Rite of Conquest is a new a new edition to my list of favorite books. I loved the mix of history, magic, and incredible character development. ( )

A solid but flawed outing from Tarr, with a satisfyingly different take on the Norman-Saxon dynamic, sympathetic characters and a couple of rip-roaring battle scenes. In addition to this, the courtship between William and Mathilda was rather delightful; I hadn't realised that they were one of the "great love matches of the Middle Ages", and Tarr certainly did them justice here (without it ever becoming epically overwrought as such romances tend to). However, the plot frequently skittered around too much, skipping over some of the more interesting stuff it should have focused on, and I felt that the magical aspects of the story, which worked well for the Normandy/France settings, tendered to founder somewhat when it came to England. ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2007/02/22/rite-of-conquest/ ( )

Very interesting. It's a period I don't (didn't) know much about, and now I understand better. Tarr is very good about presenting facts-as-known accurately and weaving her story around all the bits that aren't known. In this case, she put in an afterword explaining what's pretty sure, what's disputed, and the one place where what she wrote contradicted known facts (Cordelia's disposition). It's also a good story - I had some trouble getting in to it with all the politics and magic and magical politics intertwining, but eventually it caught me up. However, as soon as I finished it I had to go reread Puck of Pook's Hill, which was the source of most of my previous knowledge of William and 1066. And while Kipling's facts match Tarr's story just fine, they handle the magic aspects almost reversed. Kipling presents England as full of magic and Old Things, and the Normans having to adjust to this oddity; in Tarr's story, the Saxons have used Christianity to suppress and destroy magic in England, and William is fighting as much to free the magic of Britain as to gain the throne. Odd and interesting. I want to read the sequel, King's Blood, too - that's William Rufus' story. ( )

Usually when you read a story that involves French and English magic it's usually with a point of view of good Saxons and evil Normans, this turns some of those concepts on their head and plays with an idea of bringing magic back to England with the invasion. The Saxon Christians are suppressing magic and it's causing problems.

Between the magic and the romance this is a fun read. I really did enjoy the story and the characters. ( )