Poetry of Reading

Part fairy tale, part historical fiction, has a certain dreamlike quality for most of its length and was fascinating from beginning to end. The time frame appears to be well before Russia became a single country.

The plot was complex, with several subplots going on all at once. There were romantic elements and pseudo-romantic elements. Much of the story turned on the instability of the change between the old religions and the new.

The main character was Vasya, daughter of Pyotr Vladimirovich. She was a wild child who believed all her nurse’s fairy tales and fed the household spirits, and the barn spirits, and the spirits of the fields and woods and waters.

Meanwhile, the old priest, who turned a blind eye to such behavior, died and a new priest was sent to take his place. The new priest determines to make it his mission to reform the religious habits of all the people in the village. Unfortunately, he falls prey to one demon he fears so much.

His religious zeal comes to oppress Vasya more and more the older she grows, and after several attempts to cage her in various ways marrying her off, sending her to a convent... She finally runs away into the forest where she meets up with the frost spirit she was promised to all along.

Bear and the Nightingale is a gripping retelling of an old Russian story that is neither weighed down by the historical source material nor carried away by the more mythical touch of lore. It is a solid start to a trilogy that will inspire research and birth daydreams.

The story begins with Uther Pendragon, King of Dumnonia, and the High King of Britain, nearing death. His grandson, Mordred, is his heir; however, Mordred is only a baby. Arthur, a bastard of Uther, takes an oath of loyalty to Mordred and is chosen as Mordred’s guardian. Until Mordred is old enough to rule Dumnonia himself, Arthur is effectively the king.

Arthur dreams to unite the various kingdoms of Britain and push out the invading land-hungry Saxons. This is the story of Arthur. Repeatedly, just when you think that Arthur’s dream is to become a reality, the dream is shattered because of his weaknesses, his sense of justice, the machinations of kings and those closest to him, the conflict between Christians and pagans, or most often his oath of loyalty to Mordred. Certainly, for a moment there is Camelot, but even then dark clouds are on the horizon.

While it may take a few chapters to get into the swing of medieval people and place names, this is soon a rousing and bloody tale of politics and war told from the horror of hand-to-hand combat across a shield wall, of sorcerers, witches, priests, and wizards offering sacrifices, curses, and prayers to whichever Gods may listen. In short, a realistic first chapter in Cornwell’s trilogy of a truly tragic hero and the legend that nearly fifteen centuries later continues to captivate and fascinate.

I loved this book, C.W. Gortner is one of my favorite authors, he has never let me down in any of his books and he didn’t in this one, from the beginning I was enthralled with the story, it is a story about Lucrezia Borgia, told by Lucretia Borgia, from when she is a young girl who is loved and happy. This novel brought to us a poignant look at her life. She was not a villain, as portrayed by most pre-modern historians and perpetuated by the rumors that have survived through passaging time. She was indeed a puppet used by her father and brother for their familial ambitions.

Gortner has created a strong Lucrezia who could stand up to her family and survive the hardships thrown at her: the loss of her beloved Alfonso, the son she had to give up and being used by her father and brother for political gains. It could not have been easy for a young woman growing up in a family as powerful and scheming as the Borgias, and yet she did it. We will never know what their lives were really like, with there being so many rumors and so few facts, but this story takes a captivating stab at it. But we know that they were a close family; while her father and Cesare loved her dearly, her relationship with her brother Juan was deadly.

While most novelists of the Borgia sub-genre overindulge and fantasize with rumors, Gortner has strived for accuracy, setting him apart from the others. His Lucrezia was kind and good, albeit naive. Her trust and faith in her father and brother were always foremost. The innocence she displayed for her brother, Juan, and her first husband was also apparent. All she knew was love; she couldn’t know how cruel the world would be. She believed in her family, and that was her undoing.

When Lucrezia’s eyes are finally opened to the scheming of her father, she ultimately finds the strength to stand up to him and put an end to it all. She starts a new life of her choosing and becomes the woman she was. It wasn’t easy when men dominated and women were supposed to idly do their bidding, but Lucrezia came from a powerful family, and in the end, that gave her the strength to choose.

Superb account of Lucrezia Borgia from her childhood filled with lies and dominating family to a young woman who bravely forgoes her family’s power-hungry plots and becomes a survivor with little help from her murderous family. She suffered many losses and started a new through three marriages. I feel I got fresh insight into a figure deemed evil and a murderer to a more logical account of the pawns women were in her time.