by Jo Walton

The King’s Peace.

Seriously, when I picked the book up and read the first three pages, I thought I’d died and gone to sexual graphic fantasy-epic heaven. Sadly, I was fooled. Although the content is definitely mature-people-only, the book went straight to the ‘Do-Not-Read-Again’ pile.

I still have the book, however, because the cover was painted by Julie Bell. (See some of my art pages to view more of her work.)

In between the “I could have taken them all had I been mounted” and the “I stirred my eyes to behold the king“… the book was so.. so.. I’m sorry - egotistical. The character just somehow came across as a not-so-pleasing, I-don’t-want-to-read-about-you kind of person.

Ah, but there were some scenes. Graphic scenes. Fighting and mayhem, rape and pillage, bodies gutted, profanities littering the air… I would count The King’s Peace as a good book if it had been written in third person. As it was, The King’s Peace was one of the most boring Arthurian tales I’ve ever read. It did not help that the book was obviously written for the feminist undertaking.

Primarily an Arthurian war novel, I don’t classify this story as fantasy. In fact, this book can get water dumped on it for all I care. Just let me keep the cover art.

Personal Rating: 2
This is the lowest rating that I have given thus far. The King’s Peace did not appeal to my fantasy-entwined mind. Nope, not a bit. I do not reccomend the book for pleasure-reading - perhaps if you are doing an essay on how medieval wars were fought… maybe.

Content Rating: M
Much, much, much blood, gore, violence in here. Beware. If you don’t want some 12-year old kid reading about how the nice old lady nun was tied, gutted, raped, and cut apart by profanity-screaming men, then don’t let them touch The King’s Peace. Enough said.