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cwill89's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
daja57's review against another edition
5.0
Bonnie Prince Charlie has escaped the killing grounds of the Battle of Culloden, fled across mainland Scotland, and is now hiding among the Hebridean islands, hungry, dirty and frequently sodden, with a few loyal companions, ever alert for a hint of a redcoated soldier.
This short novel describes, in visceral detail, his tribulations. In the first chapter, we watch as he vomits, defecates and urinates. Warner deploys remarkable powers of description as we endure, with the Prince, the infamous West Highland midges, we tramp with him across then landscape, losing our shoes in sucking bogs. To start off with I wondered if, perhaps, the descriptions had gone overboard, foregrounding the language to the extent that the narrative was disrupted. for example, the end of the second paragraph states that "a blunt phalanx of fumes manouevred from the outcrops of the low island snuffing its colours down to a bulk." The third paragraph then begins: "A shore emerged from the briny effluvium ..." Words such as 'phalanx' and 'effluvium' seemed to me to shout for attention, as if the author was showing off. But then I thought that this sort of language would be routine if this was poetry. That's when I realised that this is wildly, wonderfully, impressively poetic prose. And, once we have reached the second chapter, the balance between description and dialogue, between observation and action, somewhat settles down, leaving the reader with a story that is nevertheless rendered in language so lyrical as to become a thing of beauty in itself.
Then we learn about the characters, focusing on that of the Young Pretender. He is portrayed as "a chancer who brought havoc" as the author himself says in an afterword. He's a chameleon of a man, stoic and terrified, charming and petulant, selfish and repeatedly self-deluding as he describes the latest roofless byre as a palace and assures his followers that he will return with a French army, at times courageous and at others, such as when he is hysterically frightened of being captured and hanged, drawn and quartered, a frightened rabbit.
This is a remarkable picture of a human being in all his moods and aspects and it combines with the rapturously expressive and passionate descriptions of the landscape, a character in its own right, to make an outstanding work of literature.
This short novel describes, in visceral detail, his tribulations. In the first chapter, we watch as he vomits, defecates and urinates. Warner deploys remarkable powers of description as we endure, with the Prince, the infamous West Highland midges, we tramp with him across then landscape, losing our shoes in sucking bogs. To start off with I wondered if, perhaps, the descriptions had gone overboard, foregrounding the language to the extent that the narrative was disrupted. for example, the end of the second paragraph states that "a blunt phalanx of fumes manouevred from the outcrops of the low island snuffing its colours down to a bulk." The third paragraph then begins: "A shore emerged from the briny effluvium ..." Words such as 'phalanx' and 'effluvium' seemed to me to shout for attention, as if the author was showing off. But then I thought that this sort of language would be routine if this was poetry. That's when I realised that this is wildly, wonderfully, impressively poetic prose. And, once we have reached the second chapter, the balance between description and dialogue, between observation and action, somewhat settles down, leaving the reader with a story that is nevertheless rendered in language so lyrical as to become a thing of beauty in itself.
Then we learn about the characters, focusing on that of the Young Pretender. He is portrayed as "a chancer who brought havoc" as the author himself says in an afterword. He's a chameleon of a man, stoic and terrified, charming and petulant, selfish and repeatedly self-deluding as he describes the latest roofless byre as a palace and assures his followers that he will return with a French army, at times courageous and at others, such as when he is hysterically frightened of being captured and hanged, drawn and quartered, a frightened rabbit.
This is a remarkable picture of a human being in all his moods and aspects and it combines with the rapturously expressive and passionate descriptions of the landscape, a character in its own right, to make an outstanding work of literature.
annaz2023's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tacanderson's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I am really enjoying this Darkland Tales series - retelling of Scotland's history and tales. This book is half an exploration of the western coast and islands of Scotland, and part an exercise in hypothesizing what the Bonnie Prince Charlie was like and what was going through his mind as he fled after the Jacobite rebellion. This isn't a story so much, with your usual character arc or narrative structure, but it was an enjoyable read. However if you're not familiar with the story of the "Young Pretender" or familiar with the landscape in Scotland it probably wouldn't hold much interest. I only have a passing understanding of both, but the story was interesting enough to enjoy.
skinnaaa's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
kate_ever's review
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Considering I am really enjoying the Darkland Tales and their exploration of Scottish History, I am constantly surprised by how little I know about it. I was excited to get to this story after hearing the author talking about it last year at a book festival but I realised very quickly how little I know of the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
I enjoyed the atmosphere in this book, you can get a sense of how bleak everything seems and how difficult it is for the Prince and his party as they make their way across the Scottish Highlands. At the same time though the party hadn't lost their sense of fun and I did chuckle a few times at some of the remarks and I quite liked the contrast between that and the unforgiving conditions.
The one thing I did struggle a little bit with in this story was that characters that had been in the book were suddenly no longer in the Prince's party, I realise the journey would have been long and not everyone would have possibly gone the whole way but they just kind of drop off without a mention again. I also sometimes found the language quite hard to discern, I'm usually good at picking up words in context even if I've not encountered them before but I didn't find that quite as easy in this book.
I didn't enjoy this instalment as much as I have the others in the series so far, it could be the fact that I don't have much prior knowledge of the story and feel like I haven't grasped what the significance of this voyage is, or it could be the way it is written. Don't get me wrong it had many enjoyable moments, the diatribe from a maid towards the Irish spinner stands out as one such occasion, but I didn't feel hooked by the story in quite the same way.
I enjoyed the atmosphere in this book, you can get a sense of how bleak everything seems and how difficult it is for the Prince and his party as they make their way across the Scottish Highlands. At the same time though the party hadn't lost their sense of fun and I did chuckle a few times at some of the remarks and I quite liked the contrast between that and the unforgiving conditions.
The one thing I did struggle a little bit with in this story was that characters that had been in the book were suddenly no longer in the Prince's party, I realise the journey would have been long and not everyone would have possibly gone the whole way but they just kind of drop off without a mention again. I also sometimes found the language quite hard to discern, I'm usually good at picking up words in context even if I've not encountered them before but I didn't find that quite as easy in this book.
I didn't enjoy this instalment as much as I have the others in the series so far, it could be the fact that I don't have much prior knowledge of the story and feel like I haven't grasped what the significance of this voyage is, or it could be the way it is written. Don't get me wrong it had many enjoyable moments, the diatribe from a maid towards the Irish spinner stands out as one such occasion, but I didn't feel hooked by the story in quite the same way.
meknight's review
Overly descriptive and too dense. The story suffers as a result.
kathrynreadsbooks_'s review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
festivefun's review
I found the writing overly complicated....like the author was trying to do something utterly it was complex and hard to understand. I stopped at the page of misogyny....
lilly71490's review
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75