[books 2008] Here Lies Arthur
May. 15th, 2008 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulro25. Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve
Reeve is the author of Mortal Engines, which we recently read and loved at Bibliogoths.
Does the world really need another re-interpretation of the King Arthur story?
The answer is emphatically yes, if it's this book. It's told from the point of view of a young girl who is taken in by Myrddin (not surprising as it's aimed at the young adult market), who is disguised as a boy and taken along on his travels with Arthur's war band.
This book's about a lot of things. It's about gender roles - Gwyn/Gwynne finds women's lives really boring, and prefers the roles and company of men, until they get all stupid about war. It's about loyalty and friendship. But mostly it's about story telling, and the ways a story can shape reality. In this version Arthur is a thug, but Myrddin spins romantic tales about him that people believe, and this has an effect on whether they follow him or not.
Most importantly, it's also an excellent adventure story, beautifully told.
I did a lot of work with development of the Arthurian tales as an undergraduate, including modern takes on it. Now I feel like going back and re-reading it all.
Many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dghaem for lending it to me.
Reeve is the author of Mortal Engines, which we recently read and loved at Bibliogoths.
Does the world really need another re-interpretation of the King Arthur story?
The answer is emphatically yes, if it's this book. It's told from the point of view of a young girl who is taken in by Myrddin (not surprising as it's aimed at the young adult market), who is disguised as a boy and taken along on his travels with Arthur's war band.
This book's about a lot of things. It's about gender roles - Gwyn/Gwynne finds women's lives really boring, and prefers the roles and company of men, until they get all stupid about war. It's about loyalty and friendship. But mostly it's about story telling, and the ways a story can shape reality. In this version Arthur is a thug, but Myrddin spins romantic tales about him that people believe, and this has an effect on whether they follow him or not.
Most importantly, it's also an excellent adventure story, beautifully told.
I did a lot of work with development of the Arthurian tales as an undergraduate, including modern takes on it. Now I feel like going back and re-reading it all.
Many thanks to
dghaem for lending it to me.
