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frasersimons
Tense as hell. Navigates a lot of fraught subjects. Mental illness. Power and gender dynamics. Relationships between husband and wife and children. I think it does a good job but I’m hardly able to speak intelligently about these things, so all I can say is it was always compelling and suspenseful, and I really liked the ending, which I expected not to like.
3.5*
I wasn’t aware this was anything more than historical romance, so was pleasantly surprised that it was such a hybrid. More historical accuracy than I’d expected as well. Touches on Scottish mythology and superstitions, has jailbreaks and rebel Scotts and political intrigue. Of course, sex and sexuality, and gender roles are central—to its benefit and detriment.
This would have been an easy 4 stars for me if it didn’t rely so heavily on the presence of sexual assault. Especially in the first three quarters of the novel. Seems like anytime Claire screws up she’s threatened with rape from all sides. Even backstory of other characters involve rape.
It’s very preoccupied with it, and I guess because it sets up the main sort of stakes as to whether or not Claire will be with her “real” husband or her Scottish one, the stakes are also sexualized? It just made me desensitizing toward the issue and felt incredibly lazy as it went on.
Not sure if I’ll continue with the series or not. Might give the show a chance instead.
*Spoiler warning*
The largest gripe I have, though, is Randall himself and the homophobia. Randall is revealed to essentially just be an evil gay also in love with Jamie. The contrasts between Randall as an ancestor and Claire’s husband is maybe semi interesting?
Men reacting to power dynamics and war differently. But there’s certainly no positive depictions of gay men and uhh she was spirited away on magical rocks that are not even historically present, so saying it’s all for historical accuracy is bs. Especially when she herself is challenging gender roles and expectations and Jamie seemingly seems written to break stereotypes of how a male love interest might be depicted.
The Duke is also always laughed at and the subject of open ridicule and he empowers Randall to do as he does. Extremely suspect and bumped down my rating because it hampered my enjoyment.
I wasn’t aware this was anything more than historical romance, so was pleasantly surprised that it was such a hybrid. More historical accuracy than I’d expected as well. Touches on Scottish mythology and superstitions, has jailbreaks and rebel Scotts and political intrigue. Of course, sex and sexuality, and gender roles are central—to its benefit and detriment.
This would have been an easy 4 stars for me if it didn’t rely so heavily on the presence of sexual assault. Especially in the first three quarters of the novel. Seems like anytime Claire screws up she’s threatened with rape from all sides. Even backstory of other characters involve rape.
It’s very preoccupied with it, and I guess because it sets up the main sort of stakes as to whether or not Claire will be with her “real” husband or her Scottish one, the stakes are also sexualized? It just made me desensitizing toward the issue and felt incredibly lazy as it went on.
Not sure if I’ll continue with the series or not. Might give the show a chance instead.
*Spoiler warning*
The largest gripe I have, though, is Randall himself and the homophobia. Randall is revealed to essentially just be an evil gay also in love with Jamie. The contrasts between Randall as an ancestor and Claire’s husband is maybe semi interesting?
Men reacting to power dynamics and war differently. But there’s certainly no positive depictions of gay men and uhh she was spirited away on magical rocks that are not even historically present, so saying it’s all for historical accuracy is bs. Especially when she herself is challenging gender roles and expectations and Jamie seemingly seems written to break stereotypes of how a male love interest might be depicted.
The Duke is also always laughed at and the subject of open ridicule and he empowers Randall to do as he does. Extremely suspect and bumped down my rating because it hampered my enjoyment.
Wonderful prose, snappy read, mostly pulls off its goals. It can sometimes be a bit strange reading a short story that’s connected to others that has another narrative within the short story that speaks to mythological aspects, but not have that in others. I’m not sure if the variations on structure help it out in the long run.
Part of me thinks something as simple as better layout might have elevated it. It’s got weird typography choices and heavy text structure that’s broken up by paragraphs rather than what you’d typically expect in a format.
There’s a knack here for pulling off mundane moments with really economical and evocative prose that offsets that though. Overall, well worth a read regardless.
Part of me thinks something as simple as better layout might have elevated it. It’s got weird typography choices and heavy text structure that’s broken up by paragraphs rather than what you’d typically expect in a format.
There’s a knack here for pulling off mundane moments with really economical and evocative prose that offsets that though. Overall, well worth a read regardless.
