Attila is driving me bonkers
Sorry, this isn't a review, but I have a few comments about Attila by William Napier (sorry, again). I am on the fourth chapter and it's driving me bananas. I'm not sure I can actually keep reading. Since it's set in the 5th century, I feel I should, but ...Where to start? I think the main problem for me is that it's in the omniscient view. So, the reader gets to meet rather a lot of people, on a (currently) a very superficial level indeed. People behave like pawns in the story, rather than as their own character. Galla Placidia is a cardboard cut-out baddie, for example. And as for the old soldiers happening to be near Attila, and remembering the time when the Germanic hoardes came across the frozen river ... Oi, Napier, give it a rest!
And then there's the showing-off of historical knowledge - gert-long list of what's at a Roman banquet, for example. Methinks that Napier is a Classics graduate. If not, he's doing a good impression. At least he's having fun sending up Claudian, even if this reader is gritting her teeth and wishing he'd get on with the story.
Also, these Romans feel to me like they are virtually no different from the 1st & 2nd century Romans. Yes, there's mention of Christianity being the official religion, but if they were all dumped into early imperial Rome, I wouldn't really tell the difference. In that way, it feels like a Hollywood Rome, all decadence and lark's tongues. Flicking through the book, it looks like we might get to see the business end of the Late Roman Empire, hopefully in all its barbarous glory.
Oh, and then there's the heavy-handed relating that history to our own period, complete with the mention of economic-migrants. Some of us cottoned on a long time back about that one, thank you. It doesn't have to be done so obviously. Lay the clues, trust the reader to get there. Where this period is concerned, it's bordering on a no-brainer anyway.
In general: he doesn't evince in me a suspension of disbelief. I can see the machine working all too well. There's no accounting for my taste, I guess, as some people like his books.
But, anyway, I can console myself that Mary Gentle's new book, Ilario: the lion's eye is finally out, after some delays. A good friend pointed me to the review in The Times. Though Gentle can be uneven, the (long) flashes of sheer brilliance more than make up for it. It's back to her alternative Carthage again, where part of Ash: a secret history was set.btw, I don't seem to have any editing buttons at present, otherwise I would add a few links and a pic. Hope blogger haven't updated the software, or something, as Firefox may not be handling it. Added 12.30: the buttons are back. Perhaps my computer was having a funny turn.
And other note: I am currently thinking about what to say about Flight of the Sparrow by Fay Sampson, but it won't be a review. It'll be more like the Attila comments above, though I'm likely to be rather more complimentary (ahem)
Labels: Attila, Mary Gentle, Napier
posted by Alex Bordessa @ Monday, December 04, 2006
7 comments
