Flight of the Heron read-along: Prologue

[regshoe]

The news frae Moidart cam yestreen will soon gar mony ferlie...

Welcome everyone to the Flight of the Heron read-along! I'm delighted by the amount of interest there's been in this lovely book recently, and I hope this will be a great opportunity to discuss it in more depth.

Some notes:

A reminder of where to find the novel as a free ebook and a free audiobook.

My plan is to cover two chapters in most weeks, but I thought we'd start with just the Prologue, partly to provide a gentle introduction and partly because it makes it easier to split the rest of the book up in a way that makes sense.

We have a mixture of people re-reading the book and people reading it for the first time participating, so, if you've read the book before and would like to discuss earlier chapters in the context of what happens later on, please warn for or hide spoilers! I suggest using rot13, if that works for everyone.

Next week we'll read Part I chapters 1 and 2, and meet Keith Windham...

Comments

[dr_zook]

What an apple-cheeked gentleman. - Haha, meet my father-in-law, seriously. ;)

[dr_zook]

My brain is overheating already. ;)

Haha, related by marriage I'd say as a clever way to return to Broster. :D

[impala_chick]

Okay, great! Are there any other characters you (or anyone else) might want? I've only just started reading the book.

[hyarrowen]

I can't help but feel that Lachlan's nose is already slightly out of joint because of Alison. His chieftain and foster-brother comes home and Lachlan is all ready to take up his former position - and Ewen has someone else, besides his blood relatives, who comes before Lachlan.

[lirazel]

I wasn't expecting to come across an Emily Starr reference in this discussion, but I'm glad to see it!

[osprey_archer]

It's always a good time for a reference to Emily Byrd Starr!

[lirazel]

Agreed!

[verdande_mi]

Thank you for hosting this read-along. It’s my first time reading the books (and the author), and it’s been interesting reading all the comments here. What grabbed me the most with the prologue was the mix of realism vs fantasy, or how old believes are woven into a “modern” story. It’s fascinating reading stories where pieces of old folklore and folktales survive. I also loved the descriptions of nature, and the sense of home Ewan feels there.

[regshoe]

I'm glad you're enjoying the read-along :) Yes, I love the mix of realistic and magical elements—and the 'modern' eighteenth century is a particularly interesting time to set a book with a mixture like that, with its Enlightenment scepticism alongside older surviving folklore.

[sanguinity]

First time reader of the book -- thank you for hosting this readalong!

I agree with many others that the scenery descriptions are masterfully done, and I laughed at getting (tastefully elided) nudity right out of the gate. I don't know where this story is going beyond what is inherently implied in a one-paragraph summary of the 1754 Rising, but I nevertheless have a strong sense of foreshadowing that killing the heron was exactly the wrong action to take -- that everything might have gone much better had he just left the poor bird alone. And also that anything you have to put deliberate effort into sinking is probably going to come back again...

[luzula]

Regshoe: I nominated Aunt Margaret for you as well as worldbuilding, just so you know!

Impala_chick: Hmm, well, I'm actually planning to leave my request fairly open. So while I do like Alison, I'm okay with her not being on the list of nominated characters, if you have some other fandom you want to nominate instead.

[regshoe]

Welcome! :)

Look, it's very important that we know right away exactly how splendidly handsome Ewen is—it provides important context for Keith's POV later on... :D

That's an interesting thought about the heron—and very true!

[regshoe]

Oh, wonderful, thank you! :)

[hedgebird]

I'm a bit late to the party, sorry! This will be my third time reading FotH, I guess. IIRC I first heard of it six or seven years ago, came across a copy about three years ago, and have since read the trilogy (and, well, skimmed Almond, Wild Almond.)

What struck me this time is what a pessimist Lachlan is. His life is full of omens, and they're all bad. Dad sees a dream heron, context unknown? Better kill a heron! Red light on my dirk? Better throw my dirk away! Clearly a "glass half-empty AND PROBABLY POISONED OMG" kind of guy. I wonder why.

And it's very clear already how much Broster likes him!

Haha yes. Mr. Darcy arises from the pool...

[impala_chick]

Sounds good!

[regshoe]

Welcome, and no worries—the intention is for discussion to stay open through the week, so you're not late :)

That's very true about Lachlan—and Ewen's impatient recitation of all the other things Lachlan considers bad omens suggests he's like this a lot.

I love Ewen as Mr Darcy :D

[hyarrowen]

Well, I can quite understand why she didn't call it "The Flight of the Puffin." Same applies to ducks, really.