The Court Of The Midnight King (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
The Court of the Midnight King is set in the fifteenth century, during the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III. The Wars of the Roses is one of my favourite periods of English history (close on the heels of the late 16th century), which is why I followed up on my friend’s recommendation to read this.*** Warning - plot spoilers! ***Although ninety-five percent of the story is told from the point of view of its medieval characters, the narrative is interrupted at intervals by brief scenes set in the present day. August, a history undergraduate, having become obsessed with Richard III after watching a DVD of Laurence Olivier in the Shakespeare play, starts having vivid visions of the lives of two young people, Kate and Raphael, whose world is a 15th-century parallel universe seemingly contemporaneous with our own. For them, magic is real and a matriarchal goddess cult still survives alongside Christianity, albeit under increasing pressure of persecution. As the story unfolds, we see a very different Richard of Gloucester from the one portrayed by Shakespeare: handsome, unswervingly loyal to his brother Edward, loved by practically everyone who meets him. And this is where the book started to go awry for me.Everyone (apart from his political enemies) loves Richard. August the undergraduate is besotted by him, neglecting her 12th-century coursework to investigate the contradictory evidence in the historical record and fantasising about nocturnal visitations from her dark prince. Raphael idolises Richard, who took him in after his family were killed during the conflict between Edward IV and Henry VI. And Kate, mother of Richard’s illegitimate son following a brief but passionate teenage liaison, is too infatuated with him to marry Raphael, even though she loves him and it is the best way to secure her family’s estate.Now, I’m as much a sucker for an angsty romance and unresolved sexual tension as the next girl – and I confess that the scenes between Kate and Richard were some of my favourites – but the unremitting adoration and somewhat naive pro-Ricardian stance (as in, Richard was far too good a man to have murdered his nephews) began to cloy after a few chapters. And this is a substantial book.It didn’t help that the framing story interfered with my suspension of disbelief. Every few chapters I was being reminded by the author that the story I was reading was apparently the imaginings of a modern-day girl (I say apparently, because in the end the two worlds do meet). It felt like I was reading Ricardian fan-fiction, with Kate as August’s self-insertion (or is August the author’s self-insertion?). Good fan-fiction, but with that irritating note of adolescent wish-fulfillment.Add to this the (from my perspective) wearisome amount of time devoted to the female characters’ personal lives at the expense of the turbulent politics of this alternate history Wars of the Roses, the anachronistic proto-feminism of the Wiccan-like Motherlodge , and not forgetting costume descriptions that sounded uncannily like Richard et al had been dressed by The Black Rose rather than Berman’s and Nathan’s – and my cynical side began to get in the way of my enjoyment. There were times, heading towards the middle of this book, when I could have cheerfully thrown it across the room!It’s a pity, because The Court of the Midnight King is beautifully written, evoking the ethereal beauty of the English landscape and carrying its scholarship and period knowledge lightly. I really wanted to like it, and by the end I kind of did (mainly because I can’t resist a satisfying HEA), but I’m not sure I’ll pick up another of Warrington’s books in the future.
This is probably the most unusual Richard III novel I've ever read, and I've read a few. A young history student in present day UK sees a video of Olivier's Richard III and is instantly obsessed. She (well, had to be a woman, really) starts having odd visions of the Wars of the Roses, but the Mediaeval England we see through these visions are strangely distorted from our knowledge of the period. Possibly the most radical change is that there is a flourishing goddess cult, involving women from all parts of society and dealing in what I suppose would be called earth magic for want of a better term. The visions follow the lives of two young people, one a knight in Richards service, and the other, inevitably, Richards lover. Then it starts getting complicated. The knight starts having visions of Richard as recorded in our histories; at one point he dreams an entire scene from Shakespeare's play. The whole thing comes out as a bit of a mish-mash of new-age sensibilities and fan-girl wish fulfilment. But oddly enough I enjoyed it. The author writes with a vivid pen, deftly painting beautiful, vibrant scenes.An extract:London broke upon Raphael like some crazed demonic carnival out of a fog. Houses stood crammed together and teetering with signs of merchants and alehouses thrust like a morass of banners into the steamy air. The streets glistened like stream beds. Pointed roofs ran with sunlight. And the crowd along the streets never in his life had Raphael seen such an array of folk, such wealth and exuberance. Their clothes were like jewels, blue and red and green; their headgear was fashioned in ostentations imitation of royalty, plump velvet cushions crowning the men, gossamer drapery flowing over the hair of women. Gold glinted upon their hands as they waved. Their cheers deafened and thrilled him like the blare of battle horns.
What do You think about The Court Of The Midnight King (2014)?
Okay, let's get this out of the way up front: This book is fantastical wish fulfilment of the highest order. If that's not your thing, cool, whatever, you will not enjoy this. If, on the other hand, you're not above enjoying some imaginative, deftly-plotted fan fiction with your afternoon tea, this book is great.I am of the latter category and absolutely enjoyed the hell out of this story. It's fantastical and not particularly believable, but that's part of the fun. The characters are lively, they all have their flaws -- even Richard -- and the plot line is unconventional. I have read my fair share of Ricardian novels, and I always struggle with the endings because there's only one way for it all to go -- *SPOILER* -- an ignominious end and a forgotten burial in a car park. This book keeps you guessing, and it's great.Also, can I just say, the approach to NO HOSE was unabashed and pretty genius.
—Quadrophenia718
I would give this 3 and half stars if that would be possible.It is a very enjoyable, very well written mix of historical romance and fantasy.and it is nice, for once - even if it is in a parallel world to have a book about Richard III that has a happy ending ;)
—Laistemoonwhite
An odd one, this one. In a sentence, it's a historical fantasy about Richard III.DON'T READ it if you're going to grit your teeth every time you come across something that you know either didn't happen or could never have happened in a million years in the world as we know it or knew it. On the other hand, don't go expecting that this is so fanciful that you won't come away with a fresh perspective on the characters and events leading up to what has become known as the Battle of Bosworth. There's enough solid historical grounding of the characters and politics of the time to make it interesting as (yet another) Richard III novel, worthy for comparison in many ways with other straight (ie. non-fantasy) historical novels about Richard.So, what is fantastical about this novel? DON'T READ ON IF YOU WANT A COMPLETE SURPRISE....... Without giving too much away, firstly it's an England in which a matriarchal pagan religion (seemingly a vestige of Isis worship) is fighting for survival in a patriarchal Church-led society. There are also strange mythical creatures being used in the various battles between York and Lancaster. And as the novel progresses, the lines between the outer and the hidden worlds become blurred and what is reality and what is dream is not always clear.Oh, and there's a "time split" element, with a modern-day university student somehow living the events in the past through her daydreams...........There were moments I was either saying WTF to myself or plain wondering what the fantastical elements even added, but by the time you get to the end of the story, I was pretty much loving it. What that ending actually is, you have to read the whole thing to find out.
—Justin Neville
