Wealhtheow's profile

1464 ratings | 503 reviews
avg rating: 3.15

#37 top reviewers

Wealhtheow's bookshelves

read (1472)
currently-reading (3)
to-read (64)
fantasy (502)
sci-fi (290)
historical (215)

queer-characters (89)
urban-fantasy (88)
comics (78)
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paranormal_romance (62)
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battle-of-wits (50)
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ya (29)
post-apocalyptic (25)

cyberpunk (19)
didn-t_finish (9)
badporn (9)
pocmaincharacters (8)
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Wealhtheow is currently reading

	08/13 Wealhtheow gave to: Firethorn (Hardcover) by Sarah Micklem bookshelves: currently-reading, fantasy	my rating:
	recommended for: fans of gritty medieval fantasy read in August, 2008 Wealhtheow said: "I am wildly in love with this book. It is told through the eyes of Firethorn, a foundling mudchild who grows up under the kind but stern tutelage of a Dame of the Blood. Firethorn learns herblore and pride from the Dame, but after her mistress's de...more " add a comment
	07/21 Wealhtheow is currently reading: Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress (Oxford World's Classics) by Fanny Burney bookshelves: currently-reading, historical	my rating:
	read in July, 2008 Wealhtheow said: "Here are the first two lines: "Peace to the spirits of my honoured parents, respected be their remains, and immortalized their virtues! may time, while it moulders their frail relicks to dust, commit to tradition the record of their goodness; a...more " see all 1 comments
	06/25 Wealhtheow is currently reading: The Strange Death of Liberal England (Paperback) by George Dangerfield bookshelves: british-history, currently-reading	my rating:
	read in June, 2008 Wealhtheow said: "Vast increase in industrial strikes, suffragettes, "The Irish Question," and the Conservatives' attempt in the House of Lords to maintain their power. Can be read here: http://books.google.co.uk/book... ...more " see all 2 comments

Wealhtheow's recent updates (rss)

August 15

New comment on Wealhtheow's review of The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

Wealhtheow wrote: "Right, given his many friendships with people I respect (Mitford being one), it's hard to believe th...more "

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Wealhtheow added Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers , a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog to the book list Underground YA-Fantasy Novels
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August 14

New comment on Wealhtheow's review of The Sheep Look Up

Wealhtheow wrote: "Read it when you've got good friends and food to comfort you, though--I recommend a truly enjoyable ...more "

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August 13

Wealhtheow marked as to-read:
Wildfire (Hardcover)
by Sarah Micklem
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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Wealhtheow marked as to-read:
Old Man's War (Mass Market Paperback)
by John Scalzi
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

recommended to Wealhtheow by: Trin, Juliana

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Wealhtheow marked as to-read:
Infernal Devices (Hungry City Chronicles)
by Philip Reeve
bookshelves: fantasy, feypunk, post-apocalyptic, steampunk, to-read, urban-fantasy

my rating:

recommended to Wealhtheow by: Megan

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August 12

Wealhtheow marked as to-read:
The Dragons of Babel (Hardcover)
by Michael Swanwick
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

Wealhtheow said: "Sequel to The Iron Dragon's Daughter "

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Wealhtheow gave

to:
The Sheep Look Up (Paperback)
by John Brunner
bookshelves: sci-fi

my rating:

Wealhtheow said: "This is a story told with human detail in a horrifying dystopia. "

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June 26

Wealhtheow added The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to the book list Best science fiction books
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August 12

Wealhtheow read and liked Megumi's review of The Queen's Fool: A Novel:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

"Overall, I enjoyed the The Queen's Fool, but I will acknowledge that it is pure junk food for the brain. It is by no means great literature, but it serves its purpose of being escapist entertainment well. I did, unfortunately, have a major issue with...more Overall, I enjoyed the The Queen's Fool, but I will acknowledge that it is pure junk food for the brain. It is by no means great literature, but it serves its purpose of being escapist entertainment well. I did, unfortunately, have a major issue with it.

The story follows the life of Hannah, a Jewish girl who has fled from Spain with her father to England to escape the Spanish Inquisition that burned her mother as a heretic. This young girl is blessed—or cursed, as she seems to think—with the gift of "the sight" (having visions of the future appear to her from time to time). She is discovered by Robert Dudley at her father’s book shop, and immediately develops a schoolgirl’s crush on him. Dudley has her come to court to meet the young king Edward, who in turn appoints her as "holy fool" (her job being to speak out whenever she has a vision). King Edward being the sickly youth that he his, is eventually closed away in his bedchamber to die, and Hannah is sent off by Dudley to be a companion (i.e. spy) to Mary—the heir to the throne—and report every thing she is doing back to Dudley. Hannah is impressed by Mary’s strength of will and determination, despite the hardships she's had to endure (having her mother discarded by Henry VIII, having to set aside her religion, and be proclaimed a bastard before all the country). Hannah comes to adore Mary as much as she adores Dudley.

Okay, here’s where I start having problems with the story. I can understand her admiring the woman’s will and courage, but to fervently adore her in the manner she does...I just don’t get it. Mary is a hardcore Catholic—same religion as the folks behind the Spanish Inquisition—the people who killed her beloved mother. I let that slide. I even let it go when, after Mary is married to Philip of Spain, she allows people to be "questioned" by some crazy bishop and then burned alive. Later, after enduring a humiliating false pregnancy, which Mary blames on the country being full of heretics who won’t follow the "true faith," she becomes kind of psychotic in her efforts to "cleanse" the country. Hannah is in constant terror when this starts happening, but yet her loyalty and love for Mary is unwavering. My suspension of disbelief was finally broken when Mary allowed Hannah to be arrested and questioned for heresy. Hannah is thrown in jail with a woman who has had her fingernails ripped out, and another who had been on the rack and now has screwed up joints. Hannah lucked out in the fact that a friend of hers was working as a clerk for the bishop, and able to get her charge dismissed. So, despite witnessing how prisoners who are questioned are being treated, and being questioned herself, she STILL loves the queen?!?! I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous. I could not love someone who allowed me to be arrested by a group of people that would have certainly killed me.

The book kinda loses momentum shortly after this, but was still engaging enough to keep me wanting to know what happened next. There are other things that bothered me in the story, but not really worth mentioning. While I don't think this will ever be regarded as a great book, it is very engrossing—particularly if one is interested in Tudor court intrigues.I admit, I don't think men will like this book—it is most definitely a "chick" book.

I have to add, the book has kindled my interest in that time period, and in Elizabeth—despite it's attempt to paint her in a negative light (she's a bit of a hussy in this book). Personally, I've always rather admired Elizabeth—the whole "Virgin Queen" thing was always cool to me, and from what we learned in history classes (not a whole heck of a lot) she was a strong ruler. I'll probably seek out more books relating to this time period—both real and fiction. ...less "

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Wealhtheow's favorite quotes

"You can hand out condoms, drop bombs, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change."
— Greg Mortenson

8 people liked it

"I imagine the earth when I am no more:
Women's dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley.
Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born,
Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.
--from 'And Yet the Books'"
— Czesław Miłosz

1 person liked it

"Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen. "
— D.H. Lawrence

tags: ladychatterly-slover

1 person liked it

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Wealhtheow's friend comments

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from Ovid

14 days ago, 06:13PM

Thanks for adding me. I hope you have a lovely week!

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from Suzanne

04/29/2008 01:06PM

Thanks for the add!

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from Jimmy

04/15/2008 10:35AM

Thanks. I like Devices & Desires. I'm a little more than halfway through and already purchased Evil for Evil (the 2nd in the trilogy). I've read a lot of reviews where people do not like how detailed and descriptive Parker is, but I am an accountant with a background in engineering, so I like that aspect. I was recently in Germany and Austria and couldn't help but compare the medieval industry in Munich and Salzburg to Mezentia in D&D.

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