Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seamless Historical Fantasy, 30 May 2008
One of my favourite periods of English history is that of the Elizabethan era (1558 - 1603). It was a time when boundaries were being pushed in theatre and poetry and literature, a time when England seemed to prosper with the Virgin Queen on the throne. Edmund Spenser named his eponymous faerie queen for her, as a tribute to her and England's glory: Gloriana...
But what if there were a real faerie queen, one that held court beneath London, a great shadow to the great light ...
Of course, in faerie fiction, having an icy queen ruling the faerie throne, while a human queen lives above, is not that unusual. A great light does cast a great shadow. Nor is having a faery story with intrigue and spying (Mark Chadbourn's Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast, for example) set in Elizabethan England really new. What sets Marie Brennan apart, then, is the quality of her writing, the complexities of her plot, the characterisations, the world-building... everything.
Midnight Never Come is woven absolutely seamlessly into the fabric of the time, not just by having characters such as John Dee, Walsingham, Lady Lune, Michael Deven and Elizabeth herself, but in the very small details that on their own are unimportant, but, through flash-backs and memories, together form an intricate and fascinating back-history. In my interview with Marie Brennan we spoke of this: "I wanted a particular flashback scene to take place in the early part of the sixteenth century, but the closest annular or total solar eclipse over London was in 1547, so into 1547 the scene goes. Leeway? Not hardly.
Is it ridiculous? Of course. On the other hand, it's part of the pleasure. Being able to weave my story into the known facts without jostling any of them out of place is bizarrely fun, despite the work."
There's a rich diversity among the fae, with brownies, giants, kelpies, the Wild Hunt, Hobs, et cetera, and Marie also includes a substantial amount of mythology and folk legend (all of which is relevant to the location), including the depiction of Gog and Magog as the (really not that great!) guardian giants of London. It's so well done that I'm half convinced a lot of these events did, in fact, happen!
At it's heart, Midnight Never Come is a love story, and my instinct reaction when I heard that fact was, "Oh no. Faery sex magic." But it's not at all like that at all! (Of course.) It's a story of a time when a mortal loved a fae and the ultimate price that was paid when that love was disdained, and the effects that it had on so many people.
If I had a criticism, it would be that it's quite a slow build-up, with a scenes being set and characters fleshed out for perhaps a bit too long before the main plot takes over, but other than that, I was really impressed by Midnight Never Come. Politics, romance, fantasy, and history. With faeries. An excellent combination, and Marie Brennan is an excellent writer.
And Ashes Lie is the next book in the Onyx Court series, "it's a sequel of sorts, with continuity among the faerie characters, but definitely something that a person could pick up without having read Midnight Never Come. It'll cover the period from 1640 to 1666 -- in other words, the English Civil War, the Interregnum (when they chopped the head off Charles I and drove Charles II into exile), the Restoration of the monarchy, and then the Great Plague and the Great Fire. It's an action-packed span of time; if Midnight Never Come is my Elizabethan faerie spy novel, And Ashes Lie is my Stuart faerie disaster novel."
This review was originally posted at thebookswede.blogspot.com. A fantasy and science-fiction site featuring reviews, interviews, essays and many contests.
|
|
|
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good twist on Elizabethan Court intrigue..., 29 Aug 2008
The young Michael Deven is our guide to the Court of Elizabeth I, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada Deven seeks a place among Elizabeth's supporters, particularly seeking out her spymaster Walsingham. Walsingham provides Deven with a mission - discover the secret player who manipulates the Queen. Not an easy task, as nothing is as it seems.
Parallel to the Elizabethan Court is the Onyx Court, the Court of faerie Queen Invidiana. A ruthless and evil Queen who is the missing link that Deven seeks. While Deven attempts to find the answers for his mission Lady Lune (a disgraced member of the Onyx Court) is trying to salvage her position while avoiding the wrath of her vicious Queen. As their paths cross they both find themselves tangled in the futures of Elizabeth and Invidiana.
Brennan writes a skillful depiction of Elizabethan London, with enough historical details to give the novel the right atmosphere. Intrigue, deception, politics and bargains are all at play within both Royal Courts. If you like the Elizabethan period or are interested in faerie and folklore then this book should be a happy balance for you as it provides both. The only reason I don't rate it higher is because it feels unfinished - the characters have more to do and hopefully a sequel would leave this feeling more complete.
|
|
|
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Combines the plot surprises of historical fiction with the gritty realism of fairy stories, 8 Nov 2008
*Synopsis*
It's 1588, Elizabeth is on throne in London, and the ambitious young Michael Deven has just landed a plum job in her private guard. Meanwhile in the stygian city beneath London, Lady Lune finds herself in the notoriously vast bad books of the faerie queen Invidiana. Seeking excitement and prospects, Michael starts working for Walsingham, Elizabeth's spy-master, who has inferred the existence of a mysterious hidden player in the intrigue of the court and wants Michael to help find out who it is. Fearing for her life, Lune is persuaded by Invidiana's sinister lieutenant to infiltrate Elizabeth's court in mortal guise. Can you guess where this might be leading?
*Review*
I must confess that this is a book that I wouldn't have read were it not for the fantasic elements. My knowledge of history is pretty ropey, thanks to a combination of poor teaching and a basic lack of interest. I therefore don't tend to go for historical fiction, for fear that it will name-drop people, places or events that I should recognise but don't, making me feel like I'm missing something and leaving me unsatisfied and frustrated. I had hoped that this book would be more accessible to me, for a couple of reasons. One is that's it's alternate history, which means that at least some of it would be as new to every reader as to me. The other is that it's hopefully written to be accessible to faerie fans as well as history buffs, and therefore wouldn't make too many assumptions of prior knowledge. I turned out to be right: it was unsatisfying and frustrating for entirely different reasons...
The story has little action, being mostly politics or investigation in one or other court. That's not an intrinsic problem, but it founders here because there are so few surprises. Ironically, the central duality (the strap-line is 'A great light casts a great shadow') is the book's downfall: Invidiana and her cronies are obviously essentially evil, Michael, Lune and their allies (including Queen Elizabeth) are equally obviously fundamentally decent. There's not much potential for character drama or political intrigue when each character is clearly either trustworthy or not. Even the characters who are more than they seem reveal this fact and pick a side almost immediately. The investigative elements too lacked excitement, as the protagonists just find the right people, ask the right questions, and are rewarded with the next bit of the answer. It had the feel of a computer RPG where you complete a quest simply by speaking to characters in the correct order. The end result is a book that's perfectly well written and undemanding, but still not worth the effort. It felt like a slow train ride to a dull destination, and while some might have enjoyed the historical scenery on the way, I just wanted the journey to be over. So, can historical political fiction be improved be the addition of faeries? My answer is: not nearly enough.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Marie Brennan
by Marie Brennan
by Marie Brennan
by Maria V. Snyder
by Maria V. Snyder
See all Product Description
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home