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yourbookishbff's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I grabbed Spear as an audiobook (narrated by the author!) and I highly recommend this format for an atmospheric and immersive listening experience. As a reader less familiar with Arthurian legend, I'm sure I don't fully appreciate all of the ways in which Griffith has expanded the original myth by recasting it with her own gender-bent, queer lens, but I loved it all the same. The writing is intentionally lush, and the imagery so meticulous that it's easy to feel physically present in this magical world. This is a quick listen (just under 6 hours at 1x), and I know I'll be returning to Griffith's other works soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, War, Alcohol, Violence, and Grief
tamara_joy's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, and Alcohol
rat_girly's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A queer, gender-bent retelling of the Arthurian legend told with magical and poetic prose. Quite a short read but the pace isn’t rushed. I really liked Peretur’s character; she is kind, caring, brave, and deeply connected to nature. Great disability representation via Lance as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Infertility
Minor: Vomit
blacksphinx's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Animal death, and Mental illness
Minor: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Rape, and War
bluedilly's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Suicide, Infertility, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content, War, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, and Rape
chalkletters's review
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Despite being a long-term fantasy fan, I’ve never gotten particularly interested in the Arthur legend. I liked First Knight as a teen (despite, as I recently discovered with Nickie, utterly forgetting the lead actress), but I was never into Merlin and I didn’t even read Le Morte d'Arthur when I should have done as part of my degree. Despite this, I have at least one other retelling of Arthur on my TBR, which says something about their popularity.
Nicola Griffith’s prose in Spear feels magical; every sentence is gorgeously written and yet completely clear. It’s never difficult to understand what’s happening or what characters’ motivations are. The few illustrations scattered throughout the novel are also lovely and otherworldly, just right for the kind of story being told. Peretur’s magic is never really explained, but her ability to sense particulars about things she touches or smells is expressed very lyrically.
It was fun to see the Welsh influence on the naming, as well as trying to puzzle out which characters mapped to which Arthurian counterparts. Nicola Griffith’s (excellent) author’s note highlighted the importance of showing characters from multiple class and national backgrounds, which played a particularly important role in Peretur coming from more humble origins.
Spear stands out from other novellas in being particularly well-paced. All the loose threads are neatly wrapped up, but Nicola Griffith gives that part of the story just as much time as the build-up, which makes it much more satisfying than a rushed job.
For me, Spear worked on every level, and I’ll definitely look out for more of Nicola Griffith’s work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, and Blood
Minor: Animal death
bluejayreads's review against another edition
This is a weird DNF book to review, as there really isn't anything particularly wrong with it. If you'd asked me while I was reading, I would have told you it was perfectly good. If I had read it in a different situation, i.e. if I still had the job where I could read audiobooks while I worked, I absolutely would have finished it and enjoyed it. And I did enjoy it while reading. The story was weird and interesting - a more realistic retelling of Arthurian myth, twisted with magic, steeped in a genuine pre-middle-ages historical feel, and told in a stark, almost minimalist style that throws out all the rules of "show don't tell" but somehow works. There's a lot to like here. But somehow I found myself always choosing to listen to something else. In the car, I turned on the radio. On Saturday mornings, when I usually put on an audiobook while I clean my apartment, I instead chose a podcast. I can't even put my finger on why I really don't want to go back to reading this book. By all rights, it's pretty good, and I did enjoy it while reading. (I can't emphasize that enough, despite how much I've avoided reading it after the fact, I genuinely really enjoyed the parts that I did read.) I don't see much of a point of forcing myself to finish a book I'm avoiding picking up, so I'm not going to. I just still can't explain why.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Blood, and Death
Minor: Infertility, Animal death, and Sexual content
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
The attention to historical accuracy and detail is outstanding. It's clearly well-researched and that passion comes through. This book allowed me to truly nerd out within the space of historical fantasy.
The author's notes and acknowledgment in the back are fantastic. I love how they said that queer folks and disabled folks have always been a part of Britain's history. BIPOC have been an immense influence and part of British culture and history for hundreds and hundreds of years. The homogenous view that many historical fiction and nonfiction titles have taken is inaccurate and denies the existence of diverse people everywhere in everytime. This resonates so much with my own interests and views of British history.
The plot is familiar yet exciting in its newness. This breathes new life into medieval stories. I've read <i>Sword, Stone, Table: Old Legends, New Voices</i> ed. by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington which this was supposed to be a part of until it grew too large to include and I much prefer this longer form story. The collection had some great stories set during the time of Arthurian legends but had quite a few set in Arthur's far future which I didn't prefer. This feels authentic to the era yet has modern sensibilities (or perhaps we need to be more receptive to the idea of queer normalcy in history).
This might not be for everyone, but if you like Arthurian legends and British history, this is a faithful and passionate queer retelling of it.
The author's notes and acknowledgment in the back are fantastic. I love how they said that queer folks and disabled folks have always been a part of Britain's history. BIPOC have been an immense influence and part of British culture and history for hundreds and hundreds of years. The homogenous view that many historical fiction and nonfiction titles have taken is inaccurate and denies the existence of diverse people everywhere in everytime. This resonates so much with my own interests and views of British history.
The plot is familiar yet exciting in its newness. This breathes new life into medieval stories. I've read <i>Sword, Stone, Table: Old Legends, New Voices</i> ed. by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington which this was supposed to be a part of until it grew too large to include and I much prefer this longer form story. The collection had some great stories set during the time of Arthurian legends but had quite a few set in Arthur's far future which I didn't prefer. This feels authentic to the era yet has modern sensibilities (or perhaps we need to be more receptive to the idea of queer normalcy in history).
This might not be for everyone, but if you like Arthurian legends and British history, this is a faithful and passionate queer retelling of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
robin_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
As a sucker for the Arthurian legend and retelling of such, I greatly enjoyed this. Short, sweet, fantastical and mysterious.
it’s a refreshing to have Arthur, Lance and Guinevere as a thruple and not have Arthur’s go mad from being betrayed by Gwen and Lance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death of parent