Felicity Pulman
Auteur de Rosemary for Remembrance
A propos de l'auteur
Séries
Œuvres de Felicity Pulman
Rosemary For Remembrance & Rue For Repentance 1 exemplaire
Willows For Weeping 1 exemplaire
Oeuvres associées
The Road to Camelot: Tales of the Young Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot and More (2002) — Contributeur — 38 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- Australia
Zimbabwe (birth)
Membres
Critiques
I, Morgana par Felicity Pulman
Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.Morgan le Fay tells her story, in her own words and spinning her own world for us to see. Pretty well done.
See the complete review posted on Book Frivolity. Check out other Fantasy and Historical Fiction ruminations there as well! Medieval Britain is one of my favourite times and places in history to read about. Not the nobles or the royalty, but the villages and their inhabitants. I have a deep fondness for the wortwyf, who used herblore as a basis for healing the sick and tending to the people when modern medicine was in it's infancy; still snake oils and guess work. And this book is like a gold mine! I almost went and frolicked in my medicinal garden from the sheer pleasure all of the references to herb lore this book has. There is actually a warning at the front of the book not to try these at home, which amused me!
Blood Oath was an extraordinarily quick read for me. Start to end in one sitting and it went by as quick as a flash. There is such a blinding sense of urgency, one cacophony after the other; sorrow, fear, death, rabble mob of townspeople. It was impossible to put down. I was constantly reminded of how cosy my life is, I felt a bit guilty for being warm, safe.. and bathed! You can almost smell this novel from afar due to descriptiveness of the malodorous town and it's inhabitants.
Janna is the quintessential headstrong heroine. Extremely strong willed and fiery, her obstinate ways get her into trouble as her quickness to judge alienates the people trying to help her. Yet, the passion she feels toward her mysterious past and the romantic notions of what her future might hold, gives her the extra dimension needed to make her relatable. The regret she feels for her misdirected accusations, and that real sense of weariness over the events also makes her feel wholly human.
This was also a good little murder mystery. As Janna searches for her mother's killer, she examines the evidence, questions of the witnesses and the systematically discounts (and recounts!) suspects. Almost a medieval police procedural (without police)! I enjoyed her skewed deductions and frustrated conclusions.
I think my main gripe, was that the secondary characters were pretty paper thin. There were glimpses here and there of insight, but due to the frantic rate of events, there wasn't enough time for them to be fleshed out enough for them to come to life. Slowing down slightly might have allowed for fuller development, and not really taken away anything from that feeling of urgency used to it drive the plot.
The small romantic sideline was hindered by that lack of characterisation. I kept asking why? He wasn't given enough real flesh to make the titbit feel realistic. I hope it is explored with more depth in future novels and he is given more groundwork if it is.
In all Blood Oath was an enjoyable, faced paced medieval mystery that hit a majority of the right spots for me. I am looking forward to the rest of the series (I have Stolen Child in my hot little fingers right here! )! Janna's future looks like it's going to be one hell of an adventure!
(was this released once before in Australia quite a few years ago under a different name? I wanted to read it, but couldn't afford it at the time, so I read the first chapters huddled in between bookshelves in bookstore.. something to do with rosemary? It certainly rings a bell at any rate..)… (plus d'informations)
Blood Oath was an extraordinarily quick read for me. Start to end in one sitting and it went by as quick as a flash. There is such a blinding sense of urgency, one cacophony after the other; sorrow, fear, death, rabble mob of townspeople. It was impossible to put down. I was constantly reminded of how cosy my life is, I felt a bit guilty for being warm, safe.. and bathed! You can almost smell this novel from afar due to descriptiveness of the malodorous town and it's inhabitants.
Janna is the quintessential headstrong heroine. Extremely strong willed and fiery, her obstinate ways get her into trouble as her quickness to judge alienates the people trying to help her. Yet, the passion she feels toward her mysterious past and the romantic notions of what her future might hold, gives her the extra dimension needed to make her relatable. The regret she feels for her misdirected accusations, and that real sense of weariness over the events also makes her feel wholly human.
This was also a good little murder mystery. As Janna searches for her mother's killer, she examines the evidence, questions of the witnesses and the systematically discounts (and recounts!) suspects. Almost a medieval police procedural (without police)! I enjoyed her skewed deductions and frustrated conclusions.
I think my main gripe, was that the secondary characters were pretty paper thin. There were glimpses here and there of insight, but due to the frantic rate of events, there wasn't enough time for them to be fleshed out enough for them to come to life. Slowing down slightly might have allowed for fuller development, and not really taken away anything from that feeling of urgency used to it drive the plot.
The small romantic sideline was hindered by that lack of characterisation. I kept asking why? He wasn't given enough real flesh to make the titbit feel realistic. I hope it is explored with more depth in future novels and he is given more groundwork if it is.
In all Blood Oath was an enjoyable, faced paced medieval mystery that hit a majority of the right spots for me. I am looking forward to the rest of the series (I have Stolen Child in my hot little fingers right here! )! Janna's future looks like it's going to be one hell of an adventure!
(was this released once before in Australia quite a few years ago under a different name? I wanted to read it, but couldn't afford it at the time, so I read the first chapters huddled in between bookshelves in bookstore.. something to do with rosemary? It certainly rings a bell at any rate..)… (plus d'informations)
See the complete review posted on Book Frivolity. Check out other Fantasy and Historical Fiction ruminations there as well! POV's: Singular
Narrative: Third person, subjective, limited.
This series really is delightful so far! The word 'flurry' comes to mind. Or, torrential downpour on occasions. Pulman stacks quite a lot in 268 pages, but it works nicely in this sort of limited third person narrative mystery. There isn't a lot of of peripheral noise to get backlogged in, so every thing you do get to be privy to seems to garner greater importance and can be told without unnecessary wordage. It looks like each instalment is going to be set in a different locale visited by Janna, which seems to figure in quite nicely with the short mystery format.
Generally, my feelings for Stolen Child don't differ much from Blood Oath. The storyline is different as Janna has to struggle through as a 'youth', in a homestead she's never been to before. With a companion she doesn't trust (Not that she trusts anybody really!) and surrounded by people she doesn't know, she is forced to pull her fiery ways in. That is until the past she's running from is brought into full focus and with it the mystery of the Stolen Child..
Janna had matured her sleuthing ways in this instalment. She doesn't fire at every suspect caught in her cross-hairs, and she takes the time to consider how each action will reflect on her and the people around her. Even if she still does land in hot water quite a bit! It's great to see that development take place, and I think that it will continue throughout the series. Well I hope it does!
The herblore is still there, that urgent inner dialogue of continuous questions still runs rampant and the history of Britain (the Norman invasion especially) still plays a large part in the whys and wherefores. The heavy foreboding of religious issues was tucked away mostly, which made it slightly less weighty, but it doesn't hamper the over all feel.
The romance is still a bit of a sticking point, but at this stage, I am not even sure if either of the 'interests' have that big a role to play in the upcoming plot line. Time shall tell! I do have Unholy Murder in my reading list, so we shall see!
It really was the perfect rainy autumn Sunday read; not to heavy, not to light, it was just right.. (yes, I did just quote a breakfast cereal ad!).
Hard copy worthy? Well, there isn't one. But! I did discover that this series was published before! I plugged around and found that Blood Oath was Rosemary for Remembrance and Stolen Child was Rue for Repentance! I actually like the old titles better, but such is life! Anyway, if I can still get them, I'll add it them my basket!… (plus d'informations)
Narrative: Third person, subjective, limited.
This series really is delightful so far! The word 'flurry' comes to mind. Or, torrential downpour on occasions. Pulman stacks quite a lot in 268 pages, but it works nicely in this sort of limited third person narrative mystery. There isn't a lot of of peripheral noise to get backlogged in, so every thing you do get to be privy to seems to garner greater importance and can be told without unnecessary wordage. It looks like each instalment is going to be set in a different locale visited by Janna, which seems to figure in quite nicely with the short mystery format.
Generally, my feelings for Stolen Child don't differ much from Blood Oath. The storyline is different as Janna has to struggle through as a 'youth', in a homestead she's never been to before. With a companion she doesn't trust (Not that she trusts anybody really!) and surrounded by people she doesn't know, she is forced to pull her fiery ways in. That is until the past she's running from is brought into full focus and with it the mystery of the Stolen Child..
Janna had matured her sleuthing ways in this instalment. She doesn't fire at every suspect caught in her cross-hairs, and she takes the time to consider how each action will reflect on her and the people around her. Even if she still does land in hot water quite a bit! It's great to see that development take place, and I think that it will continue throughout the series. Well I hope it does!
The herblore is still there, that urgent inner dialogue of continuous questions still runs rampant and the history of Britain (the Norman invasion especially) still plays a large part in the whys and wherefores. The heavy foreboding of religious issues was tucked away mostly, which made it slightly less weighty, but it doesn't hamper the over all feel.
The romance is still a bit of a sticking point, but at this stage, I am not even sure if either of the 'interests' have that big a role to play in the upcoming plot line. Time shall tell! I do have Unholy Murder in my reading list, so we shall see!
It really was the perfect rainy autumn Sunday read; not to heavy, not to light, it was just right.. (yes, I did just quote a breakfast cereal ad!).
Hard copy worthy? Well, there isn't one. But! I did discover that this series was published before! I plugged around and found that Blood Oath was Rosemary for Remembrance and Stolen Child was Rue for Repentance! I actually like the old titles better, but such is life! Anyway, if I can still get them, I'll add it them my basket!… (plus d'informations)
When Janna's mother dies, she is left to unravel the mystery of her death. Overall, I thought this book was really hard to get into. Janna comes across as a bumbling child - "you did it, no you didn't, he did it, no he did it" -- the constant finger pointing was very off-putting. I also thought Janna and Eadgyth were a bit hard to like. Overall, not a book for me.
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 28
- Aussi par
- 1
- Membres
- 317
- Popularité
- #74,565
- Évaluation
- 3.8
- Critiques
- 9
- ISBN
- 57
- Langues
- 1
