Blackmantle [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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** NB - this review contains some potential general spoilers.

This was my first exposure to Patricia Kennealy-Morrison & her Keltiad. Although other reviewers familiar with the series rate this as one of the poorer volumes, I must say I enjoyed it, with some considerable reservations. Briefly, I loved the Keltic atmosphere and the more mythic aspects of the work -- like C.S. Lewis, I read SF/Fantasy/exotic adventure for the sense of being admitted to a world so different from ours, the sense of otherness painted in vivid colours, and the strange power that true myth holds over us.

The autobiographical elements were obvious enough, even to someone like me who is not a Jim Morrison expert - if they weren't, the author was kind enough to underline them in the afterword and blurb for her someday-to-be-published biography & unpublished writings of Jim M! But how many authors could stand the test of a searchlight on the autobiographical aspects of their work and their use of fiction to deal with unresolved conflicts? It is, after all, common enough to constitute a major branch of traditional literary criticism. I say, if it doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book, then disregard it - unless you're writing a thesis.

That said, regardless of the author's personal conflicts that may have energized them, there were parts of the book that I didn't like and that lost my interest. The book seemed to me to fall into three main parts:

1 - Athyn growing up, going through her training, and coming to her power. This I enjoyed; a fairly typical fantasy of that sort, but well told, with good elements of the numinous and marvellous (e.g. the Sidhe). I also greatly enjoyed the Celticisms, particulary as I was familiar with many of the concepts and terms from my recent reading of other works such as Peter Tremayne's fiction & non-fiction.

There is one serious mistake, as I take it, that I cannot let pass: The author repeats several times that the Kelts practise the rule of succession solely by primogeniture. This may have come to be true of the Celts in the later, parallel era on our Earth (I am no historian), but in the time of Brendan from whom the brehonic law of these Kelts is derived, and for some centuries after, in Ireland at least, succession was by an enlightened form of elected aristocracy, and the Irish of the "dark ages" were quite bemused by most other cultures' reliance on this chancy rule that so often left the worst possible candidate in charge.

2- Athyn's war of revenge and ethnic cleansing (I do not use the term lightly); this left me mostly cold, bored and irritated. The only justification for the war to drive out the Incomers/Firvolgi seems to be that they aren't Kelts; most of their characters presented in detail are pleasant and sympathetic human beings. Worse, these few are adopted as honorary Kelts, unpleasantly reminiscent of similar special classes in racially-troubled parts of our own world, not excepting North America's own history. People died in this jihad, and were driven from their homes of many generations. This may be a realistic part of the Keltic -- & human -- temperament, but it is an unlovely side of us, and hardly to be glorified. I prefer Tremayne's 8th century Ireland, tolerant, open to immigration and change, and with more freedom and equality for the underprivileged than much of our 21st century world. I do not greatly enjoy longwinded tales of battle either, but perhaps for that very reason I should not criticize this section unduly -- there are others who enjoy this sort of thing, and they are welcome to it.

3 - the last part of the book, to my mind, rescued it from the mass of teen-growing-up and war SF/fantasies. Here is high fantasy indeed, entitling Kennealy-Morrison to take a place with the modern mythepoeics such as Zelazny and Guy Gavriel Kay (I will save her from comparison with the terribly over-invoked T*****n). That the basic material, the descent into the underworld to rescue a dead lover, is familiar, and as old as the Greeks and Egyptians, is no criticism; the essence of true myth is that it will stand up to endless retelling. Lewis once defined myth as a story that can be summarized in a few sentences and still have power to move us strangely, and I believe the last part of the book passes the test. Moreover, it is well told, and I found myself moved by it as I am by perhaps only one fantasy in a hundred.

Overall, then, I enjoyed the book for its best parts, and I look forward to reading more of this author.

I was bored with this book. Could not read the whole thing because I felt like I was reading "strange Days" all over agian. Her whole focus is Jim Morrison. Boring book.

While I'm quite fond of the Keltiad series, I have to say this is the weakest of the series. If your both a fan of Patricia Kennealy-Morrison and her late husband Jim, then yes, you might like this book, both for the inside references and what might have been.

However, if you're not a Doors fan and have no interest in their music, this book becomes a painful exercise in patience. Ultimately, one has to realize that this book is Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's attempt to exercise the ghosts of her past and is in fact her therapy. It's a shame her readers had to foot the bill though. It's a shame her husband died, but life and the wheel goes on, and Ms. Kennealy-Morrison needs to let go of her husband's ghost and live for herself again.

Besides which, this book, (along with "The Deers Cry"), has horrid, vile, "romance novel" style covers. This hurts the book worse than the writing does, because those who might be interested in Fantasy/Science Fiction tend to avoid romance books, and romance readers will get turned off by the F/SF elements.

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5.0 out of 5 stars worth the read!
I really enjoyed this book. Yes it has Patricia and Jim (Morrison) story woven in to it, but it also has hints of Eurydice and Orpheus against the world of Keltia the author has... Read more

Published on Feb 6 2002

2.0 out of 5 stars Please stop the fixation with Jim Morrison!
When I first read Patricia's book of the Keltaid, I was hooked. The Tales of Aeron were fantastic, but unfortunatley, I picked up Blackmantle. Read more

Published on Aug 2 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars A pitiful effort
Once again, the formula of red-haired woman married to a dark-haired man facing the rivalry of a white-blond woman emerges, but this time freighted with more personal baggage than... Read more

Published on Mar 2 2001 by R. Thomas

2.0 out of 5 stars Ah, sweet catharsis...
I put down this book with some mild queasiness and an uneasy feeling, similar to when I read "Strange Days. Read more

Published on Oct 23 2000 by E. A Solinas

2.0 out of 5 stars get hooked on the others of the keltiad not this
I have read all of the Keltiad produced to dae and found this one very disappointing. If you are new to Patricia's work start in one of her other books. Read more

Published on July 2 2000 by L. Welch

1.0 out of 5 stars Cure for insomnia
My introduction to Kenneally's work was the Aeron series, and I loved every word of it. I had much the same reaction to the three Arthur books, piqued by the fact that the... Read more

Published on May 30 2000

2.0 out of 5 stars Hard to read, not like her earlier work...
I feel for Kennealy-Morrison, I really do. But I must agree with other reviewers here that this book is far below the quality of her earlier work. Read more

Published on Mar 25 2000 by Laura Haggarty

1.0 out of 5 stars Boorrriiingg!
I have read MANY books in this genre, being a huge fan of high fantasy, medieval/historical fantasy and any type of fantasy basically, but this book was painful to wallow through... Read more

Published on Feb 4 2000 by Steffy

2.0 out of 5 stars Far from a triumph.
Blackmantle is in my opinion a hugely disappointing effort from Kennealy-Morrison and is symptomatic of a slide that has occurred in the quality of the series since the Copper... Read more

Published on Jan 25 2000 by Rory Murphy

1.0 out of 5 stars Get over it, Patricia!
About the only good thing I can say about this book is that hopefully, Ms. Kenneally-Morrison has achieved some closure, and can go back to a Keltia that is more than a... Read more

Published on Nov 2 1999

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