Booknotes 3.27 — Blog

The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World, by Shelley Puhak, published 2022. It’s about Brunhild and Fredegund in the late 500s and all the crazy and frequently violent political machinations throughout their rise to power. Quite good. I really liked it, even if the going felt slower at times because of the less familiar names. I hadn’t realized the royal name Louis (Louis XIV etc., and that’s not one of the less familiar ones, to be clear) came from the name Clovis. Also fascinating to read about the characters (letters) Chilperic invented that ended up being adopted by the Angles and used in Old English and later Scandinavian languages, though the book didn’t say which characters (ash? eth? thorn? wynn?) and my cursory googling thus far has been less than helpful.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, volume 8, by Beth Brower, published 2024, historical fiction. Delightful as usual. I love the characters and enjoyed getting more backstory. The scene change for much of the book was also nice.
Veiled, by Benedict Jacka, published 2015, fantasy. Sixth in the Alex Verus series (halfway through, excluding the novellas). Liked it, especially the developments in the overarching story.
The Lost Child of Lychford, by Paul Cornell, published 2016, fantasy. Second in the series, a Christmas ghost story of sorts. Quite liked it — the atmosphere, the worldbuilding, the characters. And lo, there’s a sixth one coming out in September.