tamara_joy's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, and Alcohol
rat_girly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Infertility
Minor: Vomit
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Animal death, and Mental illness
Minor: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Rape, and War
bluedilly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Suicide, Infertility, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content, War, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, and Rape
chalkletters's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Nicola Griffith’s prose in Spear feels magical; every sentence is gorgeously written and yet completely clear. It’s never difficult to understand what’s happening or what characters’ motivations are. The few illustrations scattered throughout the novel are also lovely and otherworldly, just right for the kind of story being told. Peretur’s magic is never really explained, but her ability to sense particulars about things she touches or smells is expressed very lyrically.
It was fun to see the Welsh influence on the naming, as well as trying to puzzle out which characters mapped to which Arthurian counterparts. Nicola Griffith’s (excellent) author’s note highlighted the importance of showing characters from multiple class and national backgrounds, which played a particularly important role in Peretur coming from more humble origins.
Spear stands out from other novellas in being particularly well-paced. All the loose threads are neatly wrapped up, but Nicola Griffith gives that part of the story just as much time as the build-up, which makes it much more satisfying than a rushed job.
For me, Spear worked on every level, and I’ll definitely look out for more of Nicola Griffith’s work.
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, and Blood
Minor: Animal death
bluejayreads's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
shannnne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Blood, and Death
Minor: Infertility, Animal death, and Sexual content
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
The author's notes and acknowledgment in the back are fantastic. I love how they said that queer folks and disabled folks have always been a part of Britain's history. BIPOC have been an immense influence and part of British culture and history for hundreds and hundreds of years. The homogenous view that many historical fiction and nonfiction titles have taken is inaccurate and denies the existence of diverse people everywhere in everytime. This resonates so much with my own interests and views of British history.
The plot is familiar yet exciting in its newness. This breathes new life into medieval stories. I've read <i>Sword, Stone, Table: Old Legends, New Voices</i> ed. by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington which this was supposed to be a part of until it grew too large to include and I much prefer this longer form story. The collection had some great stories set during the time of Arthurian legends but had quite a few set in Arthur's far future which I didn't prefer. This feels authentic to the era yet has modern sensibilities (or perhaps we need to be more receptive to the idea of queer normalcy in history).
This might not be for everyone, but if you like Arthurian legends and British history, this is a faithful and passionate queer retelling of it.
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
robin_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Spoiler
it’s a refreshing to have Arthur, Lance and Guinevere as a thruple and not have Arthur’s go mad from being betrayed by Gwen and Lance.Graphic: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death of parent
bitterseason's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infertility, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Child death