regshoe

Hello, hello! I'm very late to the party (and to this week's reading), so I should probably introduce myself a bit. Name's Tgarnsl (after the proper pronunciation of 'topgallantsail') and I fell into this fandom a few weeks back when I came across it on AO3, whereupon I promptly went 'oh, looks like there are some fun evening reads in this tag, I should read the last chapter of the book to get to grips with the characters so I don't have to read the whole novel.' Which resulted in reading the final chapter, wondering who the hell this Keith character was, and going back to the first chapter so I could read the book properly. And here I am, several weeks later, alarmingly invested in this novel and its characters.

I wanted to comment on last week's chapters, as those are set in Edinburgh, and as someone who lived in the city centre for several years (and visited this summer) I enjoyed reading about the places I know quite well. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this week's chapters: the conflict between Ewen and Alison and their respective duties and loyalties is interesting, even if I would have preferred to have read it through Alison's POV. I get the sense that they're both aware of what's coming, even if neither of them want to openly acknowledge it, but their reactions to it are quite different. I find it interesting how Broster carefully sets up Alison's eagerness to get married in the early part of the book and then has her feel so conflicted about it here — it's clear she still wishes to get married, but the state of the war is clearly taking its toll on her. I can't help but wonder if her reluctance is, at least in part, based in the fear of becoming a widow so soon after marriage. Ewen, in contrast, seems to have the complete opposite view: that any time married is precious, and that they should seize life with both hands while they have it. I find the scenes of their brief married life quite sweet; one thing I really like about their pairing is that there is the real sense that they are partners in all senses of the world — they both love and respect the other tremendously, and it seems that there's an easy companionship to their marriage that makes their ensuing heartbreak over their parting all the more understandable.

I found Chapter 2 quite gloomy, as you might expect. Broster makes it clear that this isn't going to end well, and by now most of the characters recognise it too, even if they do not acknowledge it. Ewen, for his part, seems to be dissociating from everything around him, in part due to his parting from Alison, in part due to the sorry state of the war. I find it interesting how Ewen's loyalty seems to shift in this chapter, away from the Prince and towards Lochiel — he will always be loyal to the Prince, but Lochiel is his family, and his concern for the aftermath of Culloden is not so much what will happen to the Prince, but what will happen to Lochiel. The last paragraph or so of the chapter is terribly poignant in its imagery. I don't ever feel that Broster is ever in danger of purple prose, even though her writing is descriptive and lush. It's a talent I quite admire.

I did enjoy the brief mention of Keith when Ewen is at Ardroy. It was a good way to subtly remind the reader where the story is headed, that even though this particular chapter of the Jacobite Uprising is swiftly drawing to a close, there is still plenty of story left.