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berning's review
Instead of the promised premise, this is a word vomit of fun facts that should have stayed on Reddit. The medium is the message and this was unfit to be a book, it needed way more structure and cohesion to even attempt to achieve it's goal of being a fantasy how-to guide. The author clearly has a broad knowledge of medieval times but does a disservice to their education in this format by offering no substance to their stories and claims.
littleredh00ds's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
4.5
Something quick and fun to read between new releases- I enjoyed the humour and the very factual points of this. Good history introduction with a great premise, sounds tough to slay a dragon in real Medieval world!
barnesstorming's review
3.0
It'd be a lie to say I didn't enjoy this book, laughing out loud through much of it. But there's a nagging self-satisfaction in the writing, and in an effort to be brief and snappy with her language, Stevenson often sacrifices clarity. She'll drop a historical nugget and you can't tell if it's there for context and she's leading up to something or if that's the whole bit; the outcome is inconsistent. But she is clever, if smug, and has clearly done her research in this little comedic tome.
branch_c's review
3.0
Okay, I found this fairly enjoyable. It’s basically a somewhat random collection of medieval episodes, each introduced with a joking setup to the reader about how they might go about undertaking various activities in the Middle Ages. It’s a clever way to convey historical knowledge to a modern audience with an antipathy for actual textbooks on the subject. And it works, for a while. The humor, while not exactly laugh-out-loud, is appropriate for Stevenson’s witty style.
The central gimmick does wear a bit thin by the halfway point, and the snarkiness becomes excessive. Also, many of the leaps made from fantastical jumping off points (for example, defending a village from a dragon) to actual historical info (dealing with air pollution) (p. 93) are a stretch, to say the least.
But there’s plenty of interesting material here, including everything from records of everyday life in the Middle Ages to the real life exploits of monks and princesses and knights and handmaidens engaged in escaping their enemies or securing the throne or both. The tales are somewhat haphazard; there’s a lack of obvious progression, making the overall narrative seem disjointed.
It’s no doubt only scratching the surface of the topic, and there’s a list of further reading material at the end for those with a stronger interest and a longer attention span, but as an introductory exposition of a time most of us literally know nothing about other than the name, it’s a fun, quick, and engaging read.
The central gimmick does wear a bit thin by the halfway point, and the snarkiness becomes excessive. Also, many of the leaps made from fantastical jumping off points (for example, defending a village from a dragon) to actual historical info (dealing with air pollution) (p. 93) are a stretch, to say the least.
But there’s plenty of interesting material here, including everything from records of everyday life in the Middle Ages to the real life exploits of monks and princesses and knights and handmaidens engaged in escaping their enemies or securing the throne or both. The tales are somewhat haphazard; there’s a lack of obvious progression, making the overall narrative seem disjointed.
It’s no doubt only scratching the surface of the topic, and there’s a list of further reading material at the end for those with a stronger interest and a longer attention span, but as an introductory exposition of a time most of us literally know nothing about other than the name, it’s a fun, quick, and engaging read.
siravalondulac's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
too many saints, not enough dragon slaying