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F/F Friday: Spear
Jul. 22nd, 2022 11:49 amAs I’ve been on an Arthurian kick, when I heard that Nicola Griffith had written an Arthurian novel, Spear, and it was much shorter than her earlier book Hild (about which in any case I have heard conflicting reports? I thought it was f/f but apparently there is NO or at least very little f/f??), I decided to give it a try.
Unfortunately I didn’t like it much. The prose style actually grew on me after a while (or perhaps simply grew less ornate as the book went on?), but the story is simply a kind of story that I no longer enjoy: the protagonist is the Most Special, and better than everyone else at everything, and also almost universally beloved.
Our protagonist in this case is Peretur, who grows up with her mother in a secluded glade where they literally never talk to other people. One day Peretur finds a long-dead knight, and takes his spears and sword, and teaches herself to fight so well that when she goes to Camelot, she is the best spear and sword fighter of all the knights who have been training for this essentially since birth. She is SO good that Cei, who initially took against her, clamors for her to join the Companions, and so do all the other knights, but Arturus stands against her because he can feel his magic sword CALLING to her. EVEN THE SWORD KNOWS PERETUR IS THE MOST SPECIAL.
(I will give this to Spear: in other books of this type, characters who take against the protagonist often turn out to be Evil, but here Cei and Arturus are pretty okay even though they both take against Peretur at first and Arturus, at least, never really gets over it.)
Also, around the time Peretur found the sword and spear, she also found a horse, and taught herself to ride, and probably would also have proved herself the very best horse fighter in Camelot, except that at the critical moment in her bout with Lancelot she wonders if she is using her powers UNFAIRLY and bobbles slightly and therefore loses.
Her powers are communicating with animals and also inanimate objects, which means (among other things) that she knows what other fighters are going to do before they do it.
ALSO, Peretur is a more naturally powerful sorceress than Nimue, even though (as with everything else) she has no training. And Nimue becomes her girlfriend more or less at first sight, and tells Peretur all her most important and sensitive secrets, like the fact that Lancelot and Guenevere sometimes come to her cottage to bang, and so did Lancelot and Arthur one time.
(I have not done in-depth research on Medieval Ideas About Human Sexuality but I am not convinced that “Lancelot and Arthur stayed at Nimue’s cottage one time and also like to go hunting together” would communicate “Lancelot and Arthur are banging” to Ye Average Medieval Person, but it certainly communicates that to Peretur. But of course Peretur already knows because she can sense that the subtle warmth in Lancelot's voice when he speaks of Arthur is the same as when he speaks of Guenevere.)
ALSO Peretur is such an amazing lover that a pre-Nimue girlfriend gives her the nickname “Hardspear” (which is where Peretur comes from) even though Peretur does not, if you will, have a spear.
I could go on (when Peretur joins a fighting formation, that formation is not only more cohesive while she’s in it, but also forever after!), but you get the drift. If I had taken a shot every time that Peretur proved to be the very best in all of Carleon at something no one ever taught her, I would have ended the book dead drunk.
Unfortunately I didn’t like it much. The prose style actually grew on me after a while (or perhaps simply grew less ornate as the book went on?), but the story is simply a kind of story that I no longer enjoy: the protagonist is the Most Special, and better than everyone else at everything, and also almost universally beloved.
Our protagonist in this case is Peretur, who grows up with her mother in a secluded glade where they literally never talk to other people. One day Peretur finds a long-dead knight, and takes his spears and sword, and teaches herself to fight so well that when she goes to Camelot, she is the best spear and sword fighter of all the knights who have been training for this essentially since birth. She is SO good that Cei, who initially took against her, clamors for her to join the Companions, and so do all the other knights, but Arturus stands against her because he can feel his magic sword CALLING to her. EVEN THE SWORD KNOWS PERETUR IS THE MOST SPECIAL.
(I will give this to Spear: in other books of this type, characters who take against the protagonist often turn out to be Evil, but here Cei and Arturus are pretty okay even though they both take against Peretur at first and Arturus, at least, never really gets over it.)
Also, around the time Peretur found the sword and spear, she also found a horse, and taught herself to ride, and probably would also have proved herself the very best horse fighter in Camelot, except that at the critical moment in her bout with Lancelot she wonders if she is using her powers UNFAIRLY and bobbles slightly and therefore loses.
Her powers are communicating with animals and also inanimate objects, which means (among other things) that she knows what other fighters are going to do before they do it.
ALSO, Peretur is a more naturally powerful sorceress than Nimue, even though (as with everything else) she has no training. And Nimue becomes her girlfriend more or less at first sight, and tells Peretur all her most important and sensitive secrets, like the fact that Lancelot and Guenevere sometimes come to her cottage to bang, and so did Lancelot and Arthur one time.
(I have not done in-depth research on Medieval Ideas About Human Sexuality but I am not convinced that “Lancelot and Arthur stayed at Nimue’s cottage one time and also like to go hunting together” would communicate “Lancelot and Arthur are banging” to Ye Average Medieval Person, but it certainly communicates that to Peretur. But of course Peretur already knows because she can sense that the subtle warmth in Lancelot's voice when he speaks of Arthur is the same as when he speaks of Guenevere.)
ALSO Peretur is such an amazing lover that a pre-Nimue girlfriend gives her the nickname “Hardspear” (which is where Peretur comes from) even though Peretur does not, if you will, have a spear.
I could go on (when Peretur joins a fighting formation, that formation is not only more cohesive while she’s in it, but also forever after!), but you get the drift. If I had taken a shot every time that Peretur proved to be the very best in all of Carleon at something no one ever taught her, I would have ended the book dead drunk.
