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Jul. 3rd, 2008 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOnce again, after lots of time spent on public transportation, I have a fair amount of booklogging to catch up on! However I only have time to do one right now, I think, which is Elizabeth Wein's The Winter Prince. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shati ordered me to read Elizabeth Wein's books, and I always do what Shati tells me to! . . . this may be a dangerous thing to admit.
The book is technically an Arthurian retelling, but it is not really like any other Arthurian retelling I have read, in large part because it focuses in very closely on the relationship between two characters and one of them does not actually exist in The Legend As We Know It. The main character, who is telling the story, is Medraut, illegitimate son of Artos - you all can guess the analogues here - but the other focus of the story is Artos' other son Lleu, who is much younger, less experienced, and sickly, and of course going to inherit. Lleu also has a twin sister, Goewin, who is awesome. Medraut, of course, has a very complicated love-hate relationship with Lleu, and while this often leads them both to do very dumb things, I really enjoyed seeing it carefully explored and pushed and tested (you know I love the sibling stuff). My main complaint: the back cover copy spoiled me for developments halfway through the book. Don't read it!
This is the basic gist of the story, and probably the main sell for anyone who would want to read it; however, there are a few other smaller things I really liked that I am putting down just for me. First: Orkneys! I would have liked more Orkneys, because I love them, but I found it hilarious how their main role in the story was to sit around staring during Important Confrontations visibly thinking the medieval equivalent of ". . . AWKWARD." I also loved Ginevra, Artos' wife; there isn't much of her, but what we see easily makes her my favorite Guinevere ever. She is sensible and skilled at making maps! She has a practical skill! I adore this.
My library system has every book in the series except the second one, which makes me sad. But I will definitely be reading the sequel if I can manage to get my hands on it.
shati ordered me to read Elizabeth Wein's books, and I always do what Shati tells me to! . . . this may be a dangerous thing to admit. The book is technically an Arthurian retelling, but it is not really like any other Arthurian retelling I have read, in large part because it focuses in very closely on the relationship between two characters and one of them does not actually exist in The Legend As We Know It. The main character, who is telling the story, is Medraut, illegitimate son of Artos - you all can guess the analogues here - but the other focus of the story is Artos' other son Lleu, who is much younger, less experienced, and sickly, and of course going to inherit. Lleu also has a twin sister, Goewin, who is awesome. Medraut, of course, has a very complicated love-hate relationship with Lleu, and while this often leads them both to do very dumb things, I really enjoyed seeing it carefully explored and pushed and tested (you know I love the sibling stuff). My main complaint: the back cover copy spoiled me for developments halfway through the book. Don't read it!
This is the basic gist of the story, and probably the main sell for anyone who would want to read it; however, there are a few other smaller things I really liked that I am putting down just for me. First: Orkneys! I would have liked more Orkneys, because I love them, but I found it hilarious how their main role in the story was to sit around staring during Important Confrontations visibly thinking the medieval equivalent of ". . . AWKWARD." I also loved Ginevra, Artos' wife; there isn't much of her, but what we see easily makes her my favorite Guinevere ever. She is sensible and skilled at making maps! She has a practical skill! I adore this.
My library system has every book in the series except the second one, which makes me sad. But I will definitely be reading the sequel if I can manage to get my hands on it.
