Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapters 3-4

[regshoe]

But till my last moments my words are the same: there'll never be peace until Jamie comes hame...

The penultimate week of the read-along, and in these chapters we are still very Jacobite.

Next week we will, sadly, read Part V Chapter 5 and the Epilogue.

Comments

[regshoe]

Hehe, Archie's skilful questioning combined with Ewen once again being betrayed by his sleep-talking habit :D

I think it's part of the same skillset that makes the prophecy work so well in this story

Yes! I suppose an in-story prophecy and the historical novelist's knowledge of future events are really the same sort of thing as far as the characters are concerned, and you're quite right that Broster uses both very well.

And another thing she does well in relation to the prophecy is combining a pervasive and powerful sense of the supernatural with believable scepticism from the characters—which would indeed present some very interesting opportunities for that fic idea, hmm, I'll think about it...

Ooh, I'll look forward to your thoughts on Gleam in the North! I don't really like it, but I think it is a good book in its own right—interested to hear what you think.

[osprey_archer]

It's interesting to see Broster walk this tightrope between that sense of the supernatural and the skepticism of the characters - it's a line that a lot of authors fall off of (usually by having the characters remain disbelieving long after it seems ridiculous that they wouldn't go "Okay fine I guess something supernatural IS going on"), but Broster manages the balance all the way through.

[philomytha]

Broster reminds me a lot of Sutcliff in that way that the supernatural is both part of the story but also not something the story relies on too heavily. It really works for me.

[regshoe]

Oh, good comparison—yes, I remember enjoying that about Sword at Sunset in particular, and it is rather like FotH.