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A review by liinukka
The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland
3.0
From my review on ampersand.
I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting. I noticed when I was marking this as 'read' that I'd tagged this book as fantasy for some reason. Well, it's not. There's some elements of the supernatural as perceived by the characters, but that's probably pretty standard stuff for medieval times.
And actually, that's probably the most frustrating part about this novel: the staggering ignorance of the villagers. They're fearful of everything, and without modern intelligence and rational thinking, things quickly dissolve into a hysteria. They'll do anything, including because they're so desperate. The landscape of this crappy village is so desolate, grim, and joyless, you wonder how they survive at all. They're shafted by everyone: the landlord, the church, the "owl masters." Everyone wants a pound of flesh from them but they get NOTHING in return. What a bunch of frauds!
It's just annoying to read about this much misery and helpless people being bullied by a bunch of entitled man-children. The church makes me wonder how in the world they've managed to survive to this day, because they're like a cult. Pay your tithes or go to hell. The Owl Masters are a laughable crew of frat boys gone amok, terrorists in cosplay who wanna feel godly and important. The landlord's family consists of horrible bastards, one of whom you find out. I'm pretty sure every man in this book is a lecherous coward, rapist, murderer, or all of the above. What a terrible time to live in.
The women are definitely the most interesting part of the story. Progressive thinkers and very sympathetic, for the most part. I enjoyed reading about the beguine system and how they interacted with the church establishment and the pagans.
What I really wish was for the men to be equally interesting, instead of being these infuriating bullies and psychopaths. I also wish that the pagans were described with more detail and in three dimensions. As it stands, I found them to be pathetic boys running around in masks terrorizing innocent folks. I'm pretty sure that's not how the native religions of the time were like.
But in all, it was a quick read, and I did enjoy some parts of it.
I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting. I noticed when I was marking this as 'read' that I'd tagged this book as fantasy for some reason. Well, it's not. There's some elements of the supernatural as perceived by the characters, but that's probably pretty standard stuff for medieval times.
And actually, that's probably the most frustrating part about this novel: the staggering ignorance of the villagers. They're fearful of everything, and without modern intelligence and rational thinking, things quickly dissolve into a hysteria. They'll do anything, including
Spoiler
torturing and murdering a little girlIt's just annoying to read about this much misery and helpless people being bullied by a bunch of entitled man-children. The church makes me wonder how in the world they've managed to survive to this day, because they're like a cult. Pay your tithes or go to hell. The Owl Masters are a laughable crew of frat boys gone amok, terrorists in cosplay who wanna feel godly and important. The landlord's family consists of horrible bastards, one of whom you find out
Spoiler
raped his own daughterThe women are definitely the most interesting part of the story. Progressive thinkers and very sympathetic, for the most part. I enjoyed reading about the beguine system and how they interacted with the church establishment and the pagans.
What I really wish was for the men to be equally interesting, instead of being these infuriating bullies and psychopaths. I also wish that the pagans were described with more detail and in three dimensions. As it stands, I found them to be pathetic boys running around in masks terrorizing innocent folks. I'm pretty sure that's not how the native religions of the time were like.
But in all, it was a quick read, and I did enjoy some parts of it.