![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
”We ain’t thieves and we ain’t killers, we’s just good men been done wrong.”
The year is 1364. Hungry creatures stalk the dark woods of medieval Europe, and both sea and sky team with unspeakable horrors. There is no foulness, however, no witch nor demon, to rival the grave-robbing twins Hegel and Manfried Grossbart. This is their tale, sad but true.
It’s 1364, when life was nasty, brutish and short and Europe was filled with horrors from plague and witchcraft to murder and demon raising. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart are brutal men in a brutal world. Murderers and grave-robbers with a strange loyalty to the Virgin Mary, their story begins with the attempted robbery of a turnip farmer’s goods that swiftly leads to violent murder and a journey across Europe that takes in some of the worst things that the Medieval world had to offer.
A strange mix of historical fantasy and academic commentary, Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is an unusual read that takes the anti-hero idea and really runs with it.
I liked the fact that it’s very different from other historical fantasies that I’ve read and Bullington has a good feel for period. The Grossbart’s disdain for priests and Jesus stands in marked contrast to their devotion to the Virgin and they justify their actions through their twisted faith.
Although it takes a long time for the fantasy and horror elements to kick in, when they do, they’re handled with a deft touch. My favourite scenes in the book are those set in a small abbey town that initially appears to have been affected by plague but which the characters slowly discover has been touched by something more evil.
I also liked the way that Bullington frames the narration as an academic paper revisiting a Medieval legend. This gives more authority to the omniscient voice and also enables Bullington to comment on the story’s events, which gives them an additional layer.
Where it fell down for me was due to the Grossbarts being so fundamentally unlikeable. While they see themselves as men driven to horrific actions by circumstance and/or the wrongs perpetrated on them by others, they do in fact control their destiny and their sorrows result from their actions. There are some attempts to redeem them emotionally, particularly through their devotion to each other, but these were too sparse to change my opinion. In addition, I found the fact that the story is structured as a road trip meant that the events felt rather sporadic and loosely linked and there were long periods where nothing happened, dulling the pace.
Ultimately, it’s a brave attempt at doing something different but one that ultimately doesn’t quite come off. Nevertheless, I look forward to reading what Bullington does next.
The Verdict:
Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is an unusual historical fantasy that really runs with the idea of anti-heroes. Although there were things that I liked about it, overall it didn’t come together with me because the main characters are just so unlikeable while the road trip structure meant there were long periods where little happened. However, there was enough here to make me interested in reading Jesse Bullington’s next book.
The year is 1364. Hungry creatures stalk the dark woods of medieval Europe, and both sea and sky team with unspeakable horrors. There is no foulness, however, no witch nor demon, to rival the grave-robbing twins Hegel and Manfried Grossbart. This is their tale, sad but true.
It’s 1364, when life was nasty, brutish and short and Europe was filled with horrors from plague and witchcraft to murder and demon raising. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart are brutal men in a brutal world. Murderers and grave-robbers with a strange loyalty to the Virgin Mary, their story begins with the attempted robbery of a turnip farmer’s goods that swiftly leads to violent murder and a journey across Europe that takes in some of the worst things that the Medieval world had to offer.
A strange mix of historical fantasy and academic commentary, Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is an unusual read that takes the anti-hero idea and really runs with it.
I liked the fact that it’s very different from other historical fantasies that I’ve read and Bullington has a good feel for period. The Grossbart’s disdain for priests and Jesus stands in marked contrast to their devotion to the Virgin and they justify their actions through their twisted faith.
Although it takes a long time for the fantasy and horror elements to kick in, when they do, they’re handled with a deft touch. My favourite scenes in the book are those set in a small abbey town that initially appears to have been affected by plague but which the characters slowly discover has been touched by something more evil.
I also liked the way that Bullington frames the narration as an academic paper revisiting a Medieval legend. This gives more authority to the omniscient voice and also enables Bullington to comment on the story’s events, which gives them an additional layer.
Where it fell down for me was due to the Grossbarts being so fundamentally unlikeable. While they see themselves as men driven to horrific actions by circumstance and/or the wrongs perpetrated on them by others, they do in fact control their destiny and their sorrows result from their actions. There are some attempts to redeem them emotionally, particularly through their devotion to each other, but these were too sparse to change my opinion. In addition, I found the fact that the story is structured as a road trip meant that the events felt rather sporadic and loosely linked and there were long periods where nothing happened, dulling the pace.
Ultimately, it’s a brave attempt at doing something different but one that ultimately doesn’t quite come off. Nevertheless, I look forward to reading what Bullington does next.
The Verdict:
Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is an unusual historical fantasy that really runs with the idea of anti-heroes. Although there were things that I liked about it, overall it didn’t come together with me because the main characters are just so unlikeable while the road trip structure meant there were long periods where little happened. However, there was enough here to make me interested in reading Jesse Bullington’s next book.
