More Sutcliff Books
Dec. 20th, 2013 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI have been steamrolling through the university library’s Sutcliff books. Every time I search a new library for her books - I think I’m up to seven libraries by now; I’ve moved twice over the course of this quest, but still - I find Sutcliff books that I’d never even heard of. My newest find is Rider on a White Horse, an English Civil War book, but not the English Civil War book that I’m looking for, which is Simon, which no one has. Simon is fast becoming my white whale.
In any case, some reviewlets of the books that I’ve read.
1. The Capricorn Bracelet, which is a bit like the Dolphin Ring cycle all smushed in one book. It’s a series of short stories that span most of Rome’s history in Britain, linked by the Capricorn bracelet that the family passes down through its members. Not only is the concept like the Dolphin Ring writ small, but many of the stories echo incidents and themes in the Dolphin Ring books: the commander winning his troops’ loyalty, the horse raid gone wrong, the steadily encroaching Saxons, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Therefore if you like the Dolphin Ring stories, you’ll probably enjoy this, but it doesn’t really add anything new.
2. The Hound of Ulster, which is a retelling of the epic (epics?) of Cuchulain. I continue to find the appeal of epics utterly baffling, because the characters always seem so cartoonishly over-the-top (and proud of it, too!), but I daresay for people who like this sort of thing, this is the kind of thing they would like.
3. Bonnie Dundee, which, like many of Sutcliff’s works, is slow to get started. The winner in this regard is still Blood and Sand, which takes approximately two-thirds of the book to really get off the ground (although I’ve heard Sword at Sunset is even worse at this, how is that even possible?).
However, I’m still rather fond of Bonnie Dundee, because its trademarked Sutcliff love polygon is not merely triangular but actually quadrilateral, and it has a pair of female best friends at the center: Lady Jean and her lady-in-waiting Darklis. (Do any of Sutcliff’s other novels have female bestest best friends? I’m not thinking of any at the moment. I guess Lady Aud has her ex-queen of Ireland handmaiden, but that’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.)
Lady Jean marries Captain Claverhouse! But Claverhouse gets called away on their very wedding night to put down a little rebellion! So Darklis spends Lady Jean’s wedding night with her. Like you do.
Our narrator, Hugh Herriot, also adores Captain Claverhouse. In fact, Hugh loves Claverhouse so much that he actually sets aside the opportunity to apprentice to a Dutch painter (!!!) in order to join Claverhouse’s cavalry unit and follow him around Scotland like a faithful hound. Sadly for Hugh, Claverhouse is only vaguely fond of him, in the way of a man who has an awful lot of hounds to be fond of.
But it’s all right! Because Hugh is also in love with Darklis, and he loves her enough that it makes up for any pangs that not being Claverhouse’s bestest of best friends might cause him. Not only do Hugh and Darklis actually snatch quite a number of moments together over the course of the story, but Hugh seems to be legitimately attracted to her: they kiss repeatedly. And he goes into battle wearing her brooch over his heart, and remembers her even when she is not directly in his line of sight!
This last is surprisingly difficult for many Sutcliff heroes. I find it more and more grating as I read more Sutcliff books: I don't understand why she feels compelled to highlight the fact that the hero barely ever thinks of the girl he supposedly loves.
But so anyway: Darklis! It's hard to go wrong with a name like that.
In any case, some reviewlets of the books that I’ve read.
1. The Capricorn Bracelet, which is a bit like the Dolphin Ring cycle all smushed in one book. It’s a series of short stories that span most of Rome’s history in Britain, linked by the Capricorn bracelet that the family passes down through its members. Not only is the concept like the Dolphin Ring writ small, but many of the stories echo incidents and themes in the Dolphin Ring books: the commander winning his troops’ loyalty, the horse raid gone wrong, the steadily encroaching Saxons, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Therefore if you like the Dolphin Ring stories, you’ll probably enjoy this, but it doesn’t really add anything new.
2. The Hound of Ulster, which is a retelling of the epic (epics?) of Cuchulain. I continue to find the appeal of epics utterly baffling, because the characters always seem so cartoonishly over-the-top (and proud of it, too!), but I daresay for people who like this sort of thing, this is the kind of thing they would like.
3. Bonnie Dundee, which, like many of Sutcliff’s works, is slow to get started. The winner in this regard is still Blood and Sand, which takes approximately two-thirds of the book to really get off the ground (although I’ve heard Sword at Sunset is even worse at this, how is that even possible?).
However, I’m still rather fond of Bonnie Dundee, because its trademarked Sutcliff love polygon is not merely triangular but actually quadrilateral, and it has a pair of female best friends at the center: Lady Jean and her lady-in-waiting Darklis. (Do any of Sutcliff’s other novels have female bestest best friends? I’m not thinking of any at the moment. I guess Lady Aud has her ex-queen of Ireland handmaiden, but that’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.)
Lady Jean marries Captain Claverhouse! But Claverhouse gets called away on their very wedding night to put down a little rebellion! So Darklis spends Lady Jean’s wedding night with her. Like you do.
Our narrator, Hugh Herriot, also adores Captain Claverhouse. In fact, Hugh loves Claverhouse so much that he actually sets aside the opportunity to apprentice to a Dutch painter (!!!) in order to join Claverhouse’s cavalry unit and follow him around Scotland like a faithful hound. Sadly for Hugh, Claverhouse is only vaguely fond of him, in the way of a man who has an awful lot of hounds to be fond of.
But it’s all right! Because Hugh is also in love with Darklis, and he loves her enough that it makes up for any pangs that not being Claverhouse’s bestest of best friends might cause him. Not only do Hugh and Darklis actually snatch quite a number of moments together over the course of the story, but Hugh seems to be legitimately attracted to her: they kiss repeatedly. And he goes into battle wearing her brooch over his heart, and remembers her even when she is not directly in his line of sight!
This last is surprisingly difficult for many Sutcliff heroes. I find it more and more grating as I read more Sutcliff books: I don't understand why she feels compelled to highlight the fact that the hero barely ever thinks of the girl he supposedly loves.
But so anyway: Darklis! It's hard to go wrong with a name like that.
