As soon as I managed to get my hands on a copy of “Paladin’s Hope”, it immediately went to the top of the book pile. If you had told me last year thatAs soon as I managed to get my hands on a copy of “Paladin’s Hope”, it immediately went to the top of the book pile. If you had told me last year that I would be squeaking in excitement about this sort of book, I might have laughed in your face, but I guess T. Kingfisher is the one laughing now, because as soon as I realized book 4 was available in paperback, guess what I did?
As with the previous books in this series, this is a fantasy/romance (gag) involving one of the surviving paladins of the Saint of Steel. This time, the story focuses of Galen, who is known in the series so far for being a ginger and not really into women, if you catch my very obvious drift. The story begins when a body washes up on the shore of the river, dead from a large wound that seemed to have punctured his back, but there is no clear way to determine what could have caused such a wound, even for Piper, the lich-doctor the paladins have worked with before. Earstripe, a gnole belonging to the city guards seems to think, however, that this death is connected to other dead bodies that were discovered recently, but his captain won’t let him investigate further. But Galen and Piper agree that something seems odd, and they decide to go with Earstripe to see if they can’t solve this mystery, and proceed to get stuck in a strange place that makes the cave at the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” look like a cake walk.
I am quite excited about Piper the pathologist (that’s not really what they call him, but I love an alliteration) being brought front and center in this story because I always find that line of work fascinating, and it is not often written about in fantasy settings. He also has a fantastic gallows’ humour that I really enjoyed – as one might expect from someone in his line of work. The budding romance with Galen is just sweet enough for me, and I really appreciate that Kingfisher created a fantasy world where no one freaks out at queerness and just lets people be who they are. The idea that as a society, they decided that they had bigger problems to worry about than who sleeps with who is so refreshingly sane! Alas, just like the White Rat being an order of kind and efficient bureaucrats, that’s how you know this is fantasy… The point is, those two are cute together, and even people who have shrivelled husks where their hearts should be would be mollified by the way they behave around each other. More than with the previous two books, this one addresses gnoles and their place in society on a deeper level, with Earstripe being such an integral part of the story. That seemed a bit forced to me at first, but as the world expands and the stories involve the little guys more and more, it actually makes sense to expand our view of their society and their relationship to humans at the same time.
As with the previous books of the series, the humor – dry, a little dirty, very witty - shines on almost every page and makes it a delight to read. Kingfisher also has such a charming and quirky way with words (like when she describes Galen has having cheekbones you could slice cheese with, or when Galen wonders if Piper got toned lugging dead bodies around, because those are heavy!), and I am really enjoying the way she broadens the world with each book. I know these technically belong to a larger series set in this universe, and I might get around to them some day, but until then, I am loving the way she introduces the reader to new elements of world-building with each book, which keeps the series fresh because there is always something new to discover. The mysteries of the Ancients and their machines is awesome, though I suspect it has been explored in some of her other books…
I have so much more fun than I expected with this series, these books are my new favorite treats, and I can’t wait for the fourth book to arrive!...more
Edgar Allan Poe retelling involving a lot of mushrooms? Well, of course I’ll read that! I had never read anything by T. Kingfisher before, but her namEdgar Allan Poe retelling involving a lot of mushrooms? Well, of course I’ll read that! I had never read anything by T. Kingfisher before, but her name pops up on my GR feed constantly, and I figured this short novel was the perfect way to dip my toes in her work.
While I enjoy “The Fall of the House of Usher” in its own right, it’s about 15 pages, so while it’s a wonderful taste of Poe’s talent with creating ominous atmospheres and weird scenarios that still haunt our nightmares, there isn’t much room there for an explanation or character development. Add to that the current trendiness of mushroom and fungus related plagues and contagions and you get not only an explanation for Poe’s weird tale, but wonderfully creepy way to enrich his original story.
The fungal horror was a little reminiscent of “Mexican Gothic”, but that is really all the books have in common: Moreno Garcia and Kingfisher’s styles are so different that it would be unfair to compare the two. Kingfisher has a levity in her writing, a whimsy that I was not really expecting but that delighted me. Her characters are witty and fun to get to know, which is not something that could be said of Poe’s characters, who tend to be rather flat.
If you love creepy mushrooms and old school horror stories, this one is a little delight....more
This strange and fascinating work of auto-fiction is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s sharp, funny – in that very dry British way – but also verThis strange and fascinating work of auto-fiction is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s sharp, funny – in that very dry British way – but also very sad. The cruelty and heartlessness endured by Winterson’s alter ego was crushing to read about; I find stories of bad parenting, especially those involving fanatical religious sentiments, to be especially devastating.
Jeanette is adopted by a fanatically religious mother, and a mostly aloof and absent father. For many years, life amongst her mother’s community of fundamentalists and missionaries is all she knows: when she asks questions, she only gets evasive answers, she suffers from horrible neglect and is never shown any kind of affection by the people who bring her up. It is only once she has to go to school with other children that she realizes that there is something off about her upbringing. Eventually, she falls in love with one of her converts, Melanie, something her congregation strongly opposed and condemns as a sin. But Jeanette can’t accept that the love she feels is wrong…
I am not a fan of religious fundamentalism, and I do take a certain satisfaction in reading any book in which people who take their religion that seriously are described as behaving monstrously – few things strike me as more abhorrent that rejecting a child who simply wants to be themselves because that goes against whatever lunatic nonsense a person has been indoctrinated in. In that regards, I sympathized with and rooted for Jeanette: I wanted her to get out of there and go live life on her own terms, and even if there is a bittersweetness to the conclusion, it was satisfying. However, I am clearly not the only reader who felt like the introduction spoils the book: the pretentiousness that oozes off those few pages gives the rest of the book an after-taste of bitterness that the clever writing and interesting structure can’t quite manage to make up for.
I hesitated between 3 and 4 stars, and finally decided to round it up, because it was better than the other Winterson book I read. That said, I’m not sure I’m interested in reading more of her work....more
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