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| First Written | 2013 |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Origin | UK |
| Publisher | Picador |
| ISBN-10 | 1250056098 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1250056092 |
| My Copy | huuuuge library copy |
| First Read | October 04, 2017 |
Hild
There's so much rich historical detail, and I have no idea what parts are attested and what's made up. Like: in the 600s did people in Britain still worship Thor? Did the Christian cross necklace arise when people were christianized, and they changed their Thor's Hammer necklaces out for crosses? I have no idea.
Noted on February 20, 2024
Did I really get 75% of the way through this last time? It doesn't feel like it. I'm trying it again this winter, and enjoying it quite a bit this time through. What changed here? I don't know.
Noted on January 23, 2024
This is obviously a /good/ book, but I can't say I enjoyed it, really. First, it's HUUUUGGE - a big tome, meant for a deep immersion in a so-historical-it-feels-like-fantasy world. The author has done so much research about 7th-century britain, and she throws you in the deep end with a slew of undefined foreign words. It's the same feeling you get in a scifi when the author is proud of their fantasy world-building.
I'd love to read the condensed version of this book, I think, but as it was I gave up 75% of the way through.
Noted on November 13, 2017
The Franks wore crosses, very like those worn by the newly baptized Anglisc: squat, heavy things, easily mistaken for the hammers the majority of gesiths still wore. Most gesith crosses were bronze. Some lived copper. Cian's was gold.
Quoted on February 20, 2024