The right book at the wrong time

[lizvogel]

I started reading Firelord by Parke Godwin, based on a rec from somebody around here. Godwin's doing interesting things with grounding the Arthur legend in real history; Arthur is the tail end of the dying Roman tradition, the Picts are basically Faerie. And the writing is beautiful. But it turns out I don't have a lot of patience with Arthuriana any more. I know how this story ends.

There was a time when I found the great tragedy of it all appealing. And if the time comes when other people's venality and petty egoism haven't left wounds quite so raw in my life, maybe I will again. But these days I've no interest in tragedy in my entertainment, especially the kind that could so easily be avoided if people weren't short-sighted and selfish. I rather wish I'd come across this book in my younger days, when I was on my King Arthur kick; I suspect I would have liked it a great deal, then.