scotland

Rant review: Clear by Carys Davies

by Stefani

Clear by Carys Davies

Published: April 2, 2024 by Scribner

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger’s intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John’s wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission.

Rating:

Review:

This has to be the most astoundingly confusing book that I have ever listened to or read. Which is saying a lot because I have read a lot of very strange books. Warning! This review might get a bit ranty. And when I get ranty I tend to post spoilers, so consider yourself warned. But in reality, don’t read this book, it’s not worth your time.

This book is only 196 pages and the audiobook runs barely three hours. I would consider it barely a novella, but it sounded very interesting. The Highland Clearance period hasn’t been written about much and I found myself doing some research on this time in history once I was finished with the book. And wow, this book did a huge disservice to history here.

Let’s start with the good stuff. This will be brief. The writing was lovely. Emotionally evocative, lyrical, perfectly set the scene to a misty Scottish morning on a remote island with nothing but sheep for company. It was delightful. I didn’t even mind that 90% of what we were writing was about the wildlife and weather, I was captivating by the descriptions and the writing. I was really invested in what was going to happen. John had gained Ivar’s trust and had become his friend, how would he handle the job he’d been hired to do. Would he actually evict Ivar from the island? Would he refuse and someone else come to finish the job?

About 20 minutes from the end this book fell apart. Completely. Entirely. Rather than actually address any of the deep, heavy issues that the book had set up the author decided to side step all of them. John decided to engage in a sexual relationship with Ivar. Which is an odd choice for an 1840s pastor who is deeply devoted to his faith and his wife. Even more inexplicably John’s wife jumps right on board with their new relationship and decides that the three of them should leave the island together and all live together. And 1840s throuple everyone! And so Ivar sails off into the sunset with his new lover and his wife. Wow. I legitimately had no words for that ending. It makes no sense in the context of the time period. It makes no sense in the context of the characters the author created. And it, somehow, managed to try and sidestep any of the real issues within the narrative with a happily ever after ending. Rather than making some kind of point about the brutality of the Highland Clearances, we just ride off into the sunset together. Isn’t that so wonderful? It doesn’t matter that John was supposed to kick him off the island, strip him of everything he’d ever known because the landlord wanted to stick a bunch of sheep there instead. Ivar fell in love and wanted to leave! Problem averted.

Review: The Forgotten Queen by D.L. Bogdan

by Stefani

the forgotten queenThe Forgotten Queen by D.L. Bogdan

Published January 29th, 2013 by Kensington

Cover image and synopsis provided by the publisher.

 

Buy this book at: Amazon / B&N / Book Depository / Books A Million

 

Rating 2 star

 

Synopsis:

From her earliest days, Margaret Tudor knows she will not have the luxury of choosing a husband. As daughter of Henry VII, her duty is to gain alliances for England. Barely out of girlhood, Margaret is married by proxy to James IV and travels to Edinburgh to become Queen of Scotland.

Despite her doubts, Margaret falls under the spell of her adopted home. But she has rivals. While Jamie is an affectionate husband, he is not a faithful one. And providing an heir cannot guarantee Margaret’s safety when Jamie leads an invading army against her own brother, Henry VIII. In the wake of tragic loss she falls prey to the attentions of the ambitious Earl of Angus—a move that brings Scotland to the brink of anarchy. Beset by betrayal, secret alliances, and the vagaries of her own heart, Margaret has one overriding ambition—to preserve the crown of Scotland for her son, no matter what the cost.

Exquisitely detailed and poignant, The Forgotten Queen vividly depicts the life and loves of an extraordinary woman who helped shape the fate of two kingdoms—and in time, became the means of uniting them.

 

Review:

 

**Warning: Mild spoilers ahead!**

Something is wrong with me, or at least wrong with the books I’ve been reading lately.  My past 3 or 4 books were 2 stars, I need to stop that trend!  Unfortunately, this book is not going to be the one to end the streak.  I wanted it to be, so desperately.  The cover is amazing, I am so in love with that dress that I wanted to read the book simply for that.  The synopsis also grabbed my attention.  Everyone has read books about the infamous Tudors.  Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Princess Catherine, all of these are names that most people would recognize.  Margaret is the oft overlooked Tudor that I can’t recall having too many books written about her.  In retrospect, there seems to be a very good reason for that.

Initially, I thought that I would quite like Margaret.  She was spunky and fiery, with a bit of an attitude on her too.  Her journey to the altar (by proxy) at the age of 13 to the King of Scotland, who was 20 years her senior, was a sweet introduction to the story and her character.  I liked that she understood her role in a royal family of being a queen and producing a royal family, while trying to bring two kingdoms together.  She was being proactive and determined to do her part for both England and Scotland.  I also enjoyed seeing her struggles to acclimate to a new country and discovering exactly what being a queen entailed.  Unfortunately, Margaret went from spunky and intelligent to selfish and narcissistic in a hurry. I found myself furious with her so many times that I stopped counting.  EVERYTHING was about her!  And when things stopped revolving around her for half a second she threw a fit and did something stupid, like firing a cannon at her husband.  She humiliated herself often but then got angry at every perceived slight that “shamed” her, no honey you are doing a wonderful job of that yourself.

I am not done unloading about Margaret here, she was also a horrible narrator because it was alllllll about the Margaret show.  Her child dies, it’s shoved aside when she gets a new dress and is so excited about it.  Her favorite servant dies and she is stunned that the woman had family and other interests besides hearing her self-indulgent rants all the time.  Her husband lies to her, deceives her, cheats on her, steals from her, and abandons her.  Yet she lets him take her son (the crowned king!) for a visit.  And then is absolutely shocked that he won’t give him back!  What the holy mother of God did you think would happen?!  He’s scum and has always had aspirations to control the king so you just hand the king over!?  Her late husband tells her, you must remain unmarried or they will challenge you for the crown.  She remarries and then is stunned when they challenge her for the crown!! AAAAHHHH!!  I can’t talk about Margaret anymore or I’m going to have a rage induced stroke.

Jamie was the complete opposite in terms of character, I really liked him a lot.  He was kind, considerate, intelligent, and looked to the future in a way befitting of a king.  I thought that this was the character I’d hate, marrying a 13-year-old and bringing her to Scotland at 14.  But I didn’t.  He recognized that she was just a girl and probably had no idea what being a wife and queen meant and was patient with her missteps.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that Jamie genuinely and honestly loved Margaret even if he was far from the perfect husband.  He did everything he could to make her happy but it didn’t end up working because she still nagged at him about everything.  I felt sorry for him by the end simply for having to deal with her.

The plot also presented me a lot of trouble, mainly because I wasn’t sure that there was one.  It was over 300 pages of a narcissistic rant that was all about Margaret.  That got boring really quick.  There was almost no mention of the intrigue of the time, nations in turmoil, her brother’s court in shambles, Scotland under siege from within, nothing of any import for the time at all.  All about Margaret and what made Margaret happy or unhappy.  I also pray that the formatting was fixed for the final copy because the ARC was practically unreadable.  In one sentence, a son was alive and well and being christened.  Literally in the next sentence, with no segue, the same son is dead and they are at his funeral.  I have zero idea how much time passed in between the two events.  Topics were mentioned and changed at will and with no explanation, segue, or even a paragraph break to tell me what was going on.  At one point, two whole years passed from the time we ended one paragraph to when we started the next.  It was so confusing.  I hope this was only a problem with the ARC because if the final copy is like that, God help anyone who reads it.

I cannot recommend this book.  It nearly killed me just to finish it and I considered putting it down and giving up more than a dozen times.  Unless you are a massive fan of the author then I fear your reading experience will echo mine.

Thank you Kensington for providing me an ARC of this book via NetGalley.  It was provided in exchange for an honest review.