A review by wealhtheow
The Armor of Light by Melissa Scott
2.0
In this alternate history tale, Sir Philip Sidney didn't die at the Battle of Zutphen, and is instead Queen Elizabeth's champion. He is sent to Scotland to defend King James from Bothwell's witchcraft. With him comes Kit Marlowe, whose life he saved in 1593 and who has continued to spy for Walsingham. Five hundred pages later, Sidney and Marlowe defeat Bothwell using some bible verses. The writing is so repetitive, the magic so deus ex machina, that I could barely finish this.
The authors clearly know the Elizabethan period very well, but this is not a good novel. The plot is very basic, the plot beats poorly paced, and the characters almost indistinguishable. The narration switches point-of-view frequently, with no signal and to no real purpose, since everyone has the same basic mindset. The only character who stands out at all is Marlowe, mostly because he can't look at a young man without thinking about fucking him. It's tiresome. Equally unnecessary are the side plots featuring Frances Sidney and the players. The players consume a good hundred pages at least, but their point in the novel is obscure. Frances does even less. She gets word that her husband will be attacked by witches, so she creates a convoluted plot to get Queen Elizabeth to speak with her in order to get permission to ride all the way to Scotland with Raleigh in tow (no reason this historical figure should be included either). I have no idea why she felt the need to do this, since the ENTIRE REASON Sidney is in Scotland in the first place is to defend against witches' attacks. He already knows he'll be a target; Frances's hundred-odd pages of plot to warn him are completely superfluous. But then, this book in general feels like it's made entirely out of padding, like the writers really just wanted to play dolls with their favorite historical personages (the descriptions of their clothes are seemingly endless) and they inserted a bare little plot at odd intervals to maintain the illusion that this is an actual story.
The authors clearly know the Elizabethan period very well, but this is not a good novel. The plot is very basic, the plot beats poorly paced, and the characters almost indistinguishable. The narration switches point-of-view frequently, with no signal and to no real purpose, since everyone has the same basic mindset. The only character who stands out at all is Marlowe, mostly because he can't look at a young man without thinking about fucking him. It's tiresome. Equally unnecessary are the side plots featuring Frances Sidney and the players. The players consume a good hundred pages at least, but their point in the novel is obscure. Frances does even less. She gets word that her husband will be attacked by witches, so she creates a convoluted plot to get Queen Elizabeth to speak with her in order to get permission to ride all the way to Scotland with Raleigh in tow (no reason this historical figure should be included either). I have no idea why she felt the need to do this, since the ENTIRE REASON Sidney is in Scotland in the first place is to defend against witches' attacks. He already knows he'll be a target; Frances's hundred-odd pages of plot to warn him are completely superfluous. But then, this book in general feels like it's made entirely out of padding, like the writers really just wanted to play dolls with their favorite historical personages (the descriptions of their clothes are seemingly endless) and they inserted a bare little plot at odd intervals to maintain the illusion that this is an actual story.