people think so, and I do think it would appeal very much to readers of fantasy, but it's pretty much straight-up historical fiction. I found that I am actually much *more* interested in the endless political maneuverings of little kingdoms when the characters are historical figures - in Song of Ice and Fire I'm always wishing they would just shut up about the Iron Throne and have dragons fight zombies already, but in Hild I was totally invested in whether, say, the Welsh were going to march on York. (Not unrelatedly, I really want to play Britannia again now.)
Hild, by Nicola Griffith, is apparently the first book in a planned trilogy about the seventh-century saint, which I think is useful information for managing your expectations about the pacing and conclusoriness of this novel. I really liked it - it's a deep, slow immersion into the world of seventh-century Britain and what daily lives and royal politics might have been like back then. Is it SFF? They shortlisted it for the Nebula, so clearly some relevant people think so, and I do think it would appeal very much to readers of fantasy, but it's pretty much straight-up historical fiction. I found that I am actually much *more* interested in the endless political maneuverings of little kingdoms when the characters are historical figures - in Song of Ice and Fire I'm always wishing they would just shut up about the Iron Throne and have dragons fight zombies already, but in Hild I was totally invested in whether, say, the Welsh were going to march on York. (Not unrelatedly, I really want to play Britannia again now.)
