Customer Reviews

Freedom And Necessity

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I note that most of the reviewers who gave this low ratings begin with "Epistolary novels are boring" or "I don't like Victorian settings". So look: this is a story told through letters and journal entries and it is set in the mid-1800s. Got that? If you can't stand either of those, this may not be the book for you. It also delves into philosophy (hence the title) and the politics of the time, and by the way it contains the best love letter *ever* and the best romance story since Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night. There are a few loose ends that could have been better tied up, and I really wish Bull and Brust had done a better job with the alternate universe subplot; as another reviewer has pointed out, the Golden Bough-type myths are hinted at but it is never clear whether there's anything to them in the world of the story, or whether Kitty's experiments are anything more than hallucinations. The story is not weakened if the magic some characters believe in is mythical, but a bit more exposition would be nice. Otherwise, just brilliant.

Okay, I stole that line from "A Common Reader", but it seems appropriate!

Espistlatory novels, works written in the form of a series of letters and diary entries, are rather old-fashioned. They were very popular back in Victorian times but rather less so nowadays. To many they seem contrived. But consider this: this is a novel set in the Victorian Age. What better way to pay homage to the time then to attempt to copy the style and the verbage of that time? This is one of the many glories, great and small, of this novel and I raise my glass to Brust and Bull for it.

The cast of the novel is fairly large by modern standards but much curtailed for Dickens and his ilk; there are essentially four main characters (James Cobham, a ex-Chartist part-time anarchist, Kitty Holbourn, devoutee of the arcane, Richard Cobham, James' cousin and erstwhile lover of Kitty, and Susan Voight, 'an houri in practical shoes and sensible stays'). The plot revolves around several points, but primarily it is a mystery -- James falls from a boat, is assumed drowned, and yet finds himself very much alive and working in an inn as a stablehand several months after the event.

Working in and out from here are possible faery sightings, would-be Satanists, or at least individuals bent on human sacrifice, a possible government conspiracy, a traitor in the Chartist movement that may have led to the unravelling of the abortive revolutions of 1848, and even a wonderfully drawn appearance by Friedrich Engels. The characterizations are sharp, the descriptions clear, the manners superb; I never heard a false note in the cadences of voice and manner through the book, no sense of the 20th century imposing itself on the 19th. I ended up truly caring what happened to the characters and wondering what had happened to force them into their current horrible predicaments.

I can recommend this novel as a great fun read, a wild ride, and not a half-bad intro into certain aspect of the mid-19th century, at least as far as England is concerned.

This is one of the best books I've read in quite some time, and I highly recommend it - but perhaps not to everyone. It definitly requires patience to read a epistolary novel, particularly one written in the style of the 19th century. It also requires a certain amount of knowledge of mid-19th century European history and philosophy. The philosophical element in particular could be a hurdle for some. There are references to Hegel throughout the book, and without at least some rudimentary knowledge of Hegel these would make little sense to most readers. The many negative reviews this book has received suggest that these are problems for some readers.

If you can get past these potential problems, however, you will find a brilliant piece of literature. The plot is very complex, the characters are all interesting, and the style is fascinating. The epistolary style forces the reader to read between the lines much more than in a normal narritive, since you have to realize that there are some things that the writer may not be saying, or may be saying that are not completely honest. Brust and Bull pull this off extremely well, and are further able to create distinct writing styles for each of the four main characters.

I would also mention that one should not expect the usual from Brust and Bull. This is a very different book from their other works, especially in style. Also, note that this is NOT a fantasy novel.

I was very disappointed with this book; I bought it because I love Emma Bull's BoneDance, which does not resemble this one at all.
I don't like Victorian books, or pseudo-Victorian anythings, anyway, and wading through the rhetoric and the letters in this was not worth the time. Unlike another customer review, I did manage to finish it, mainly because I was sick this weekend and because I got stubborn; I wanted to know what happened. But the ending was hardly worth the work to finish it, and the other reviewer might not want to bother.

The plot does pick up a little about half the way through.

I consider myself a die hard Brust fan and have enjoyed Emma Bulls works as well. This book was near agony to read and I am still one third of the way from finishing it (I bought it about a year ago). The plot is slow because of the the need for the characters to write each other. Insights that are given into the plot were not stunning enough to keep my attention. I got bored. This book is one I reccommend you pass by, as for EVERYTHING ELSE that Brust writes buy doubles, you will wear out the first copy.

Epistolary novels used to be far more popular way-back-when people communicated by letters more often. It's an interesting device, but nearly impossible to pull off . Freedom and Necessity succeeds as well as it can, which is by no means meant as faint praise.
The advantages to a novel composed of letters, journal entries and newspaper clippings (and the occasional quotation from German philosophy) is that you get a half-a-dozen distinct voices telling the same tale, illuminating different aspects and hiding others to allow suspense to play out. The four main characters, Kitty, Richard, Susan and James, are all articulate and intelligent, and vastly different, and sufficiently intimate with each other to provide interesting insights into each other. (While collaborations occasionally suffer from differences in voice and style, in this case, it must have been a help.) That it also manages to make mid-19th century politics and German philosophy interesting is just a bonus.

Where it fails is in the half-realized "fantasy" aspect. Somehow, in the middle of fighting for the freedom of the working class and chasing murderers and having dinner with Fredrick Engels, the old tale of the King Stag fighting the young stag seems irrelevant. If the family's interest/practice of magic and the Old Ways had been more developed than Kitty taking mind-altering drugs to "see beyond the doorway" it would have worked better. As it was, it felt like something that was poorly integrated into the plot because the publishers were suspicious of a historical novel from two fantasy writers that did not involve fantasy.
The other problem is common to all epistolary novels; the reality that you are one step removed from the action at all times. Even the great, melodramatic Les Liasons Dangerous couldn't solve that problem; despite the letter dripping with sympathy and imagined gore, Valmont's death is an anti-climax. The same is true here, that the characters already know what the end of the events they are recounting are when they begin their letter or journal entry, so much of the suspense is lost. Even abusing Susan and her "prodigious memory" (a devise to have Susan narrate many scenes in a manner indistinguishable from regular ordinary first person point of view) cannot solve that basic problem.
But even with all that, the book is well worth reading. The complex relationships around the four main characters make their letters to and about each other fascinating to read, even if the plot mostly exists to have hoops to jump through. If you are looking for a fantasy novel... try Emma Bull's War for the Oaks or Andre Norton's and Rosemary Edghill's Carolus Rex series (two books so far; The Shadow of Albion and Leopard in Exile).

This is one of my favorite books. It is truly a book of letters, between the two main female characters, and detailing a distinctly un-traditional set of adventures that even find Frederich Engels as a minor character! This is also someitmes a very touching and erotic love story between two very complex, adult characters. One other reivew that I read said that it is unfortunate that the story ends with the heroine finding happiness in moterhhood and retreat into a secluded life. I think I would concur that this seems an unusual ending for Susan, who is one of the strongest and most unconventional female characters I had enjoyed in quite a while.

I highly recommend this!

It's rare to come across a book that drives me to buy and send it to friends. Usually I will just recommend a book - but this one I happily have sent on at my own expense. I'm very cheap.

A well-written X-Files meets Sherlock Holmes meets Lovecraft, meets Emma Bull and Steven Brust. Throw in the beginnings of communism and the 19th Century British Labor movement, elite British families, and a hearty dose of feminism, and you've got magic. (really - it works far better than you'd imagine!)

Emma Bull is one of the great unsung writers of her generation. I stumbled across her 'War for the Oaks' in a used book store years ago, and was blown away. I then did the same with 'Falcon' and was again surprised. Unfortunately, she has been sucked into 'genre' writing and storylines that just plain don't differentiate her. But she writes so very well!

I've never read anything by Steven Brust before, and I would guess that I'm one of the few out there that read this for Ms. Bull's reputation. But I'm going to be picking up his work soon.

Outstanding just for the style. A VERY SMART BOOK!

The idea of reading an epistolary novel is daunting enough, let alone writing one, but the authors have captured the spirit of the form with style in this book.

Set in Victorian England at the close of 1849, the story begins with a letter from James Cobham to his cousin Richard, two months after James' presumed death by drowning. James has no recollection of what has transpired in the intervening two months, but his letters eventually reveal a need for secrecy and subterfuge. Meanwhile, Kitty, James' stepsister and Richard's lover, is in correspondence with another, more distant cousin, Susan Voight, who is determined to track down the events leading up to James' drowning. When she finds him very much alive, she enlists herself in his cause.

Using letters and journal from James, Kitty, Susan and Richard, as well as "articles" from the London Times, the authors create a taut and gripping plot packed with intrigue, secret societies, gun running, social movements, murder and more.

With its rich, complicated plot and complex characters, this is a book to try to savor, but don't be surprised if you can't put it down.

A good start that promises much and then very quickly proves to be dull, ponderous and pretentious. In addition, there really is very little mystery or adventure and the "fantasy" component appears to be more of an afterthought than an integral part of the book. It was as if someone wrote a fairly dull historical romance and then realized it wouldn't sell unless "mysterious ancient rites" were added.