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A review by hazem_walid
By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar
3.0
Is by force alone a novel about the Arthurian legend ? not really it is a book about force alone seen easy from the title. what will you do to have what you want and what will it take to get it.
"To be a king the innocents must die, to be a king the guilty live, to be a king is to be judge and executioner both, and rule by force alone.''
- The book takes a perspective of a mythical story more than a linear story, like in the Iliad by Homer. That had its ups and downs for me. I was liking the story but I was not connecting with the character at all.
- The story has some weird element the other place (beyond the wall was it called?) was just a very big hallucination trip that I love but sometimes that I didn't understand what was happening.
- The style of writing has its ups and downs too, because of the way the author chose to tell the story but in some parts, it reminds me of one of my favorite authors [[Joe Abercrombie.]]
They don’t think of the implications! To go to war, someone has to hire cooks! Maintain discipline, make sure the roads are clear after the rains, ensure provisions, medical supplies, lines of communication— Arthur thinks it’s just like in the old days, when they were boys when all you needed for a fight was a knife and a yard, and somewhere to stash the bodies after.
- Characters, as a whole, weren't the focus of the book but some of them were very good Merlin( we can say he is the lead character of the novel?), Kay and Lancelot, in my opinion, were the best characters and I think Arthur was merely at the novel.
He knew what he was: a parasite on the body politic – from the Greek: literally, a person supping at another’s table. That’s what he is, that’s what being a knight is. They are like leeches, feasting on the toil of those who can’t take the cure, who can’t fight them. They bleed the populace, the tenth tithe at a time, just enough not to kill them, just enough to keep them working. He knows what he is. And there’s a power in knowing your true self. Lancelot has no illusions, not anymore.
- This novel seems like the Guy Ritchie movie (King Arthur: Legend of the sword) in some way or another and I love that movie so when I feel the similarities come, I love it.
- So in the end, the novel has some provoking ideas about the idea of [[power]]
There is so much life in him, and so much power, or the potential for power still. This is what the Lady wants, this is why Merlin serves him. They feed on power as leeches feed on blood.
It is at that moment when his fingers close on the hilt of the sword and he pulls it out of the stone that he knows he would be king. Not by divine right or by a line of descent. By force alone. and how the legend is formed and why.
And always remember what is a king but the last guy to take power
"To be a king the innocents must die, to be a king the guilty live, to be a king is to be judge and executioner both, and rule by force alone.''
- The book takes a perspective of a mythical story more than a linear story, like in the Iliad by Homer. That had its ups and downs for me. I was liking the story but I was not connecting with the character at all.
- The story has some weird element the other place (beyond the wall was it called?) was just a very big hallucination trip that I love but sometimes that I didn't understand what was happening.
- The style of writing has its ups and downs too, because of the way the author chose to tell the story but in some parts, it reminds me of one of my favorite authors [[Joe Abercrombie.]]
They don’t think of the implications! To go to war, someone has to hire cooks! Maintain discipline, make sure the roads are clear after the rains, ensure provisions, medical supplies, lines of communication— Arthur thinks it’s just like in the old days, when they were boys when all you needed for a fight was a knife and a yard, and somewhere to stash the bodies after.
- Characters, as a whole, weren't the focus of the book but some of them were very good Merlin( we can say he is the lead character of the novel?), Kay and Lancelot, in my opinion, were the best characters and I think Arthur was merely at the novel.
He knew what he was: a parasite on the body politic – from the Greek: literally, a person supping at another’s table. That’s what he is, that’s what being a knight is. They are like leeches, feasting on the toil of those who can’t take the cure, who can’t fight them. They bleed the populace, the tenth tithe at a time, just enough not to kill them, just enough to keep them working. He knows what he is. And there’s a power in knowing your true self. Lancelot has no illusions, not anymore.
- This novel seems like the Guy Ritchie movie (King Arthur: Legend of the sword) in some way or another and I love that movie so when I feel the similarities come, I love it.
- So in the end, the novel has some provoking ideas about the idea of [[power]]
There is so much life in him, and so much power, or the potential for power still. This is what the Lady wants, this is why Merlin serves him. They feed on power as leeches feed on blood.
It is at that moment when his fingers close on the hilt of the sword and he pulls it out of the stone that he knows he would be king. Not by divine right or by a line of descent. By force alone. and how the legend is formed and why.
And always remember what is a king but the last guy to take power