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archergal's review against another edition
5.0
What a good book this is! I listened to this on audio from Audible. The narration was outstanding. I probably enjoyed it more because of this.
I thought the writing was rich and evocative, and the setting was compelling.
I really loved everything about it.
I thought the writing was rich and evocative, and the setting was compelling.
I really loved everything about it.
gobblebook's review against another edition
1.0
i could not get into this book. I usually really like alternate history, but I could not get interested in this world or its characters. Based on other reviews of how Roberts is a master storyteller, I'm wondering if I even read the same book - I found his storytelling to be dull and plodding. Instead of letting you get to know the characters, he just describes the stuff that happens to them. None of them felt real to me. The world these stories are set in is dark and grim and joyless. I was annoyed by how anti-Catholic the book is - if the Church is so horrid, why hasn't there been a Reformation of some sort? It felt like Roberts was writing this as catharsis for some personal vendetta against Catholicism. Nothing in this world felt genuine to me.
Part of the problem might have been that I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator really annoying. He's only capable of two accents - the RP he narrates the book in, and the West Country hick accent he uses for all of the characters, which made all of them seem like ignorant louts.
mechankily's review against another edition
3.0
Good alternative history set in England in the 1960s several hundred years after protestant revolution stopped. England (like the rest of Europe) is still a feudal & backward place under the grip of Christianity.
julia_w's review against another edition
3.0
Eh, kinda boring. Although I'm pretty sure Eleanor did what I would've done if I accidentally declared war on the Vatican/started an English civil war: sit down and get drunk. I also did really like the semaphore message system.
timgreenard's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.75
The Lady Margaret - 3.00
The Signaller - 3.00
The White Boat - 2.00
Brother John - 3.00
Lords and Ladies - 2.5
Corfe Gate - 3.00
Coda - 2.75
I read the book thinking it would be strict alternate history, when really it was fantasy. The first two measures were interesting, as was Corfe Gate, but the rest just didn't have plots or characters that I found engaging. I didn't feel that they contributed in an interesting way to the wider setting.
The setting itself left me disappointed overall. The book presents itself as an alternate history resulting from the death of Elizabeth I, but the power the Roman Catholic Church holds over the entire Western world can't be explained just from this point of divergence from our own history. At no point did it really feel like another possible path history could have taken, partly because of the fantasy elements that never really come together with the alternative history elements in a satisfying way.
The Signaller - 3.00
The White Boat - 2.00
Brother John - 3.00
Lords and Ladies - 2.5
Corfe Gate - 3.00
Coda - 2.75
I read the book thinking it would be strict alternate history, when really it was fantasy. The first two measures were interesting, as was Corfe Gate, but the rest just didn't have plots or characters that I found engaging. I didn't feel that they contributed in an interesting way to the wider setting.
The setting itself left me disappointed overall. The book presents itself as an alternate history resulting from the death of Elizabeth I, but the power the Roman Catholic Church holds over the entire Western world can't be explained just from this point of divergence from our own history. At no point did it really feel like another possible path history could have taken, partly because of the fantasy elements that never really come together with the alternative history elements in a satisfying way.
markhodderauthor's review against another edition
5.0
Author's Envy! I wish I'd written this book! Here's why: http://www.mark-hodder.com/authorsenvy/pavane.html
ruthiella's review against another edition
3.0
"Yes", she said. "It’s like a…dance somehow, a minuet or a pavane. Something stately and pointless, with all its steps set out."
Pavane is an Alternate History which asks the question: “What would England look like if the Reformation hadn't happened?” The book is expressed in six measures which loosely follow the fortunes of the Strange family. In this world, Europe and North America are a theocracy governed by the Catholic Church wherein technology has not progressed beyond that of steam. The generation of electricity and other more advanced technologies are considered heretical and are suppressed. I particularly enjoyed the second measure called "The Signaller" which is about the operation of semaphore towers (which, I checked, were a real thing – just quickly outmoded by the telegraph).
As a thought experiment, I found the book interesting, though I am not sure the kind of stranglehold on technological progress could have been maintained for centuries as the book suggests. The book also seems to downplay the importance of North European states and their contribution to the advancement of Protestantism in Europe. There was also an indication of the existence of fairies which pushed the book into the realm of fantasy which I found odd. I wish too, the author had made the book more recognizably “modern” within the context of this steam-powered, highly conservative world. There were occasionally references to jeans and nylons but there could have been more of that to make the reader aware that we are not reading about an alternative 1760 or 1860 but 1960.
It was definitely worth reading, however; particularly if one is fascinated by alternate worlds and those big “What If” questions. It reminded me some of The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanely Robinson, which is much longer, but is about a world in which the plague kills virtually all of Western Europe’s population allowing for an Islamic world to emerge. I was also reminded of A Canticle for Liebowitz in what it has to say about religion, faith and the seeming inevitability of human nature and our penchant for self-destruction.
Pavane is an Alternate History which asks the question: “What would England look like if the Reformation hadn't happened?” The book is expressed in six measures which loosely follow the fortunes of the Strange family. In this world, Europe and North America are a theocracy governed by the Catholic Church wherein technology has not progressed beyond that of steam. The generation of electricity and other more advanced technologies are considered heretical and are suppressed. I particularly enjoyed the second measure called "The Signaller" which is about the operation of semaphore towers (which, I checked, were a real thing – just quickly outmoded by the telegraph).
As a thought experiment, I found the book interesting, though I am not sure the kind of stranglehold on technological progress could have been maintained for centuries as the book suggests. The book also seems to downplay the importance of North European states and their contribution to the advancement of Protestantism in Europe. There was also an indication of the existence of fairies which pushed the book into the realm of fantasy which I found odd. I wish too, the author had made the book more recognizably “modern” within the context of this steam-powered, highly conservative world. There were occasionally references to jeans and nylons but there could have been more of that to make the reader aware that we are not reading about an alternative 1760 or 1860 but 1960.
It was definitely worth reading, however; particularly if one is fascinated by alternate worlds and those big “What If” questions. It reminded me some of The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanely Robinson, which is much longer, but is about a world in which the plague kills virtually all of Western Europe’s population allowing for an Islamic world to emerge. I was also reminded of A Canticle for Liebowitz in what it has to say about religion, faith and the seeming inevitability of human nature and our penchant for self-destruction.
erinmjustice's review against another edition
2.0
My Review (spoiler-free):
Pavane offers an alternate history of the world after the imagined assassination of Elizabeth I. With England without a powerful Protestant leader, the Spanish Armada is successful and Spain - and the Catholic Church - are unchecked. Centuries of minimal progress pass, and the book picks up in the 1900s.
I initially read about Pavane on io9. The author of the post offered some great insight into the novel and made me want to explore this alternate timeline on my own. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of what I found. Pavane was very, very difficult to get through. I would pick this book up and read a bit, then get bored or annoyed and set it down for months on end. I just couldn’t get drawn into the stories or characters. As interesting as the premise was, it simply wasn’t my cup of tea. Perhaps I’ll try again later.
The Bottom Line:
An alternate history that promises more than it delivers.
Pavane offers an alternate history of the world after the imagined assassination of Elizabeth I. With England without a powerful Protestant leader, the Spanish Armada is successful and Spain - and the Catholic Church - are unchecked. Centuries of minimal progress pass, and the book picks up in the 1900s.
I initially read about Pavane on io9. The author of the post offered some great insight into the novel and made me want to explore this alternate timeline on my own. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of what I found. Pavane was very, very difficult to get through. I would pick this book up and read a bit, then get bored or annoyed and set it down for months on end. I just couldn’t get drawn into the stories or characters. As interesting as the premise was, it simply wasn’t my cup of tea. Perhaps I’ll try again later.
The Bottom Line:
An alternate history that promises more than it delivers.
halfmanhalfbook's review against another edition
2.0
This is a series of six short stories set in an alternative England in the 1960's where Elizabeth I had been assassinated and the Spanish had taken over the country. The land is still run in a feudal way, and the Catholic Church has a vice like grip on the country. The six snapshots are set in Dorset, with a few names changed ,but most the same.
There is very little technology in this world, most things are transported using steam wagons, and messages are sent via signal towers, via the guild of signalmen. Electricity is banned, only the church may use it, and the Inquisition is still plying its gruesome trade.
Some of the stories are better than the others, the signaller was my favourite, about a boy joking the guild and running his own semaphore station. In some of the stories Roberts has woven in to the stories the old folk, or fairies, almost as a pagan response to the catholic domination.
It reminded me a little of steampunk, just derived for the Elizabethan era rather than the Victorian era. The land he has created has been well though out, it it just the characters and the plots were not as strong.
There is very little technology in this world, most things are transported using steam wagons, and messages are sent via signal towers, via the guild of signalmen. Electricity is banned, only the church may use it, and the Inquisition is still plying its gruesome trade.
Some of the stories are better than the others, the signaller was my favourite, about a boy joking the guild and running his own semaphore station. In some of the stories Roberts has woven in to the stories the old folk, or fairies, almost as a pagan response to the catholic domination.
It reminded me a little of steampunk, just derived for the Elizabethan era rather than the Victorian era. The land he has created has been well though out, it it just the characters and the plots were not as strong.
jordibal's review against another edition
2.0
Abandonado en la página 205/279, a falta de un último relato y el epílogo. Como he leído más de la mitad y no pienso acabarlo, lo marco como leído y arreglado.
El libro prometía, es un "¿Y si...?" y las historias alternativas suelen tener su gracia. En este caso, ¿Y si... la Armada Invencible española se hubiera adelantado a la tempestad y hubiera derrotado a los ingleses? El catolicismo (y el Papa) vuelven a mandar en Gran Bretaña. Más religión, más represión, menos ciencia. A mediados del siglo XX siguen con locomotoras de vapor, sin siquiera telegrafía... Vamos, todo muy miserable y controlado por la malvada Iglesia. La idea no es mala, pero la ejecución...
Si con Matute me quejaba de que la señora se iba por los cerros de Úbeda, este señor no es que se vaya, es que se queda en los cerros porque ¡mira qué bonitos son! Esto no es una novela, es un conjunto de historias cortas semiindependientes que relatan poco y evocan mucho. Si te gusta la poesía, es posible que te guste el libro. De lo contrario, huye como las ratas. Le doy una estrella de más porque no pasa un párrafo sin que use un palabro rarísimo que no había oído en la vida y que no importa en absoluto en la acción: si usa tantas palabras exóticas, tiene que estar bien escrito, ¿no? ¿No?
El libro prometía, es un "¿Y si...?" y las historias alternativas suelen tener su gracia. En este caso, ¿Y si... la Armada Invencible española se hubiera adelantado a la tempestad y hubiera derrotado a los ingleses? El catolicismo (y el Papa) vuelven a mandar en Gran Bretaña. Más religión, más represión, menos ciencia. A mediados del siglo XX siguen con locomotoras de vapor, sin siquiera telegrafía... Vamos, todo muy miserable y controlado por la malvada Iglesia. La idea no es mala, pero la ejecución...
Si con Matute me quejaba de que la señora se iba por los cerros de Úbeda, este señor no es que se vaya, es que se queda en los cerros porque ¡mira qué bonitos son! Esto no es una novela, es un conjunto de historias cortas semiindependientes que relatan poco y evocan mucho. Si te gusta la poesía, es posible que te guste el libro. De lo contrario, huye como las ratas. Le doy una estrella de más porque no pasa un párrafo sin que use un palabro rarísimo que no había oído en la vida y que no importa en absoluto en la acción: si usa tantas palabras exóticas, tiene que estar bien escrito, ¿no? ¿No?