KC Warwick

This is not the first novel I read by K.C. Warwick, an like in the other two stories (novellas if I remember well), what you can immediately notice is that she is able to make the historical fiction enjoyable even for who is not usually a fan of the genre, simply because she doesn’t pushes to much on making the setting believable, and so filling the story of sometime useless details, but more concentrating on the characters and their interaction. Of course without losing the focus on being, in any case, an historical novel.

I have to admit that, strangely enough, this is the second novel I read with Kit Marlowe as main character in less than an year (the other one being The Shakespeare’s Conspiracy by Ted Bacino), and so I’m for sure still influenced by the way that other novel presented me the Elizabethan playwriter. Plus, knowing a thing or two of that period, I also know that unfortunately Kit Marlowe didn’t have a long life. So when I started reading this story, about the tailor Hugh Seaton and his lover Kit Marlowe, I’m sincere, I was waiting for the moment when the author would have put a stop to their relationship and maybe directed Hugh to another man (my cheering was for Barnaby). I admit that I was probably facing this novel in the wrong way: sure, the author is respectful of the period and the historical details, but this is, after all, a romance (yes, yes, I know, this is also a historical mystery, but you all know me, I don’t usually focus on the mystery, preferring the romance); and being this a romance, it can take some “licenses” on the real historical events. So what? Kit Marlowe died on May 30, 1593; William Shakespeare (another character in the story) started to write his plays around 1589 (several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592), this put this story happening around 1590… our heroes will have only 3 years to enjoy their romance, if this was indeed an historical fiction. But if you instead read it like an historical romance, a romancizing of history, then those dates don’t matter and you can actually think these men had an happily ever after. I want to approach this story with this attitude, because if you do the same, you will read a wonderful love story, a love story that takes in account all the odds of being in love with another man in the XVI century; not only that, also having to decide between a good and pleasant relationship with a tender and caring man like Barnaby, or loving a rake like Kit… well, we all know who are the best lovers, aren’t we? But aside from the joke, that was not an easy choice since Barnaby is really a good man, a good lover as well, and he really cares for Hugh.

The quality of the writing is, as I said, very good, especially for me: being not an English mother tongue reader, I often found difficult to read an historical novel for the trend of some writers to try to “replicate” the old language; I think it’s not necessary (aside maybe for a word or two), the reader can dive into the “history” even without that weight, exactly with K.C. Warwick’s approach, i.e. writing a believable story, with believable character, in a believable contest; if these characters are using a “modern” language (of course she is not making huge mistakes like historical inconsistencies), then that is easier for the reader, not for the author.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982826737/?tag=elimyrevandra-20… (altro)

This is probably one of the funniest fantasy I have ever read: Amber is a young man in a quest but he doesn’t remember anything if not that he has to save someone somewhere; wandering from place to place he “collects” friends who apparently don’t want to leave him: Nockin, a dwarf who Amber saved from the captivity of an evil enchanter; Marta, a very motherly bodyguard, who Amber hired to protect him, but who takes the task very literally, protecting Amber’s virtue other than his body; Starlight, prince of the elves, who Amber inadvertently bounds to him with a wish (by the way, I forgot to mention that Amber has a very strange pet, a cauldron which provides him money at necessity and grants him wishes, even if Amber doesn’t know it); Adamant, Starlight’s former lover, who actually joins Amber more to “retrieve” Starlight than to really help Amber.

This is not strictly a romance, even if Starlight indeed will manage to debauch a bit Amber and Kevin, Marta’s son, will do somersaults at the heart of Amber. The main theme of this story is to give a fun intake on all the legends about witches, fairies, demons, goblins, elves and so on and so forth; when indeed Starlight and Kevin are alone and able to do something, it’s so fast and so light that you have to read two time the sentence (yes, the sentence, not more than that) to really understand if something happened.

Due to this lightness of the romance side, this is probably a story that will appeal to a wider target; it’s for sure a very light fantasy, it reminds me those movies which parody the “real thing”, but for my taste, I prefer this light version to the full immersion.

It’s true that our heroes will face various adventures, and some of them should be dangerous, but never once the author pushes on that button and in the end, it was always more a fairy tale of the sweet and innocent nature than the dark and heavy story. Plenty of laughs and clever characters are the main ingredients of this fantasy melting pot.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZK55T8/?tag=elimyrevandra-20… (altro)

Justin, a commander of a garrison near the Wall in norther Britain meets a man of legend: Falan is a shape-changer, an healer who can shapeshifter in a grey wolf. Justin is not so startled to meet the man, cause he is born in Britain and his mother has raised him with the old tales. Both Justin and Falan prefer men upon women, and so it's pretty clear and simple that they can share something together, without too much problem: they start a relationship, both maintaining their life, but finding a point amid the path to connect.

But Justin, even if living far from the politics, is a man of Rome, and when Rome calls he has to respond. But if the call can put in danger Falan and his people, what Justin will do?

Taming the Mountain Mist is a smooth tale, you have a feeling of peace reading it. It's true, there is a clash between two world, but Justin seems to be a man that can conciliate these two worlds. I'd like to read a bit more on this story, less then 40 pages, cause, even if it's a paranormal tale, it's also an historical one, and I have always liked the Roman tales setting in Britain (beautiful one, Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf).… (altro)