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Gardens and Hedges
The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy was one of the books included in the mystery book box I received last week. Initially, I wasn't drawn in - the opening is sad and tense and quite dreary all round, with all the characters being very unhappy with not much hope on the horizon. Obviously, with it being set in 1946, there's a lot of suffering, grief, trauma and dissatisfaction to go around, but I have to admit I wasn't sure I was going to make it to what I hoped would be an ultimately somewhat happier conclusion. However, I pushed through and the story picked up quite a bit towards the middle, and then even more in the latter stages. It became complex and layered and messy, but all in good ways, with relationships changing and developing and a lot of uncertainty as to how things might work out by the end. There's quite a lot of philosophising during various lengthy conversations between different characters, and the foreshadowing of one character's 'great secret' is very heavy handed. But the characters are well drawn and very believable overall. I'm not sure I was wholly satisfied by every aspect of the ending, but I could see why the various choices had been made - and I'm really glad I read the whole thing. I do wonder how many books I give up on might have ended up being quite good overall - this is one of those where it was definitely worth persevering.
Thornhedge by T Kingfisher is a Sleeping Beauty retelling with a lot of excellent changes made to the traditional story. I've heard a lot about T Kingfisher in recent months, but this was my first foray into her works (under that name, at least) - and a very good one it was too. I wasn't immediately grabbed, since the first chapter was very remote and 'telling rather than showing' with a lot of summary. It's about a fairy, who is stuck in the wilderness, maintaining the spell that keeps the princess asleep in the tower. Once the knight turns up, it picks up considerably, with his relationship with the fairy providing the main meat of the story. What we eventually find out about the fairy's background epically subverts what you might expect from this tale, in ways that definitely engaged my emotions as well as being thoroughly entertaining. Overall, the story is still a bit remote in places, though it drew me in as it went along and I was fully invested by the end. The climax is very abrupt (and feels a bit easy), but the ultimate conclusion warmed my heart and I was very glad I read through to the end.
So, two books in a row that I thought about abandoning but was glad I'd read by the end. Perhaps this is an important lesson in a year when I have DNF'd nearly two books a month on average...
Thornhedge by T Kingfisher is a Sleeping Beauty retelling with a lot of excellent changes made to the traditional story. I've heard a lot about T Kingfisher in recent months, but this was my first foray into her works (under that name, at least) - and a very good one it was too. I wasn't immediately grabbed, since the first chapter was very remote and 'telling rather than showing' with a lot of summary. It's about a fairy, who is stuck in the wilderness, maintaining the spell that keeps the princess asleep in the tower. Once the knight turns up, it picks up considerably, with his relationship with the fairy providing the main meat of the story. What we eventually find out about the fairy's background epically subverts what you might expect from this tale, in ways that definitely engaged my emotions as well as being thoroughly entertaining. Overall, the story is still a bit remote in places, though it drew me in as it went along and I was fully invested by the end. The climax is very abrupt (and feels a bit easy), but the ultimate conclusion warmed my heart and I was very glad I read through to the end.
So, two books in a row that I thought about abandoning but was glad I'd read by the end. Perhaps this is an important lesson in a year when I have DNF'd nearly two books a month on average...