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sophia_sol) wrote2011-10-12 11:27 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2011-10-12 11:27 pm
Frontier Wolf (Rosemary Sutcliff)
So, entirely as a result of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
carmarthen's excellent fics, I ended up reading Rosemary Sutcliff's Frontier Wolf this weekend. And this book? It is AWESOME. I <3 it muchly. So let me talk about it further!
It was really interesting having read it coming from Carmarthen’s fic, because it meant I paid far more attention to Hilarion than I otherwise would have. I mean, I would have enjoyed him and all, but for most of the book his role wasn’t much larger than that of Lucius, who I also quite like (he and his Georgics; so adorable!). But Hilarion? AWESOME. I like how he’s always described as “lounging to his feet”, and leaning against everything ever, and that one description of him as propping up the furniture like always. Priceless! And how he’s clearly got a sense of humour, which I didn’t know a Rosemary Sutcliff Epic Story character was allowed to have. :P
And Alexios! I really like him too! He’s clearly of a certain type with Marcus: a good man, lots of feelings of responsibility, and honour is important to him. But a different kind of honour. Marcus' honour is all on behalf of his father and Rome, whereas Alexios is happy to tell Rome and Rome's rules to stuff it when it goes against what he sees as being honourable. Because for Alexios, his honour is all about doing what's best for his men. He's willing to look a fool in front of Proper Romans by taking part in "barbaric" rituals, he's willing to make the same damn judgment call twice in a row after the first one got him practically exiled, he's -- oh, I admire him so much. &Alexios;
I’m also intrigued by the shipping thing. The book doesn’t ship Alexios with anybody; there’s only like one female character with a speaking part, other than his mother, and she’s mad with grief and also his enemy, so not so much a potential romantic interest. (Which is rather different than Eagle of the Ninth where Cottia is apparently very clearly his intended romantic interest.*) But if it weren’t for my foreknowledge that clearly there’s SOMETHING that happens in the book to make Alexios/Hilarion the most reasonable ship, I would have shipped Alexios/Cunorix. Because there’s definitely something there, and then when they end up fighting each other for reasons that were really rather out of their control, there’s still something there even though Cunorix has all sorts of bitterness now towards Alexios because Alexios had to kill Connla. But anyways, Cunorix dies so that’s a bit of a non-starter, though I’m still curious how that might have gone. I would actually really love to read some Alexios/Cunorix fic in which they manage to work things out in a way that doesn't involve Cunorix being killed.
But I'm totally okay with Alexios/Cunorix not being the thing to ship, because Hilarion? Is AWESOME. I love absolutely everything that Hilarion chooses to be. Even though Hilarion’s a relatively minor character he’s still totally my favourite character in the whole book. He's clearly clever and very capable, and yet he's also the sort of person that gets shunted off into the Frontier Wolves, so clearly not the sort of dude that Rome really likes to have in its army. And he's just so -- idek, how to describe him? Except for AWESOME.
In other matters, I’m intrigued by the way that the book’s main driving force isn’t really a plot-arc or anything. It took me a very long time to even figure out what the plot was, because mostly it’s a book about Alexios and how he becomes at home in the frontier via a variety of circumstances. The inside flap describes the book of one of action and adventure, and yes there is some of that, but the main action of the book is interior and interpersonal. Which hey, is what I like! So that’s awesome.
And now I've probably rambled about this book enough so I'll shut up now! In conclusion, I need to go reread Carmarthen's fics now that I know what the hell the canon actually is. Heh.
*although here's where I admit that when I read the book I was mostly really confused by what role Cottia was intended for, and it wasn't till I started reading other people's opinions of her on the internet that I realized that EVERYONE agrees that the book ships Marcus/Cottia. And yet when I read the book I actually missed that that was the intended reading. Oops? My ace goggles, let me show you them...
carmarthen's excellent fics, I ended up reading Rosemary Sutcliff's Frontier Wolf this weekend. And this book? It is AWESOME. I <3 it muchly. So let me talk about it further!It was really interesting having read it coming from Carmarthen’s fic, because it meant I paid far more attention to Hilarion than I otherwise would have. I mean, I would have enjoyed him and all, but for most of the book his role wasn’t much larger than that of Lucius, who I also quite like (he and his Georgics; so adorable!). But Hilarion? AWESOME. I like how he’s always described as “lounging to his feet”, and leaning against everything ever, and that one description of him as propping up the furniture like always. Priceless! And how he’s clearly got a sense of humour, which I didn’t know a Rosemary Sutcliff Epic Story character was allowed to have. :P
And Alexios! I really like him too! He’s clearly of a certain type with Marcus: a good man, lots of feelings of responsibility, and honour is important to him. But a different kind of honour. Marcus' honour is all on behalf of his father and Rome, whereas Alexios is happy to tell Rome and Rome's rules to stuff it when it goes against what he sees as being honourable. Because for Alexios, his honour is all about doing what's best for his men. He's willing to look a fool in front of Proper Romans by taking part in "barbaric" rituals, he's willing to make the same damn judgment call twice in a row after the first one got him practically exiled, he's -- oh, I admire him so much. &Alexios;
I’m also intrigued by the shipping thing. The book doesn’t ship Alexios with anybody; there’s only like one female character with a speaking part, other than his mother, and she’s mad with grief and also his enemy, so not so much a potential romantic interest. (Which is rather different than Eagle of the Ninth where Cottia is apparently very clearly his intended romantic interest.*) But if it weren’t for my foreknowledge that clearly there’s SOMETHING that happens in the book to make Alexios/Hilarion the most reasonable ship, I would have shipped Alexios/Cunorix. Because there’s definitely something there, and then when they end up fighting each other for reasons that were really rather out of their control, there’s still something there even though Cunorix has all sorts of bitterness now towards Alexios because Alexios had to kill Connla. But anyways, Cunorix dies so that’s a bit of a non-starter, though I’m still curious how that might have gone. I would actually really love to read some Alexios/Cunorix fic in which they manage to work things out in a way that doesn't involve Cunorix being killed.
But I'm totally okay with Alexios/Cunorix not being the thing to ship, because Hilarion? Is AWESOME. I love absolutely everything that Hilarion chooses to be. Even though Hilarion’s a relatively minor character he’s still totally my favourite character in the whole book. He's clearly clever and very capable, and yet he's also the sort of person that gets shunted off into the Frontier Wolves, so clearly not the sort of dude that Rome really likes to have in its army. And he's just so -- idek, how to describe him? Except for AWESOME.
In other matters, I’m intrigued by the way that the book’s main driving force isn’t really a plot-arc or anything. It took me a very long time to even figure out what the plot was, because mostly it’s a book about Alexios and how he becomes at home in the frontier via a variety of circumstances. The inside flap describes the book of one of action and adventure, and yes there is some of that, but the main action of the book is interior and interpersonal. Which hey, is what I like! So that’s awesome.
And now I've probably rambled about this book enough so I'll shut up now! In conclusion, I need to go reread Carmarthen's fics now that I know what the hell the canon actually is. Heh.
*although here's where I admit that when I read the book I was mostly really confused by what role Cottia was intended for, and it wasn't till I started reading other people's opinions of her on the internet that I realized that EVERYONE agrees that the book ships Marcus/Cottia. And yet when I read the book I actually missed that that was the intended reading. Oops? My ace goggles, let me show you them...
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Also I love Hilarion. And the ending is totally my warm fuzzy happy place. I reread it and it makes me so happy, squee. Hilarion!
Plus, the Alexios/Cunorix is Epic. Everyone likes Epic.
(This is reminding me I ought to finish my FW WIPs like Carmarthen keeps telling me to. I have, um, pr0n, and then this strange thing dealing with Hilarion being convinced Alexios is only settling for him because Cunorix is dead.)
I am so happy you read it! Soon everyone will know the joy that is FW!
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So far I think he's the only one.
Also 100% agreement about Alexios. I love him so damn much.
I think of Alexios/Cunorix as being very much like Marcus/Cradoc--rather one-sided and unconscious on the part of the former, and doomed by political issues beyond their control. I mean, I like Alexios's crush on Cunorix, but I think that like Cradoc, Cunorix's own attention is on his wife and his tribe, and he's oblivious to Alexios's unconscious ~feeeeelings.~
I pretty much think the whole book is about Alexios getting to a point where he can make the same decision he fucked up on in the beginning, and believe it's the right one. Definitely internal. I like it a lot, although at the same time it's much more action-y than most of Sutcliff's books.
Re: Cottia--I think it's explicit in the text at the end that Marcus and Cottia are going to get married, but I'm not sure I'd say that the book ships them. They really don't read romantically to me, quite--part of that's the age difference, that Cottia reads as a teenager/child, but part of it's just the general tone of their interactions. But most of Sutcliff's heterosexual marriages or proto-marriages don't really convince me as love-matches, even when they're supposed to be.
ANYWAY I AM REALLY GLAD YOU READ FRONTIER WOLF. MAYBE YOU COULD WRITE A HAPPY ALEXIOS/CUNORIX AU????
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I pretty much think the whole book is about Alexios getting to a point where he can make the same decision he fucked up on in the beginning, and believe it's the right one.
Yes, that's exactly it, and that's just so wonderful. <3333333 Alexios
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BUT IF YOU DON'T, WHO WILL?
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SO MAYBE MORE THAN FIVE. SEE, NOW YOU REALLY HAVE TO WRITE IT.
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(BUT WAIT, THEN I WILL NEED TO RESEARCH WEATHER AND FOLIAGE /o\)
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