Enriching History
Aug. 25th, 2012 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtvesselFeb 2012
The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford - Gollancz, 2008
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A recurring annoyance to readers with a working knowledge of European history is the relative thinness of the worlds dreamt up by fantasy writers, particularly those of an American persuasion. Typically their detailed history only goes back a couple of centuries or so and the resulting civilisations and the characters that inhabit them often feel sketchy as a result. This is not surprising because inventing a history as quirky, contingent and complex as the real thing is incredibly difficult (I should know - I’ve tried).
There is an alternative solution, however. Simply take real-world history and add magic and monsters. You get all the richness of reality and still get to play in the fantasy wonderland. It has to be done carefully, however, with due thought given to the consequences of the changes you have made. John M. Ford has done this outstandingly well in The Dragon Waiting and the result is one of the most densely textured fantasies I have ever read. It has to be said, though, that he may have overdone it a bit.
For a start, there are four main characters. We meet three of them - the Welsh wizard Hywel, the noble's son Dimitrios and the Florentine doctor Cynthia Ricci - in successive chapters that dot around Europe and introduce the background (powerful Byzantine empire, Duke of Sforza is a vampire, Christians are a small sect in a largely pagan world). The final protagonist, arms expert Gregory von Bayern, appears as part of an odd little stand-alone murder mystery set in an inn on the Swiss border that brings the characters together and ultimately sends them to Britain for the main meat of the book, which is a tale of subterfuge, politics and dark magic in and around the court of Edward IV and his brother, Richard Duke of York.
It's all extremely enjoyable, but, as the above synopsis indicates, somewhat scattershot in its approach. Each chapter is constructed as a mini-episode of its own which means that the book feels more a like a short story collection than a coherent novel. The characters don't develop much and the addition of vampires to an already rich mix of magic and history is unnecessary. The alternative explanations for historical events are, however, darkly amusing, and the more about the period you know, the more entertaining it gets. In a genre rife with thin historical gruel, this is a rich broth to savour.
The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford - Gollancz, 2008
* * * *
A recurring annoyance to readers with a working knowledge of European history is the relative thinness of the worlds dreamt up by fantasy writers, particularly those of an American persuasion. Typically their detailed history only goes back a couple of centuries or so and the resulting civilisations and the characters that inhabit them often feel sketchy as a result. This is not surprising because inventing a history as quirky, contingent and complex as the real thing is incredibly difficult (I should know - I’ve tried).
There is an alternative solution, however. Simply take real-world history and add magic and monsters. You get all the richness of reality and still get to play in the fantasy wonderland. It has to be done carefully, however, with due thought given to the consequences of the changes you have made. John M. Ford has done this outstandingly well in The Dragon Waiting and the result is one of the most densely textured fantasies I have ever read. It has to be said, though, that he may have overdone it a bit.
For a start, there are four main characters. We meet three of them - the Welsh wizard Hywel, the noble's son Dimitrios and the Florentine doctor Cynthia Ricci - in successive chapters that dot around Europe and introduce the background (powerful Byzantine empire, Duke of Sforza is a vampire, Christians are a small sect in a largely pagan world). The final protagonist, arms expert Gregory von Bayern, appears as part of an odd little stand-alone murder mystery set in an inn on the Swiss border that brings the characters together and ultimately sends them to Britain for the main meat of the book, which is a tale of subterfuge, politics and dark magic in and around the court of Edward IV and his brother, Richard Duke of York.
It's all extremely enjoyable, but, as the above synopsis indicates, somewhat scattershot in its approach. Each chapter is constructed as a mini-episode of its own which means that the book feels more a like a short story collection than a coherent novel. The characters don't develop much and the addition of vampires to an already rich mix of magic and history is unnecessary. The alternative explanations for historical events are, however, darkly amusing, and the more about the period you know, the more entertaining it gets. In a genre rife with thin historical gruel, this is a rich broth to savour.