annarella's review against another edition
5.0
I'm fascinated by historical fiction featuring strong women and I like stories set in Middle Ages.
This book was perfect for me and I loved everything.
I loved the characters, Margareth above all, the description of everyday life and the wonderful plot.
I'm so happy this is part of a trilogy because there will be more to read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Canelo and Netgalley for this ARC
This book was perfect for me and I loved everything.
I loved the characters, Margareth above all, the description of everyday life and the wonderful plot.
I'm so happy this is part of a trilogy because there will be more to read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Canelo and Netgalley for this ARC
rachel_abby_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting and enjoyable. I wasn't sure I'd get into it at first; the first bit seemed a little juvenile in tone, but it definitely improved. What a ghastly time period the 13th century could be for women!
amypeasewrites's review against another edition
3.0
Hmmm. This book was just ok except for the fact that I'm sitting here at 9 pm wishing the library was still open so I could get the next book in the series. That must say something. There's a whole lot of God stuff in the book but it just seems more in keeping with the highly religious culture at the time than any sort of modern-day religious message.
rachelreadwhat's review against another edition
5.0
This is how historical fiction should be written.
tucker4's review against another edition
3.0
**3.5**
Started off potentially strong and then it became uneven for me. And then the ending picked up and finished with a cliffhanger.
The story starts when Margaret is in her early twenties and married to her second husband. She desires to write her memoirs so she hires the reluctant Brother Gregory. After that the story jumps between the "present day" and the story of Margaret's life, beginning when she is about 11.
Until the very end, I had very little interest in the "present day" storyline as not much happened, but we are given glimpses of the kind of person Brother Gregory is and what Margaret's life is like and the type of person she has become.
I found Brother Gregory somewhat infuriating due to his extreme views about women and their incapacity for independent thought (and this is not an exaggeration. I know that women were considered inferior in the middle ages, but Gregory's stance still feels extreme. And highly offensive to a modern woman obviously). I know his character was supposed to be more funny than aggravating (i.e. his constant quest for Humility, despite his constantly arrogant thoughts and thick-headedness), but despite the intended irony, I still wanted to slap his face. Obviously this was all set up so we could witness his change due to Margaret's influence. But that literally didn't come about until like the last 10 pages and, according to the synopsis, seems to manifest itself more in the sequel.
The story of Margaret's life was the more interesting part to me, but even then the story had its peaks and valleys and there were parts that were rather slow moving in between the interesting ones.
Usually when I read medieval fiction I have no problem imagining the scene in my head as I read, but despite the author's extensive use of descriptive language, I found that I had a hard time creating that picture in my head during this book. And I'm not quite sure why.
I highly caution anyone that picks up this book because they think its a romance. Its historical fiction. It sounds like the sequel may be more of a romance, but this one certainly was not. I only bring this up because I've seen it described as a romance in certain places and people that pick this up for those reasons will be disappointed. I went into it thinking it was more historical fiction and I liked it, just did not love it.
Started off potentially strong and then it became uneven for me. And then the ending picked up and finished with a cliffhanger.
The story starts when Margaret is in her early twenties and married to her second husband. She desires to write her memoirs so she hires the reluctant Brother Gregory. After that the story jumps between the "present day" and the story of Margaret's life, beginning when she is about 11.
Until the very end, I had very little interest in the "present day" storyline as not much happened, but we are given glimpses of the kind of person Brother Gregory is and what Margaret's life is like and the type of person she has become.
I found Brother Gregory somewhat infuriating due to his extreme views about women and their incapacity for independent thought (and this is not an exaggeration. I know that women were considered inferior in the middle ages, but Gregory's stance still feels extreme. And highly offensive to a modern woman obviously). I know his character was supposed to be more funny than aggravating (i.e. his constant quest for Humility, despite his constantly arrogant thoughts and thick-headedness), but despite the intended irony, I still wanted to slap his face. Obviously this was all set up so we could witness his change due to Margaret's influence. But that literally didn't come about until like the last 10 pages and, according to the synopsis, seems to manifest itself more in the sequel.
The story of Margaret's life was the more interesting part to me, but even then the story had its peaks and valleys and there were parts that were rather slow moving in between the interesting ones.
Usually when I read medieval fiction I have no problem imagining the scene in my head as I read, but despite the author's extensive use of descriptive language, I found that I had a hard time creating that picture in my head during this book. And I'm not quite sure why.
I highly caution anyone that picks up this book because they think its a romance. Its historical fiction. It sounds like the sequel may be more of a romance, but this one certainly was not. I only bring this up because I've seen it described as a romance in certain places and people that pick this up for those reasons will be disappointed. I went into it thinking it was more historical fiction and I liked it, just did not love it.
chelsea_not_chels's review against another edition
4.0
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
I am a bad book club member. I was so busy waiting to catch up on Ivan Ilych that I completely forgot I was supposed to read A Vision of Light for the beginning of March. Oops. And Vision, while not a doorstop, also isn't short, and it's not the fly-through-it type of book, either.
Set during the middle ages, the story follows Margaret of Ashbury, a young woman who hears a Voice telling her to write a book about her experiences. She recruits Brother Gregory, a rather pretentious wanna-be monk, to do the actual writing for her as she is illiterate. As Margaret's story unfurls through her telling to Brother Gregory, their relationship slowly evolves from contentious almost-enemies to something more closely resembling friendship with an air of debate about it.
This is a time period that we don't see a lot of historical fiction from, and particularly not a lot of stories featuring a female main character. Fantasy in a medieval-inspired setting is fairly common, but not straight-up medieval fiction.
Overall, I liked this story. It's somewhat slow and doesn't always seem to have a point. It gets off to a particularly slow beginning, with Margaret's childhood in the village of Ashbury. Some period remain more intriguing than others--while her time at the castle is good, her ramblings with the performers can get to be a little long-winded, for example.
Brother Gregory is an interesting character. He wants to be a monk, despite coming from a noble house and having a fighting background. He pursues enlightenment and spends his time reveling in qualities he doesn't actually possess, like humility. Initially, it comes across as him being extremely pretentious and unlikable, particularly as he's very opposed to Margaret writing a book and only takes the job on because he's literally starving from poverty. However, as the book goes on, we can see him exactly as Margaret does: as well-intentioned but slightly blind to his own character, and as a character of comedy rather than opposition or frustration. It's this shifting of view that allows Gregory to come to be a friend and sparring partner rather than an outright antagonist. Additionally, while Gregory can be stubborn and full of himself, he also starts to accede points to Margaret as the story progresses, even if he doesn't always acknowledge them aloud, and this allowance of understanding helps him develop as a sympathetic character as well.
There are a bevy of personable (and not so personable) supporting characters in this book. Margaret's eventual mentor is one, her first husband another. Most of them are Margaret's "supporters," who believe in her unusual abilities and help her through hard times, and her "opponents," who decry her as a witch and try to have her tried and executed for various reasons.
I was initially very skeptical about this book. From the cover and the premise--woman hears the voice of God, really?--I did not think that I was going to like it. However, I found myself pleasantly surprised. While there are some problems with pacing, I found the characters well-composed and seeing them evolve was one of the charms of this book. Its unusual setting and featuring of a female main character, and a midwife no less (one of the earliest forms of women in STEM) made for a strong story, and I'm interested in seeing where the next one picks up.
3.5 stars out of 5.
I am a bad book club member. I was so busy waiting to catch up on Ivan Ilych that I completely forgot I was supposed to read A Vision of Light for the beginning of March. Oops. And Vision, while not a doorstop, also isn't short, and it's not the fly-through-it type of book, either.
Set during the middle ages, the story follows Margaret of Ashbury, a young woman who hears a Voice telling her to write a book about her experiences. She recruits Brother Gregory, a rather pretentious wanna-be monk, to do the actual writing for her as she is illiterate. As Margaret's story unfurls through her telling to Brother Gregory, their relationship slowly evolves from contentious almost-enemies to something more closely resembling friendship with an air of debate about it.
This is a time period that we don't see a lot of historical fiction from, and particularly not a lot of stories featuring a female main character. Fantasy in a medieval-inspired setting is fairly common, but not straight-up medieval fiction.
Overall, I liked this story. It's somewhat slow and doesn't always seem to have a point. It gets off to a particularly slow beginning, with Margaret's childhood in the village of Ashbury. Some period remain more intriguing than others--while her time at the castle is good, her ramblings with the performers can get to be a little long-winded, for example.
Brother Gregory is an interesting character. He wants to be a monk, despite coming from a noble house and having a fighting background. He pursues enlightenment and spends his time reveling in qualities he doesn't actually possess, like humility. Initially, it comes across as him being extremely pretentious and unlikable, particularly as he's very opposed to Margaret writing a book and only takes the job on because he's literally starving from poverty. However, as the book goes on, we can see him exactly as Margaret does: as well-intentioned but slightly blind to his own character, and as a character of comedy rather than opposition or frustration. It's this shifting of view that allows Gregory to come to be a friend and sparring partner rather than an outright antagonist. Additionally, while Gregory can be stubborn and full of himself, he also starts to accede points to Margaret as the story progresses, even if he doesn't always acknowledge them aloud, and this allowance of understanding helps him develop as a sympathetic character as well.
There are a bevy of personable (and not so personable) supporting characters in this book. Margaret's eventual mentor is one, her first husband another. Most of them are Margaret's "supporters," who believe in her unusual abilities and help her through hard times, and her "opponents," who decry her as a witch and try to have her tried and executed for various reasons.
I was initially very skeptical about this book. From the cover and the premise--woman hears the voice of God, really?--I did not think that I was going to like it. However, I found myself pleasantly surprised. While there are some problems with pacing, I found the characters well-composed and seeing them evolve was one of the charms of this book. Its unusual setting and featuring of a female main character, and a midwife no less (one of the earliest forms of women in STEM) made for a strong story, and I'm interested in seeing where the next one picks up.
3.5 stars out of 5.
smedette's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Delightful!
pnwlisa's review
adventurous
lighthearted
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? No
3.75
fayes64books's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
kiwi_fruit's review
2.0
This novel is set in England in the middle of the 14th century. It all starts when Margaret, a wealthy but illiterate merchant wife, struggles to find someone willing to write her memoirs. She meets Brother Gregory, a copyist down on his luck, who reluctantly accepts the post. Like most of his colleagues, Gregory is resistant to the idea of writing about the life of a commoner (and a woman besides) because only classics, religious texts or saints biographies are worthy of a scholar’s time and effort.
The book started strong with the author presenting Margaret and describing the medieval setting really well. Misogyny by Brother Gregory was annoying at first but it is typical of the times, his religious views and exchanges with Margaret were believable. The tale of Margaret’s life was interesting and varied, although some of her stories were predicable.
The tales are populated by medieval class stereotypes, with the poor but wise peasant, crafty merchants, dishonest peddlers, wealthy and wicked lord and unkind clergymen. They have a picaresque quality but were also a bit humdrum. Unfortunately, the novel for me started going downhill at the halfway mark and by the time I reached the ending I had enough.
In the book, you’ll find stories of religious fervour and superstition, mystic visions and miraculous healing, witchery and heresy trials, pestilence and alchemy, violence and plenty of death. I would have preferred less stories and more character depth and I didn’t like the conclusion at all.
Based on the many glowing reviews, once again I seem to be in the minority with my opinion, so even if this novel didn’t work for me it may work for you.
2.5 stars rounded down.
The book started strong with the author presenting Margaret and describing the medieval setting really well. Misogyny by Brother Gregory was annoying at first but it is typical of the times, his religious views and exchanges with Margaret were believable. The tale of Margaret’s life was interesting and varied, although some of her stories were predicable
Spoiler
(like the babies switched at birth)The tales are populated by medieval class stereotypes, with the poor but wise peasant, crafty merchants, dishonest peddlers, wealthy and wicked lord and unkind clergymen. They have a picaresque quality but were also a bit humdrum. Unfortunately, the novel for me started going downhill at the halfway mark and by the time I reached the ending I had enough.
In the book, you’ll find stories of religious fervour and superstition, mystic visions and miraculous healing, witchery and heresy trials, pestilence and alchemy, violence and plenty of death. I would have preferred less stories and more character depth and I didn’t like the conclusion at all.
Based on the many glowing reviews, once again I seem to be in the minority with my opinion, so even if this novel didn’t work for me it may work for you.
2.5 stars rounded down.