Menewood

Griffith does do an incredible job of making this historical novel feel like fantasy: if you like the endless series of foreign sounding names and places, kings and retainers, geography and squabbling over petty kingdoms from medieval fantasies, you'll dig these. I didn't check but presumably all the places and kinds were real.

Honestly, I was annoyed to be thinking of Game of Thrones too much during this. Did GRRM ruin this time period altogether?

Noted on September 5, 2024

The names and places were even harder to follow in the audiobook - I'm a visual learner when it comes to words. I was frequently reminded of Gibbon's quip in 'Decline and Fall', where he doesn't even bother giving you the names of "... less considerable tribes, whose obscure and uncouth names would only serve to oppress the memory and perplex the attention of the reader."

Noted on September 5, 2024

It took me a few tries to get thru HILD, the giant precursor to this. I had a long day of yard work ahead and so I nabbed the audiobook of this one, the sequel. It is one of those 'obviously good but is it for me?' books. It's obviously good!

Noted on September 5, 2024