Book Review: The Silver Branch
Apr. 9th, 2013 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerIn the process of writing my Sutcliff Swap letter, I realized that I somehow failed to write reviews or either The Silver Branch or Knight’s Fee. Or, for that matter, Frontier Wolf. What was I thinking?
Clearly this must be corrected! So today: The Silver Branch, which I enjoyed but find in some ways the least ficcable of Sutcliff books, notwithstanding that I wrote my first Sutcliff fic about it: My Lords’ Hound, which offers an explanation for Cullen, a character who rather begs for explanation.
Cullen is the oddest of the characters in The Silver Branch - possibly one of the oddest characters in all of Sutcliff - and perhaps the one who has stuck with me most. He is perhaps alone among Sutcliff’s characters in that he actually likes being a slave: he doesn’t just make the best of it, like Esca, but likes it so much that he actually turns Justin and Flavius down when they offer him freedom.
Also, he wears a tail. I think possibly Cullen is what happens when you fall into a hound metaphor and can’t get out.
Seriously, though, it would explain a lot if Cullen believed in some sense that he was a dog. I am still kind of gunning for someone to write a weredog!Cullen story.
Aside from “let’s explain Cullen!”, though, the book doesn’t really have any loose ends that need ficcing. It’s a fun book, but it doesn’t grab me the way some of the other Sutcliffs do - I think because the plot is very much a psychologically straightforward adventure story, Justin and Flavius Resist the Evil Assassin Albino Emperor. They sometimes find themselves in dire straits, but they don’t suffer the crippling self-doubt that Alexios feels in Frontier Wolf or the emotionally fraught complications of Blood Feud.
To me, that sort of thing is the most interesting part, so although I liked The Silver Branch it didn’t do much for me aside from Cullen.
Our heroes are Justin, an awkward and stammering healer who I adore, and Flavius, his confident red-headed distant cousin. (I adore him also, but not quite as much as Justin.) They make awesome BFFs but are nonetheless the least slashy Sutcliff heroes ever, which is all the more surprising given that neither of them even gets a love interest at the end.
Although actually, that may be why neither one of them gets a love interest. There’s no need for plausible deniability.
(I’m pretty sure that plausible deniability is poor Gisela’s only function in Knight’s Fee, and perhaps even Anoud’s in Blood and Sand, though Anoud at least is far more appealing than Gisela.)
Even leaving the slashiness or lack thereof aside, Justin and Flavius’s relationship is just not that interesting. They’re of the same social station, they’re cousins, they’re BFFs, it’s very uncomplicated. Lovely for them, but not very exciting.
And in conclusion: Flavius’s Aunt Honoria. She is awesome!
Clearly this must be corrected! So today: The Silver Branch, which I enjoyed but find in some ways the least ficcable of Sutcliff books, notwithstanding that I wrote my first Sutcliff fic about it: My Lords’ Hound, which offers an explanation for Cullen, a character who rather begs for explanation.
Cullen is the oddest of the characters in The Silver Branch - possibly one of the oddest characters in all of Sutcliff - and perhaps the one who has stuck with me most. He is perhaps alone among Sutcliff’s characters in that he actually likes being a slave: he doesn’t just make the best of it, like Esca, but likes it so much that he actually turns Justin and Flavius down when they offer him freedom.
Also, he wears a tail. I think possibly Cullen is what happens when you fall into a hound metaphor and can’t get out.
Seriously, though, it would explain a lot if Cullen believed in some sense that he was a dog. I am still kind of gunning for someone to write a weredog!Cullen story.
Aside from “let’s explain Cullen!”, though, the book doesn’t really have any loose ends that need ficcing. It’s a fun book, but it doesn’t grab me the way some of the other Sutcliffs do - I think because the plot is very much a psychologically straightforward adventure story, Justin and Flavius Resist the Evil Assassin Albino Emperor. They sometimes find themselves in dire straits, but they don’t suffer the crippling self-doubt that Alexios feels in Frontier Wolf or the emotionally fraught complications of Blood Feud.
To me, that sort of thing is the most interesting part, so although I liked The Silver Branch it didn’t do much for me aside from Cullen.
Our heroes are Justin, an awkward and stammering healer who I adore, and Flavius, his confident red-headed distant cousin. (I adore him also, but not quite as much as Justin.) They make awesome BFFs but are nonetheless the least slashy Sutcliff heroes ever, which is all the more surprising given that neither of them even gets a love interest at the end.
Although actually, that may be why neither one of them gets a love interest. There’s no need for plausible deniability.
(I’m pretty sure that plausible deniability is poor Gisela’s only function in Knight’s Fee, and perhaps even Anoud’s in Blood and Sand, though Anoud at least is far more appealing than Gisela.)
Even leaving the slashiness or lack thereof aside, Justin and Flavius’s relationship is just not that interesting. They’re of the same social station, they’re cousins, they’re BFFs, it’s very uncomplicated. Lovely for them, but not very exciting.
And in conclusion: Flavius’s Aunt Honoria. She is awesome!
