The Mark of the Horse Lord in Operation Read All the Sutcliff

Feb 28, 2010 Nicky rated it it was ok

Shelves: children-s-and-ya, historical-fiction-alternatehistory

This is shocking for me with a Rosemary Sutcliff book, especially one a lot of other people loved, but I didn't really like this. I somehow didn't really care. I didn't much like Phaedrus, which helped, but I'm sure I would've got to like him in the normal way of things with one of Sutcliff's books, but nope. Maybe it's the fact that I've been working on Sword at Sunset for my dissertation for months and either I'm burnt out on Sutcliff or this just doesn't compare, or even a bit of both.

Plus, t ...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Dorothea rated it liked it

I'm not quite sure what I think of this one.

I really, really liked the opening scene, describing the end of Phaedrus's career as a gladiator. That could have been a good short story in itself. But I liked it so much that it took me some time to adjust to the different setting of the rest of the story.

I really liked how becoming the Horse Lord is a good career transition for an ex-gladiator, and how Phaedrus's gladiatorial skills are useful to him as the Horse Lord.

I liked how Phaedrus feels bad I'm not quite sure what I think of this one.

I really, really liked the opening scene, describing the end of Phaedrus's career as a gladiator. That could have been a good short story in itself. But I liked it so much that it took me some time to adjust to the different setting of the rest of the story.

I really liked how becoming the Horse Lord is a good career transition for an ex-gladiator, and how Phaedrus's gladiatorial skills are useful to him as the Horse Lord.

I liked how Phaedrus feels bad about pretending to be someone else and becoming king when he has no right to it, and the means by which he's persuaded to do it anyway.

The ease with which Phaedrus, raised in a Roman town, adapts to Daldriadain culture is rather unbelievable. The explanation is that his mother was from the North and that her culture is "in his blood." What would have really helped convince me would have been even a bit more text spent actually describing Phaedrus's mother and their relationship, and some specific things that she taught him.

The big culture clash in this book (does Sutcliff always have one?) is Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy, which was rather uncomfortable for me, especially since the big villain is the queen whom Phaedrus is called upon to depose. There are a few examples of bad things she's done, but for the most part her wickedness and unworthiness to lead is established through Phaedrus sensing that she's evil and describing her basically as Shelob. Naturally, this does not make me feel unsympathetic to her.

There are several instances in which Sutcliff allows her characters to have a less black-and-white view of matriarchy and patriarchy, but the main way she makes up for the Evil Life-Sucking Queen is to have her daughter, Murna, be extremely awesome. I mostly love this. Murna is great. She fights! She's political! She talks back to Phaedrus and she probably knows his secret! But I also get the sense that she's allowed to be such a strong character because ultimately she does oppose her mother and agree to patriarchal rule. Her submission isn't without complications, but her power certainly has careful limits.

The same-sex best friend in The Horse Lord is an interesting twist on the theme, compared to the other Sutcliff juvenile novels I've read. I am well convinced that Sutcliff wrote Conory, the best friend of the king whom Phaedrus is replacing, as the replaced-king's lover, and that all of the other characters know that, perhaps so well that it would be redundant to actually say anything about it (never mind 1960s publishing conventions). I don't think that Phaedrus actually takes the other king's place so far as to replace him as Conory's lover, although perhaps a closer reading would change my mind. A more plausible speculation to me is that one of the differences between the replaced-king and Phaedrus was that the replaced-king was gay and Phaedrus is bi or straight. ...more

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Mar 01, 2014 Sineala rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, historical-fiction, rome, young-adult, fiction, roman-britain

One of the better Rosemary Sutcliff books I've read, The Mark of the Horse Lord, set in Roman Britain, is the tale of Phaedrus the ex-gladiator who is swept up in a plot among the northern tribes that requires him to impersonate Midir, the long-lost heir to the Dalriadain.

Luckily, Midir is alive (but he has been blinded by the current queen, which is why he can't come back as heir) to prepare him for this task, but even so it's tricky. He has to fool Midir's best friend Conory -- a really intere One of the better Rosemary Sutcliff books I've read, The Mark of the Horse Lord, set in Roman Britain, is the tale of Phaedrus the ex-gladiator who is swept up in a plot among the northern tribes that requires him to impersonate Midir, the long-lost heir to the Dalriadain.

Luckily, Midir is alive (but he has been blinded by the current queen, which is why he can't come back as heir) to prepare him for this task, but even so it's tricky. He has to fool Midir's best friend Conory -- a really interesting character, in that he's an effeminately-dressed warrior who keeps a pet hunting cat. (I kept expecting the narrative to treat Conory poorly, but he was awesome all the way through. I really liked him. A lot.) He has to fool Murna, his new wife, who is also an excellent character. And this is a novel where women fight! There's a lovely scene with the women's war dance.

The plot is entertaining -- I always like undercover plots -- and, as I said, the characters are compelling, even when (or perhaps especially when) the time comes that Phaedrus has to confront the Romans. It would have been easy to paint them as evil, but Sutcliff doesn't, and I really like that. (I am less pleased that Liadhan the old queen is fairly one-dimensionally evil, though.)

The novel is perhaps a little lighter on the descriptions of nature that Sutcliff's writing often features, instead trading it for extremely exciting battle scenes (they're great!) and the numinous rituals of the Dalriadain. It works very, very well.

The ending is... well, if you've read a Sutcliff novel before, you should know that she doesn't write the happiest of endings most of the time. (Given that the novel starts out with Phaedrus being forced to kill his best friend in order to win his freedom in the arena, you can tell you're not in for a happy book.) But the way it ends is fitting, really, and I didn't actually think it was depressing at all. Sad, yes, depressing, no.

Recommended! If you're looking for more Sutcliff to try (and, uh, you've already read my other favorites) I would recommend this! I would even recommend it if you haven't read Sutcliff before. It's good. ...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Sea rated it really liked it

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Jun 09, 2011 Oreotalpa rated it really liked it

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Jun 04, 2014 Stephen rated it it was amazing

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