Felicity PulmanBesprekingen

Morgan le Fay tells her story, in her own words and spinning her own world for us to see. Pretty well done.

See the complete review posted on Book Frivolity. Check out other Fantasy and Historical Fiction ruminations there as well! Medieval Britain is one of my favourite times and places in history to read about. Not the nobles or the royalty, but the villages and their inhabitants. I have a deep fondness for the wortwyf, who used herblore as a basis for healing the sick and tending to the people when modern medicine was in it's infancy; still snake oils and guess work. And this book is like a gold mine! I almost went and frolicked in my medicinal garden from the sheer pleasure all of the references to herb lore this book has. There is actually a warning at the front of the book not to try these at home, which amused me!

Blood Oath was an extraordinarily quick read for me. Start to end in one sitting and it went by as quick as a flash. There is such a blinding sense of urgency, one cacophony after the other; sorrow, fear, death, rabble mob of townspeople. It was impossible to put down. I was constantly reminded of how cosy my life is, I felt a bit guilty for being warm, safe.. and bathed! You can almost smell this novel from afar due to descriptiveness of the malodorous town and it's inhabitants.

Janna is the quintessential headstrong heroine. Extremely strong willed and fiery, her obstinate ways get her into trouble as her quickness to judge alienates the people trying to help her. Yet, the passion she feels toward her mysterious past and the romantic notions of what her future might hold, gives her the extra dimension needed to make her relatable. The regret she feels for her misdirected accusations, and that real sense of weariness over the events also makes her feel wholly human.

This was also a good little murder mystery. As Janna searches for her mother's killer, she examines the evidence, questions of the witnesses and the systematically discounts (and recounts!) suspects. Almost a medieval police procedural (without police)! I enjoyed her skewed deductions and frustrated conclusions.

I think my main gripe, was that the secondary characters were pretty paper thin. There were glimpses here and there of insight, but due to the frantic rate of events, there wasn't enough time for them to be fleshed out enough for them to come to life. Slowing down slightly might have allowed for fuller development, and not really taken away anything from that feeling of urgency used to it drive the plot.

The small romantic sideline was hindered by that lack of characterisation. I kept asking why? He wasn't given enough real flesh to make the titbit feel realistic. I hope it is explored with more depth in future novels and he is given more groundwork if it is.

In all Blood Oath was an enjoyable, faced paced medieval mystery that hit a majority of the right spots for me. I am looking forward to the rest of the series (I have Stolen Child in my hot little fingers right here! )! Janna's future looks like it's going to be one hell of an adventure!

(was this released once before in Australia quite a few years ago under a different name? I wanted to read it, but couldn't afford it at the time, so I read the first chapters huddled in between bookshelves in bookstore.. something to do with rosemary? It certainly rings a bell at any rate..)

See the complete review posted on Book Frivolity. Check out other Fantasy and Historical Fiction ruminations there as well! POV's: Singular
Narrative: Third person, subjective, limited.

This series really is delightful so far! The word 'flurry' comes to mind. Or, torrential downpour on occasions. Pulman stacks quite a lot in 268 pages, but it works nicely in this sort of limited third person narrative mystery. There isn't a lot of of peripheral noise to get backlogged in, so every thing you do get to be privy to seems to garner greater importance and can be told without unnecessary wordage. It looks like each instalment is going to be set in a different locale visited by Janna, which seems to figure in quite nicely with the short mystery format.

Generally, my feelings for Stolen Child don't differ much from Blood Oath. The storyline is different as Janna has to struggle through as a 'youth', in a homestead she's never been to before. With a companion she doesn't trust (Not that she trusts anybody really!) and surrounded by people she doesn't know, she is forced to pull her fiery ways in. That is until the past she's running from is brought into full focus and with it the mystery of the Stolen Child..

Janna had matured her sleuthing ways in this instalment. She doesn't fire at every suspect caught in her cross-hairs, and she takes the time to consider how each action will reflect on her and the people around her. Even if she still does land in hot water quite a bit! It's great to see that development take place, and I think that it will continue throughout the series. Well I hope it does!

The herblore is still there, that urgent inner dialogue of continuous questions still runs rampant and the history of Britain (the Norman invasion especially) still plays a large part in the whys and wherefores. The heavy foreboding of religious issues was tucked away mostly, which made it slightly less weighty, but it doesn't hamper the over all feel.

The romance is still a bit of a sticking point, but at this stage, I am not even sure if either of the 'interests' have that big a role to play in the upcoming plot line. Time shall tell! I do have Unholy Murder in my reading list, so we shall see!

It really was the perfect rainy autumn Sunday read; not to heavy, not to light, it was just right.. (yes, I did just quote a breakfast cereal ad!).

Hard copy worthy? Well, there isn't one. But! I did discover that this series was published before! I plugged around and found that Blood Oath was Rosemary for Remembrance and Stolen Child was Rue for Repentance! I actually like the old titles better, but such is life! Anyway, if I can still get them, I'll add it them my basket!

When Janna's mother dies, she is left to unravel the mystery of her death. Overall, I thought this book was really hard to get into. Janna comes across as a bumbling child - "you did it, no you didn't, he did it, no he did it" -- the constant finger pointing was very off-putting. I also thought Janna and Eadgyth were a bit hard to like. Overall, not a book for me.

I really enjoyed this Australian historical fiction novel set in Medieval England. The main character, Janna, is strong and uses her intelligence to get herself out of difficulties when it seems that everyone around her is against her. The plot and the various sub-plots are well woven together and teens will want to read the sequels to follow Janna's further adventures.

another one for the course

Opening Sentence: '…The great gate clanged shut, its metal bars vibrating with the impact...'

The third book in the series, LILIES FOR LOVE continues to follow young Janna on her search for her origins after the murder of her mother.

With her life still under threat from lord Robert, Janna seeks refuge with the nuns in Wiltune Abbey. Janna quickly makes friends with another lay sister, Agnes, who is badly scarred from a burning accident as a child. With her knowledge of herbs, Janna is assigned to work in the infirmary where she expands on the skills she has already learnt from her mother, and helps Sister Anne, the infirmarian, in caring for the sick and injured.

But Janna's main mission is to learn to read, so that she can read the letter from her father and continue her search for him. She also wants to seek justice for her mother, who was murdered by the lord Robert..

Once again Janna solve more mysteries, such as the disappearance of some pages from a precious manuscript, and who stabbed Hugh and murdered Emma's brother.

The story is set against the backdrop of civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda over the mediaeval English throne.

A time-travel novel looking at family history, ghosts and Australia’s less glamorous past. Froggy ( so called because of the skin webbing between his toes) dreams he is drowning. His dreams lead him to Tad – the ghost of his relative who hid the family “treasure” to stop it from being lost in the smallpox epidemic of 1881. As Tad and his family arrive in Sydney from England, they are sent to the Quarantine station on the harbour where they endure horrific conditions and Tad’s stepmother and his father dies. Froggy must help Tad unravel the mystery that surrounds the family history and lay his ghost to rest. Highly entertaining mystery /historical novel to keep you guessing to the very end.
p.20 –24 Tad’s experiences in hospital.Up to “anything”.

Set in the 1140s during the wars between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, the novel tells the story of Janna's search for her father. She joins a band of pilgrims passing through Wiltune where she has lived for a year in the convent. Janna wants to go to Ambresberie where her mother was once the infirmarian, known as Sister Emanuelle. The pilgrims, a disparate bunch, have been to the shrine of St. James and are now on their way home. A little way out of Wiltune Janna discovers a man's body carrying a letter from the Bishop of Winchester. She is sworn to secrecy about the letter by Bernard the leader of the pilgrims who is himself killed. Janna is torn between her secret knowledge of the letter, her own support for the Empress, and her desire to learn more about her father.

I don't usually review adolescent literature, so reading WILLOWS FOR WEEPING made an interesting change to my normal fare. The setting is an much written about period in English history, one also used by Ellis Peters in her Cadfael series. The portrayal of life in this period felt very authentic as did the historical detail. Just after their discovery of the first body Bernard, the leader of the pilgrim party, tells Janna to "trust no-one". It's not advice she always manages to keep and there's a good sense of the peril she is in. She really doesn't know who to trust.

WILLOWS FOR WEEPING is catalogued as "for secondary school age" and I think that is right too. There are some enthusiastic comments on the back cover for the earlier titles by YARA ONLINE reviewers aged 12-15.

If you are new to the Janna series, then I would seriously suggest that you look out for the first 3 in the series and try to read them in order, because I did feel that there was some back-story I was missing that would add to my understanding of what had already happened to Janna.
The books to find:
ROSEMARY FOR REMEMBRANCE
RUE FOR REPENTANCE
LILIES FOR LOVE.
According to Felicity's blog, a 5th in the series called SAGE FOR SANCTUARY will be published in early 2009.

Felicity Pulman is an Australian author who has written a number of books for children and teenagers. Her website at http://www.felicitypulman.com.au/ contains comprehensive details of all of her books, reviews, writing tips, as well as notes and class activities for teachers. Random House Reading Guides contains more information about the themes of the Janna series and activities for teachers. And then finally there is Felicity's blog.½