On paper, this book is the complete package for me: time travel, a mysterious epidemic, a spunky female protagonist, academia, Christmas. I should have loved it. But it was a little… um…. super duper incredibly boring. I’m really looking forward to the Book Club conversation about this, because it would be nice to put my finger on why I didn’t just totally love it. There’s plenty of action, but it’s very repetitive, and never feels like it’s going anywhere. No build, just introduction of characters, […]
Ghostbusters Medieval Japan edition
I normally don’t enjoy short story collections until Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter. It’s just the right mix of adventure, comedy, fantasy, mythology, history, and drama. Yamada is an impoverished nobleman making his living busting evil spirits, ghosts, and monsters in medieval Japan. Two other characters show up through multiple stories who are both typecasts but still interesting: the warrior Prince Kanemore and the not-always-priestly exorcist priest Kenji. What makes them interesting is their interactions with Yamada because these conversations and adventures bring out details of […]
What happens when you combine medieval poetry and guns?
This book takes place some time after the first in the series (A Burnable Book) starring the real life medieval poet John Gower as a (probably) fictional detective. This series is based on a lot of research and historical accuracy is impressive. A possible problem with this second installment is that there is not a glossary of medieval terms or full list of sources for a reader unfamiliar to consult. The author notes that a source list accompanies the first volume, and only names those […]
Hild
Quick Synopsis: The speculative childhood of St. Hilda of Whitby, an English woman living in the 7th century Quick Review: An interesting and well-researched piece of historical fiction Read the full review here
Doomsday Book
Quick Synopsis: Part 1 of The Oxford Time Travel Series. A college student travels back to the Middle Ages and problems ensue both in the past and the present. Quick Review: Overall fast-paced and enjoyable. A good read if you’re interested in time travel, science fiction, or the Middle Ages. Read the full review here.
The Players and the Played
Morality Play is another jewelbox novel – sparse, elegant, compact. There is a simplicity and a brevity to the story – it takes place over two weeks – that could feel insufficient, but doesn’t. This could be a longer book, but the sketchbook quality of it fits the time and story. The story is that of a young medieval priest, not without sin, and fairly self-aware. He’s a wanderer, restless and hungry, who stumbles upon a scene of death. A band of players in the […]