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tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘... a legend can only die if no one speaks its name’
The setting for this novel is a fictional English village named Ulewic. During 1321-22, the village is struggling with a number of natural and supernatural forces. The villagers’ lives are shadowed by the Owl Masters and haunted by the Owlman who leaves death and destruction in his wake. The novel centres on a beguinage, a religious community of women, originally from Bruges and newly established outside the village. The tensions between the beguinage, the village priest and the townspeople themselves build through ignorance, fear, envy and are fuelled by illness, natural disaster and manipulation.
The narrators include a number of different characters, alternating throughout the story and each with their own perspective of events.
For this novel, this works particularly well because of the combination of pagan and Christian beliefs, of belief in the supernatural and superstition. The narrators include: the Servant Martha (the leader of the beguins), the teenaged Agatha/Osmanna (the cast out daughter of Ulewic’s most powerful man who is accepted into the beguinage); Father Ulfrid (the village priest) and a village child.
I enjoyed this novel. I liked some characters, detested others and was fascinated by the concept of beguinage. This novel is of the Dark Ages in both time and setting, but some aspects transcend the passage of time.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The setting for this novel is a fictional English village named Ulewic. During 1321-22, the village is struggling with a number of natural and supernatural forces. The villagers’ lives are shadowed by the Owl Masters and haunted by the Owlman who leaves death and destruction in his wake. The novel centres on a beguinage, a religious community of women, originally from Bruges and newly established outside the village. The tensions between the beguinage, the village priest and the townspeople themselves build through ignorance, fear, envy and are fuelled by illness, natural disaster and manipulation.
The narrators include a number of different characters, alternating throughout the story and each with their own perspective of events.
For this novel, this works particularly well because of the combination of pagan and Christian beliefs, of belief in the supernatural and superstition. The narrators include: the Servant Martha (the leader of the beguins), the teenaged Agatha/Osmanna (the cast out daughter of Ulewic’s most powerful man who is accepted into the beguinage); Father Ulfrid (the village priest) and a village child.
I enjoyed this novel. I liked some characters, detested others and was fascinated by the concept of beguinage. This novel is of the Dark Ages in both time and setting, but some aspects transcend the passage of time.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
bonniecelt's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
hoarderreader's review against another edition
4.0
I found it dull at the beginning, but the growing of the characters and how the story develops... I was so not expecting that evolution. Specially Bea, what a character.
mister_goldfish's review against another edition
5.0
Maitland's medieval Britain feels very true to the country I know. There's magic out there, but it's not sparkly stuff. It's the magic of people and pain. Well worth a read, but always remember - the owls are not what they seem.
laura975's review against another edition
DNF. After the initial atmospheric beginning the impetus fizzled out. Each of the characters sounded the same which didn’t help. Not as good as some of her other work
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
4.0
God, religion and a firm foundation of faith has been matters of great befuddlement for me for a while now. We who have feared and revered everything beyond the immediate vicinity of the fire in the cave have come a long way into the multi million dollar world of organized religion. Fear has always been the riding whip for religion and power its allure. Men and women who hold sway over the multitudes with a firm grasp on the pulse of belief will commmand far more murderous mobs than a dictator can ever imagine in today's world. Of late, my reading into the investigations of such conflicts in the name of belief has served to strengthen this prejudice of mine. This novel explores such a delicate situation while being set in a fictional town of Ulewic in England in the 1320's.
Ulewic is a hovel of a town in the middle of nowhere. A Catholic Church stuggling to find a foothold in a town still rooted deep in pagan beliefs with the captain being a weakling of a priest makes an interesting character study. Father Ulfried of the Church is the owner of a personality which I can aptly call despicable. Starting off from a neutral and futile existence in the beginning, this character acquires a negative tone as the story reaches its finale and is my most favorite character of them all in the story. Pitted against him are the Owl Masters who through superstition, violence and fear rule the village and its denizens. Then there is the beguinage and its women right in the middle of these two titans. A beguinage was a community of women who sustained themselves and the society among them through their own hard work. Unlike a nunnery, there weren't any bonds that held these women back for they were given the choice to come and go as they liked to. Naturally such a community of self sustaining women in a pre-dominantly male oriented society gave rise to conflicts and that is what the novel explores in depth and detail. It is as the Joker says : An irresistable force meeting an immovable object.
The structure of the book works out brilliantly to its advantage. The story is told from multiple POV's and the narrative effortlessly shifts gears between one persona and the next. While the scope is limited to the small town, the scale of exploration on topics of Christianity, Paganism, liberal thought, sexuality are rather massive in the book. This was the one reason why I wasn't totally bugged when melodrama started seeping it by droplets along the narrative for the scope of the tale warrants it. The pace is rather well maintained and on some days kept me reading late into the night. For all this brilliance on the part of the author, I felt let down by the ending. It felt all rushed through and did not sit with me well when most of the loose ends were tied. Well, you can't have them all !
All in all, a most excellent story.
Ulewic is a hovel of a town in the middle of nowhere. A Catholic Church stuggling to find a foothold in a town still rooted deep in pagan beliefs with the captain being a weakling of a priest makes an interesting character study. Father Ulfried of the Church is the owner of a personality which I can aptly call despicable. Starting off from a neutral and futile existence in the beginning, this character acquires a negative tone as the story reaches its finale and is my most favorite character of them all in the story. Pitted against him are the Owl Masters who through superstition, violence and fear rule the village and its denizens. Then there is the beguinage and its women right in the middle of these two titans. A beguinage was a community of women who sustained themselves and the society among them through their own hard work. Unlike a nunnery, there weren't any bonds that held these women back for they were given the choice to come and go as they liked to. Naturally such a community of self sustaining women in a pre-dominantly male oriented society gave rise to conflicts and that is what the novel explores in depth and detail. It is as the Joker says : An irresistable force meeting an immovable object.
The structure of the book works out brilliantly to its advantage. The story is told from multiple POV's and the narrative effortlessly shifts gears between one persona and the next. While the scope is limited to the small town, the scale of exploration on topics of Christianity, Paganism, liberal thought, sexuality are rather massive in the book. This was the one reason why I wasn't totally bugged when melodrama started seeping it by droplets along the narrative for the scope of the tale warrants it. The pace is rather well maintained and on some days kept me reading late into the night. For all this brilliance on the part of the author, I felt let down by the ending. It felt all rushed through and did not sit with me well when most of the loose ends were tied. Well, you can't have them all !
All in all, a most excellent story.
theoreticalwitchcraft's review against another edition
4.0
Find this review & more @ bookishsilvertongue
They left their homes and their country to bring the ways of beguinage to England. But the land where they settle is ruled by the Owl Masters, through cruelty and bloody pagan rites.
They won't flinch away from anything to curb the influence of these independent women.
why read it?: wonderful historical novel with a mostly female cast and some supernatural elements
why not?: some of the magical elements really can't be explained as hoaxes or delusions, so if you don't want that stuff in your historical novels, I'd suggest you stay clear of this one.
Also, please avoid if you're going to complain that all positive roles were given to women. Avoid this book, avoid this blog, avoid existing in my general direction.
I admit I only bought The Owl Killers because the cover was pretty and it was disgustingly cheap; I thought it was going to be some shitty Dan Brown-esque pseudo-historical thriller.
I couldn't have been more wrong, I adored it.
First off, I had only heard about beguines in passing, and it was interesting to learn more about them. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of anything, but the inner workings of the beguinage seemed convincing. Although of course when your study of history stopped at high school, anything internally coherent seems convincing.
The writing flowed very well, even though I read a translation. Yes, you heard that right, I found a book decently translated in Italian. Light a candle to a higher power of your choice to celebrate.
I found the mythology and supernatural aspects a tad confused at times, but I still quite liked it. After all, I didn't even expect it to be there!
The strenght of the novel were definitely the characters.
There wasn't a true protagonist, everyone in the ensemble cast got more or less the same attention. Of course, point of view characters more than others, but overall it felt very balanced.
Most of the cast is female, and wonderful different women and girls with varied backgrounds and personalities. Some of them were awful, annoying or petty, but while they might not have been good people, they were still good, complex characters. It was good to see a story so starkly dominated by women.
There were less than 10 named male characters, only about half were relevant to the story, and only one was a POV character. This has set every white dude on Goodreads complaining, but the truth is they weren't any less complex than the women. They were just few, and mostly antagonistic. That happens all the time with female characters.
Father Ulfrid, the male POV character, was one of the most layered characters in the novel, and even sympathetic at times, despite being set against the beguines.
They left their homes and their country to bring the ways of beguinage to England. But the land where they settle is ruled by the Owl Masters, through cruelty and bloody pagan rites.
They won't flinch away from anything to curb the influence of these independent women.
why read it?: wonderful historical novel with a mostly female cast and some supernatural elements
why not?: some of the magical elements really can't be explained as hoaxes or delusions, so if you don't want that stuff in your historical novels, I'd suggest you stay clear of this one.
Also, please avoid if you're going to complain that all positive roles were given to women. Avoid this book, avoid this blog, avoid existing in my general direction.
I admit I only bought The Owl Killers because the cover was pretty and it was disgustingly cheap; I thought it was going to be some shitty Dan Brown-esque pseudo-historical thriller.
I couldn't have been more wrong, I adored it.
First off, I had only heard about beguines in passing, and it was interesting to learn more about them. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of anything, but the inner workings of the beguinage seemed convincing. Although of course when your study of history stopped at high school, anything internally coherent seems convincing.
The writing flowed very well, even though I read a translation. Yes, you heard that right, I found a book decently translated in Italian. Light a candle to a higher power of your choice to celebrate.
I found the mythology and supernatural aspects a tad confused at times, but I still quite liked it. After all, I didn't even expect it to be there!
The strenght of the novel were definitely the characters.
There wasn't a true protagonist, everyone in the ensemble cast got more or less the same attention. Of course, point of view characters more than others, but overall it felt very balanced.
Most of the cast is female, and wonderful different women and girls with varied backgrounds and personalities. Some of them were awful, annoying or petty, but while they might not have been good people, they were still good, complex characters. It was good to see a story so starkly dominated by women.
There were less than 10 named male characters, only about half were relevant to the story, and only one was a POV character. This has set every white dude on Goodreads complaining, but the truth is they weren't any less complex than the women. They were just few, and mostly antagonistic. That happens all the time with female characters.
Father Ulfrid, the male POV character, was one of the most layered characters in the novel, and even sympathetic at times, despite being set against the beguines.
jeo224's review against another edition
3.0
This sounded interesting. The story is told from several viewpoints. I may be suffering from reading too many books clocking in at 500 pages in too short a time, but I found myself skimming certain characters because I didn't really like them. In the end, I did like it; I just expected to like it more.
terrygirl's review against another edition
4.0
Not as immediately gripping as Company of Liars but still very readable. Really enjoy Maitland's style.