Historical fiction doesn’t get better than “Hild”: my review
tremendous read and now fav author (ignore the boats and bubbles ;-))
The time has come that I stand up and cheer for an author’s achievement. What. A. Read. “Hild”. Is.
I spent a much too long time reading Nicola Griffith’s “Hild” – but then I didn’t want it to end and to relish every page, every beautifully lively sentence. Gripped and fascinated, both as reader AND author myself. You know I have difficulty finding really good books these days that I can just enjoy, not analyse, and just be swept away by the magic of the words. It rarely happens since I write, too. But this … wow. It left me full of awe.
“Hild” is set in 7th century England (or all its kingdoms of the time), which makes it pre-Viking but SO familiar in most aspects of living and dying I always work with … I wanted to highlight many parts I think can come in handy for my own work. 😉 It centers around the seer Hild who gains influence and power, while staying wise and a warrior at heart. A fascinating character to follow, and packed with emotion and imagery.
As with all great authors, you sometimes hate them for being so good you wanna curl into a ball and weep, knowing you’ll never be THAT good. 🙂
My short and ecstatic review on Amazon and Goodreads goes like this:
Finally a book I can whole-heartedly say is the best I’ve read in a long while. If not ever. It truly deserves the praise it got, or rather Nicola Griffith, for a language and writing style that brings a whole, ancient world alive, its people, colours, demeanour, “the weave”. I enjoyed every page, almost every of her well-crafted sentences, and didn’t want the story to end. I bow to her and look up to her for a talent and craft that is better than the best I’ve read and I hope she’ll find her audience all around the world, so that she is forced to write MORE for me and all the other fans. Can’t wait for the sequel, which I know is being written at the moment 🙂
I want to sincerely thank an outstanding author for an outstanding journey. This is why we read, this is why I write. To drag readers into a world, its people, and never let them go. I’ll never be as good as her, and her writing style isn’t mine anyway, BUT finally I found a book so good I wanna read it all over again and then again, just to store all these wonderful sentences that create these vivid, sensual images in my mind.
Thank you, Nicola, for such a wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much … too much to digest.
Can’t wait to read Book 2!
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