The King's Peace

I picked this up at the library, I confess, because the cover caught my eye- mainly becuase I've never seen a female character on the front of a fantasy novel clad in armour which looked like it might withstand battle. I wanted to know who the woman in the picture was. I was not disappointed.This book, I suspect, will become one of my all time favourites, so I am doing something which I do very rarely, which is to buy my own copy. Also I will pre-order anything new that Jo Walton writes about Sulien, or her world. I do this for only one other author- Lois McMaster Bujold. Are the styles similar? Sulien is a real person, with strenghts and flaws, who will, I hope go on to develop as Miles has in Bujold's books. Jo Walton has created a strong female character, with depth, whose interactions with the people around her, and response to situations she finds herself in, are engrossing. Her male characters seem equally believable, and Jo Walton has no need to stereotype them or make them shallow or weak.I was most interested to see the polarised reviews here- I'm surprised that there are people who would review a book without finishing it. Imagine what I would have missed if I had reviewed Lord of the Rings after my first, very laboured, attempt to read it (well, I was rather young).I look forward to the next book eagerly, I'll track down a copy for myself ASAP.

'Another Arthurian retelling? You're kidding, right? What on earth can be left to be said?' Apparantly, quite a lot. A gritty, realistic retelling of what it would have been like for one of the grunts in Urdo's campaign to unite Britain against its common foes. This is what Whyte is trying to do (and failing, IMO). Sulien's sometimes limited pov controls what we find out about the events that unfold, and colours the story. Focusing on a non-major character as well as the subtle differences between our world and the one this story takes place in (shades of Kay's _Fionavar Tapestry_ here) remove the certainty of outcome and instill real suspense into one of the most often retold stories in history. The character of Sulien is one that provokes strong sympathy and identification - you get drawn into her life and emotions extremely vividly, although the author does not fall into the trap of clothing twentieth-century characters and viewpoints in 6th century garb. An impressive debut, and I look forward to _The King's Name_ (October, 2001) with real anticipation.

People who are looking for a retelling of the Arthurian legends are going to be sadly disappointed by this book. While it has an inspiration stemming from the aftermath of the Roman withdrawal from Britain, it is "Arthurian" only in the sense that Guy Gavriel Kay's "Sailing to Sarantium" is Byzantine. It's not a retelling of either history or legend. Rather, it is the creation of a different society (as in the dramatically different status of women from that of the historical European early Middle Ages), a different religion (the religion of the White God has many parallels to Christianity, but they are not exact), and a different set of developments, with only loose parallels to the original.From my personal perspective, the most refreshing aspect was the absence of a Merlin-figure and the author's heroic restraint from turning the queen, Elenn, into Guinevere. Overall, there is refreshingly little romanticism.The voice of the writer, that of Sulien, is that of an elderly (very elderly, age 93) woman looking backwards. The style is an excellent approximation of late Latin chronicles. There is violence, there is heroism, and there is also, praises be, a high valuation placed on common sense and practicality.The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel. I hope it comes soon.

To attempt to decode this book for you (as at least one reviewer here has tried to do) in a review would be doing you a great disservice. I might as well tell you that Rosebud is a sled or that Soylent Green is people! This book must be read and experienced and enjoyed on its own, without outside prompting or decoding. Part of the joy of this book is figuring out where Jo Walton's world touches our own--but only a part."The King's Peace" is not some sort of puzzle to be solved. It's a present to be unwrapped, one intricate layer at a time.Ever wish you had bought a first-edition book of the first novel of some author who went on to fame, fortune, and the cover of "Newsweek"? Yeah, me too. I won't promise that Jo Walton is the next Jo Rowling but you should buy this book, just in case. I eagerly await her next novel. Read "The King's Peace" and I promise that you will, too.

I have been saying "You want this book" to everyone I know who might possibly be able to come close to it, and I do mean it. A world almost but not quite ours, a sense of magic that underlies that world and is as real within it as its air and its gods, a story spanning the great events of its world without seeming grandiose, real, present characters whose dialogue is a delight to read, occasionally out loud to anyone who will stay still long enough to hear out those sentences.Not only a captivating story, with real people to it, but one with depths of meaning that echo off things I knew, things I almost remember, and leaving me with places where I know that if I knew a little more about this myth, that branch of philosophy, or the other nuance of history, whole new nuances would Unfold to me like a revelation from the gods.You want this book. Even if you didn't know you wanted this book, you want it.