Si

The Sword Defiant by Gareth Hanrahan is the first in a fantasy trilogy with a difference. Instead of detailing the heroes' great quest, it takes place 20 years after the quest is over and the dark forces have been defeated. So, it charts the difficulties faced by the heroes when they're expected to manage the economics, politics and societal upheaval caused by the power vacuum and the necessity of re-establishing order in a conflict-ravaged world.

This is both amusing and fascinating - at least to begin with. And I enjoyed the book overall - though the humour of the opening sections did give way over time to a rather more depressing and dreary attitude in the main protagonist, which rather affected my reading experience. I liked his sister's narrative more, though I can't say I fully connected with the book emotionally. The ending was quite abrupt, too, and also weirdly skipped over the exciting bits, relating them afterwards in the form of a 'legend' that sprang up and was told in later years, which was a strange choice.

As this book told a complete story, and my interest definitely waned towards the end, I'm not planning to continue with the rest of the series. Though I would recommend this - especially the audiobook version as the narrator is excellent.


The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett is an early 20th century novel I'd never come across before - and turned out to be really good. It tells the story of two sisters, growing up in the Midlands in the second half of the 19th century, and how their lives diverge when one of them elopes to France with a travelling salesman. We then get several hundred pages of the one who is left behind, followed by several hundred pages of the one who goes away, before they come back together again towards the end of their lives.

I almost gave up in the first few pages, which are very dense and difficult to get through - but then it picked up considerably and turned into an involving, sharply observed, entertaining tale, though it was an effort to read in some ways because of the style of the prose and its considerable length. It also dipped a bit in the middle - the end of one sister's section and the beginning of the other's being rather dreary - but it got more interesting again in the second half.

Definitely recommended for fans of Anthony Trollope.