Book Review: Rule by Rowenna Miller

Pros: more magic development, battles

Cons: limited romance, no HEA

The country is at war, with Royalists fighting Reformists. Sophie Balstrade helps purchase necessary supplies before joining Theodor and her brother at the army camp. Sophie must decide what magic she’s willing to perform to help her side win.

Book 3 of the Unravelled Kingdom series starts a short time after the end of book 2. If you haven’t read the previous volumes you’ll be completely lost.

Magic gets more developed in this book as Sophie’s skills improve and she’s able to do more with her powers. The West Serafans also use magic a few times, in a different way from Sophie, which was interesting. She’s not really doing any sewing anymore, as she has new ways of affixing charms and curses to a wider variety of materials.

There’s a decent amount of warfare, including a few battles, but it’s mostly strategy. There’s a lot about the logistics of maintaining an army, namely about supplying, billeting, clothing, and training an army.

This is a fantasy novel, not a category romance, so the happily ever after ending isn’t promised. I was still a bit disappointed I didn’t get it though. The romance elements are very light, with Sophie and Theodor being an established couple. I loved seeing their interactions, though they don’t spend much time together.

There’s a long denouement that goes over what happens after the war ends. It’s great to see how things develop a bit, though I wasn’t happy with one major decision, it was realistic and fit the story.

It’s a good ending to the trilogy, if not quite the happy ending I was hoping for.

Book Review: Fray by Rowenna Miller

Pros: interesting magic, political intrigue

Cons: pacing is a bit uneven

Several months have passed since the attempted revolt at midwinter and the Council of Nobles are preparing to vote on the new Reform Bill that Prince Theodor has advanced. Sophie Balstrade prepares to give up her seamstress business and accompany the prince to a trade conference in West Serafe. But trouble from home follows them there, as the nobles don’t intend to give up their power. Meanwhile Sophie’s casting ability has been faltering and she needs to figure out why, and if it can be recovered.

This is the second book in the Unravelled Kingdom series, and heavily depends on knowing what’s happened in book one. There’s less sewing and more magic and politicking in this book.

I love Sophie and seeing her relationship with Theo deepen is a real pleasure. They sometimes butt heads, being from different social strata, but work out their difficulties.

The magic is interesting. I love how Sophie sews charms, and seeing her abilities expand is fun. The musical magic gets examined a bit more and Sophie develops a new form of casting.

There is a lot of political intrigue. I love that there are no easy solutions to how to resolve problems of social and economic change. People in power don’t want to give that up. The book shows very realistic responses to the various solutions proposed. The brutality of people fighting for their future comes across.

I did find that some parts of the book were more interesting than others. The pacing got a bit uneven at times.

I enjoyed the book and can’t wait to read the final volume.

Video: How Healthy were Medieval People?

Found this interesting video by History Hit on health care in the middle ages. It goes over what the various forms of health practitioners were and what they would do to diagnose and treat your problem.

Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts

Saw the trailer for the game Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts recently and am VERY interested in playing this when it comes out. Alas, there's no release date yet, just 2025. Here's its Steam page, if you want more information about the game.

Book Review: Charming by Jade Linwood

Pros: fun characters with some unique takes on fairy tales

Cons: the story meanders, convoluted plan

Prince Charming has been rescuing women - and paying himself with half their treasuries - for years. Now, a group of his victims has banded together to bring him to justice.

This is an entertaining reworking of several classic fairytales, but with the idea that Prince Charming is a real cad. I enjoyed seeing how the author would rewrite each woman’s history. The characters were fun to watch, even - especially? - Charming.

Once the women got together and started their plot, things began to meander a bit. Their plan, as it’s revealed through the story, is so convoluted when you consider it after the fact, that it’s hard to believe it succeeded. The ending was also a bit lacking of consequence.

I did find it strange that with how many women he’d defrauded and how THEIR part of the stories travelled, that the prince wouldn’t be more easily recognized. He’s using the same name, just translated for new languages after all. Seems with a detailed description and his modus operandi new potential victims could be warned away.

It was a fun, quick read. Don’t think too hard about it. Just go along for the ride - and the reworked fairytales.

Book Review: Medieval Latin Liturgy in English Translation

Edited by Matthew Cheung Salisbury

The book introduces the latin liturgy, explaining the basics before translating the Mass from 3 different manuscripts (showing local variations to the ceremony) . There are also translations of selected Mass Propers (that is, additions to Mass for specific holy days), of the Divine Office for select occasions (ex: Epiphany, Matins of St Thomas Becket), Votive Services (ex: Vespers of the dead), and Occasional Services & Private Prayers (ex: Dedication of a Church, vocation of a Nun).

The Liturgy is such an important aspect of medieval Catholic life and I’ve been trying for years to better understand it. So this book was a wonderful find. I appreciated the variety of texts that were included, showing how things varied by place as well as date (that is, changes occurred over time to the liturgy and the day to day liturgy itself changed depending on the calendar, feast days, etc).

Given how much medieval literature uses the first words of certain prayers as shorthand for those prayers, I kind of wish the author had included the latin next to the english. But it’s wonderful having so many medieval prayers and texts translated into English in an easy to read format.

I expect this is a book I will reread often, to better grasp the ceremony & the meaning behind the words.

Video: Dark Ballad of a Warrior on Hurdy-Gurdy

I've found that some medieval instruments can be rather... shrill. So it's with real delight that I discovered the hurdy-gurdy, which when played well - as here - is a true joy to listen to.

This video is by Andrey Vinogradov. He's got a good number of videos on his channel if you like what you hear.