A review by wordsareweapons
Spindle and Dagger by J. Anderson Coats
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.
I went into this thinking it would lean slightly on the fairytale end but it's pretty solidly historical fiction. I liked this enough to read it all in one day. The characters were fine. Seeing as how they are ripped from history, most felt true to the source. I, however, know pretty much nothing of medieval Welsh history. There is a decent amount of action, given that we mainly follow Owain and his teulu (war band). They pillage and raid their way through Wales, mainly trying to keep the Normans out. Elen gets picked up along the way because after they burn her house and murder her family, she convinces them she speaks to Saint Elen. She does this to save her own skin, so props for the quick thinking. However there is not much more to her character outside of this. I think we are meant to sympathize with her for being trapped with a power hungry Welsh heir, but everything she does shows she wants to be there on some level. She repeatedly tries to insert herself in his family, even though they truly hate her for whispering in Owain's ear. Then when Owain makes a huge political blunder and kidnaps a royal wife and her children, Elen immediately tries to worm her way into their family. Unfortunately all of this really takes place as inner dialogue, so it is a whole lot of tell and not show. Elen just rubbed me the wrong way after awhile, especially when she starts feeling like people owe her since she hasn't actually done much of anything. She is also incredibly naive given how she lives. Outside of that most of the other characters don't really matter much. Owain is your typical war band leader, and the rest just stay in the background. There isn't much actual plot to me outside of Elen trying to save herself. I think I would have enjoyed this more if the focus had been on Owain and his father and the political insanity of trying to maintain borders and keep the English and French out.
I went into this thinking it would lean slightly on the fairytale end but it's pretty solidly historical fiction. I liked this enough to read it all in one day. The characters were fine. Seeing as how they are ripped from history, most felt true to the source. I, however, know pretty much nothing of medieval Welsh history. There is a decent amount of action, given that we mainly follow Owain and his teulu (war band). They pillage and raid their way through Wales, mainly trying to keep the Normans out. Elen gets picked up along the way because after they burn her house and murder her family, she convinces them she speaks to Saint Elen. She does this to save her own skin, so props for the quick thinking. However there is not much more to her character outside of this. I think we are meant to sympathize with her for being trapped with a power hungry Welsh heir, but everything she does shows she wants to be there on some level. She repeatedly tries to insert herself in his family, even though they truly hate her for whispering in Owain's ear. Then when Owain makes a huge political blunder and kidnaps a royal wife and her children, Elen immediately tries to worm her way into their family. Unfortunately all of this really takes place as inner dialogue, so it is a whole lot of tell and not show. Elen just rubbed me the wrong way after awhile, especially when she starts feeling like people owe her since she hasn't actually done much of anything. She is also incredibly naive given how she lives. Outside of that most of the other characters don't really matter much. Owain is your typical war band leader, and the rest just stay in the background. There isn't much actual plot to me outside of Elen trying to save herself. I think I would have enjoyed this more if the focus had been on Owain and his father and the political insanity of trying to maintain borders and keep the English and French out.