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A review by literallykalasin
Avalon Rising by Kathryn Rose
3.0
This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have to start with a full disclosure: I did not realise when I requested this book that it is in fact the second book in a series. I spend the first five chapters kind of confused about the constant rush of self-referential information that the main character kept foisting on me. It was vague enough to be annoying for me, a reader who hadn't the background information of the first book (but a strong familiarity with the original Arthurian canon), but probably not vague enough for someone who had read book one and probably found themselves telling Vivienne to shut it and get on with things already.
Vivienne is an interesting character, because she subverts female norms for this period. In the original story, your ladies came in essentially three categories: ladies, good and true, that need saving -- damsels in distress, if you will; your cheating whore of a wife who must get herself to a nunnery; and witches who may also be your sister, and may also be trying to entrap you and steal everything you love. You know, the usual female tropes. Viv is none of these things, rather a young noble woman with some intelligence who apprentices herself under Merlin and learns the skills of alchemists and magicians, making her own path in a man's world. When we meet her in this book, she is attempting to build an aeroship so she can pursue the Holy Grail. Currently, her brother and lover are both missing somewhere and she has been given the coordinates to Avalon where the Grail resides. She embarks on her own to find her missing loved ones and solve the mystery of the Grail in order to restore Camelot, which has been destroyed and its people scattered after the war with Morgan le Fay.
Oh, you're probably wondering about that “aeroship” part. Yeah, this is a steampunk rendition of Arthurian England. I am not used to seeing steampunk outside of the reimagined 1800s, so I found that a bit difficult to get used to. Also, most versions of Arthur and his court place him firmly in the darkest parts of the Middle Ages, or on that razor's edge of Rome's conquest and subsequent withdrawal from England. This version felt more firmly settled in the later parts of the Middle Ages, due chiefly to the flow of information and culture that seemed to exist between East and West, which didn't really exist for England at any point in the more traditional settings.
I can definitely see the appeal of this book: the world is richly imagined, and the writing flows. While some of Viv's choices can be tough to read, you can sympathise with her and she is admirable in not following the only other paths laid out for someone of her gender. For people that love myths and magic and airships, this will be the book for you.
I have to start with a full disclosure: I did not realise when I requested this book that it is in fact the second book in a series. I spend the first five chapters kind of confused about the constant rush of self-referential information that the main character kept foisting on me. It was vague enough to be annoying for me, a reader who hadn't the background information of the first book (but a strong familiarity with the original Arthurian canon), but probably not vague enough for someone who had read book one and probably found themselves telling Vivienne to shut it and get on with things already.
Vivienne is an interesting character, because she subverts female norms for this period. In the original story, your ladies came in essentially three categories: ladies, good and true, that need saving -- damsels in distress, if you will; your cheating whore of a wife who must get herself to a nunnery; and witches who may also be your sister, and may also be trying to entrap you and steal everything you love. You know, the usual female tropes. Viv is none of these things, rather a young noble woman with some intelligence who apprentices herself under Merlin and learns the skills of alchemists and magicians, making her own path in a man's world. When we meet her in this book, she is attempting to build an aeroship so she can pursue the Holy Grail. Currently, her brother and lover are both missing somewhere and she has been given the coordinates to Avalon where the Grail resides. She embarks on her own to find her missing loved ones and solve the mystery of the Grail in order to restore Camelot, which has been destroyed and its people scattered after the war with Morgan le Fay.
Oh, you're probably wondering about that “aeroship” part. Yeah, this is a steampunk rendition of Arthurian England. I am not used to seeing steampunk outside of the reimagined 1800s, so I found that a bit difficult to get used to. Also, most versions of Arthur and his court place him firmly in the darkest parts of the Middle Ages, or on that razor's edge of Rome's conquest and subsequent withdrawal from England. This version felt more firmly settled in the later parts of the Middle Ages, due chiefly to the flow of information and culture that seemed to exist between East and West, which didn't really exist for England at any point in the more traditional settings.
I can definitely see the appeal of this book: the world is richly imagined, and the writing flows. While some of Viv's choices can be tough to read, you can sympathise with her and she is admirable in not following the only other paths laid out for someone of her gender. For people that love myths and magic and airships, this will be the book for you.