Lauren's Reviews > Hild
Hild (The Hild Sequence, #1)
by
by
I was underwhelmed by this. I was reading an ARC so I didn't have the author's note or maps, so perhaps I was at a disadvantage but I don't know why Griffths' novel stopped before Hilda's transformation to the abbess of one of the most notable monastic houses of the early medieval period. The novel felt very hodgepodged to me - lots of research,a modern sensibility and an ending that I didn't believe.
It's also a complex time of warring factions, tribes, and religious tensions and there is simply too much going on. The novel is quite hard to follow. Maybe the historical research got the better of Griffths and she lost the emotional connection to her characters.
I know comparisons are odious but I can't help but think of Hilary Mantel's novels on Thomas Cromwell which have a similar complexity but also make a real connection with the reader.
I feel like Griffiths has missed the mark with Hild.
It's also a complex time of warring factions, tribes, and religious tensions and there is simply too much going on. The novel is quite hard to follow. Maybe the historical research got the better of Griffths and she lost the emotional connection to her characters.
I know comparisons are odious but I can't help but think of Hilary Mantel's novels on Thomas Cromwell which have a similar complexity but also make a real connection with the reader.
I feel like Griffiths has missed the mark with Hild.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Hild.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
July 19, 2013
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 19, 2013
– Shelved
September 24, 2013
–
Started Reading
October 3, 2013
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)
date
newest »
message 1:
by
Kat
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
06 oct. 2013 01:50
reply
|
flag
That's good news for me. I had a good time with that novel.
The glossary and the genealogical table for example were helpful, but needed to be expanded. I wanted a list of characters -- so I could see who was who, since there were a lot of unfamiliar early English and Celtic names. The genealogical tables are useful, but cover only the royal lines. I was often left frantically paging back as I tried to remember who yet another character with a similar name starting with Os- or Ae- is.
The map was also inadequate. A list of modern place-names would have been helpful. It would have been nice to know, for example, that "Lindum" was the contemporary name of Lincoln without having to go outside the book to find out.