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silverflight8I finished The Wolf and the Dove, by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss today (it was the one I blathered about earlier--set in an atypical historical period (!))
Bones to pick:
1. Historical inaccuracies, let me show you them. In 1066, it's still the medieval age for England, and the Battle of Hastings--you know, the one with William the Conker? (Sorry, conqueror. It all sounds the same when I say it. ) I don't know all that much about this time period, but even I can spot these ones.
a) I am very glad to see that the girl, Aislinn, feels strongly about rape and realizes that the shame of rape should not fall on her. But the problem is, that's a modern thought--which isn't even all that accepted even now! (Proof: look at how many people say: "Oh, she was dressing like a [pejorative noun]; "he was asking for it," "I couldn't control myself.") In the book's day and age, you own people--serfs, for instance. And it makes no difference whether there's consent or not--you're stained, marked, blackened, reputation slandered--and that awareness that it's not your fault is very unlikely.
a) i. On that note, I'm kind of wondering how likely a family is going to take in their daughter after she's been brutally used (no specifics in the book; it's just a very minor character). After all, you have to pay a dowry, and they 'can't work the fields'.
b) To me, trying to wrap up a bleeding wound in dirty linen is vile and disgusting and I'd immediately feel as though I was coming down with an infection. However, it took until after the Crimean War--approximately 1854 to 1856--and even later to make the public realize that sterilizing things made medical operations safer. The concept of germ theory, that we get sick because of microscopic organisms or viri, doesn't exist. I find it strange to think that Aislinn always reaches for the "clean linen", because her home has been ransacked, and it'd be work to get it clean.
c) Horses get tired. People get tired. There is very little acknowledgment of this.
2. The characterization stuff. I have this aversion to sudden character shifts. People get epiphanies, realize they did something wrong, wake up one day and find out that their beliefs have been smashed into pieces--it's possible. But two characters (interestingly, both women) do this strange about turn in character, after the protagonist is nice or the villain is especially evil. I think that the characters had more pride than to come to the protagonists, crying, to ask for forgiveness. Especially considering the vehemence of their hate and their spitefulness that had lasted for months.
3. I'll let the ~super beautiful~ protagonist and extremely understanding (for this time, anyways) other protagonist to slide. It's fiction, after all, and few books are about the mediocre or ordinary.
4. If you wish to adopt a highly officious, or 'ancient' writing style, I suggest you be very careful in inspecting your work to be assured that you have not added in modern mannerisms. *shakes self* There were a couple places where the statement was so inexplicably--well, today-like--that I was yanked out of the story and just stared. (Also, the use of 'babe' always seems pretentious to me. Just saying.)
5. There might be something wrong when I start secretly hoping that the obviously unlikeable character (that the author sets up) wins. I thought Maida deserved some sort of respect for standing up for what she believed in, even though that wasn't the smartest idea and nearly drove her crazy. Still, the female protagonist stands up for herself in the beginning, but slowly loses that throughout the book.
6. Please leave off the random info dumps.
7. ETA: Also--writing mistakes. Misspellings, comma splices, misuse of the words 'therefore' and 'thus', and generally awkward writing.
tl;dr: I think I'm just going to read a historical textbook for this, actually. Rating? It would have been 8/10, but after the character turn around, it's 5/10.
Bones to pick:
1. Historical inaccuracies, let me show you them. In 1066, it's still the medieval age for England, and the Battle of Hastings--you know, the one with William the Conker? (Sorry, conqueror. It all sounds the same when I say it. ) I don't know all that much about this time period, but even I can spot these ones.
a) I am very glad to see that the girl, Aislinn, feels strongly about rape and realizes that the shame of rape should not fall on her. But the problem is, that's a modern thought--which isn't even all that accepted even now! (Proof: look at how many people say: "Oh, she was dressing like a [pejorative noun]; "he was asking for it," "I couldn't control myself.") In the book's day and age, you own people--serfs, for instance. And it makes no difference whether there's consent or not--you're stained, marked, blackened, reputation slandered--and that awareness that it's not your fault is very unlikely.
a) i. On that note, I'm kind of wondering how likely a family is going to take in their daughter after she's been brutally used (no specifics in the book; it's just a very minor character). After all, you have to pay a dowry, and they 'can't work the fields'.
b) To me, trying to wrap up a bleeding wound in dirty linen is vile and disgusting and I'd immediately feel as though I was coming down with an infection. However, it took until after the Crimean War--approximately 1854 to 1856--and even later to make the public realize that sterilizing things made medical operations safer. The concept of germ theory, that we get sick because of microscopic organisms or viri, doesn't exist. I find it strange to think that Aislinn always reaches for the "clean linen", because her home has been ransacked, and it'd be work to get it clean.
c) Horses get tired. People get tired. There is very little acknowledgment of this.
2. The characterization stuff. I have this aversion to sudden character shifts. People get epiphanies, realize they did something wrong, wake up one day and find out that their beliefs have been smashed into pieces--it's possible. But two characters (interestingly, both women) do this strange about turn in character, after the protagonist is nice or the villain is especially evil. I think that the characters had more pride than to come to the protagonists, crying, to ask for forgiveness. Especially considering the vehemence of their hate and their spitefulness that had lasted for months.
3. I'll let the ~super beautiful~ protagonist and extremely understanding (for this time, anyways) other protagonist to slide. It's fiction, after all, and few books are about the mediocre or ordinary.
4. If you wish to adopt a highly officious, or 'ancient' writing style, I suggest you be very careful in inspecting your work to be assured that you have not added in modern mannerisms. *shakes self* There were a couple places where the statement was so inexplicably--well, today-like--that I was yanked out of the story and just stared. (Also, the use of 'babe' always seems pretentious to me. Just saying.)
5. There might be something wrong when I start secretly hoping that the obviously unlikeable character (that the author sets up) wins. I thought Maida deserved some sort of respect for standing up for what she believed in, even though that wasn't the smartest idea and nearly drove her crazy. Still, the female protagonist stands up for herself in the beginning, but slowly loses that throughout the book.
6. Please leave off the random info dumps.
7. ETA: Also--writing mistakes. Misspellings, comma splices, misuse of the words 'therefore' and 'thus', and generally awkward writing.
tl;dr: I think I'm just going to read a historical textbook for this, actually. Rating? It would have been 8/10, but after the character turn around, it's 5/10.
