<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Only the bibliography is of any use
Review: Although the author is honest in the introduction about having inserted her own views "at times", she has sadly missed the fact that those "times" are, essentially, the entire book...I have never found a reference book more disappointing, especially since my impression of persons involved with the SCA is that they generally have a much better grasp on what constitutes historic fact and what constitutes various (necessary) adaptations made for the "current Middle Ages".
Any familiarity with the source material makes it possible to see exactly how badly distorted this distillation really is. A visit to an SCA event would probably be more informative (lest any occupants of the Enchanted Ground take that as a slight, rest assured I am NOT comparing your efforts to this volume-if I did, the comparison would come out in your favor.) The pertinent books in the "eyewitness" series aimed at children and young adults are more accurate, honest, and useful.
I will, however, grant the author that the reading lists provided are useful, which makes it all the more disappointing that she was unable to make better use of them. If you want to learn enough about the middle ages to write a nice piece of historical fiction, go to the library and consult the bibliography of this book for better references. Do not, on pain of wasting your valuable time and possibly remembering major misinformation, actually read the book itself. If you want a useful reference on the Middle Ages written in accessible language, try anything by Frances and Joseph Gies, books in the "Eyewitness" series, or DK publishing's photo books on the subject.
If you simply want to add a medieval flavor to a fantasy novel, either read Gies, a children's reference (a la Eyewitness Books), or simply read a medieval-flavored fantasy novel. It will probably be more fun, and will not add to your personal burden of "brain sludge" serious misinformation about the middle ages. [For those who haven't heard the term, "brain sludge" is all that mental baggage (like jingles for discontinued products, your high school locker combination, or long-extinct phone numbers for people we wouldn't want to call anyway) that gets stuck in your brain-causing you to forget IMPORTANT information like where your car keys are and what time to pick up your spouse/child/friend from the (pick your event/location), or the question to the Final Jeopardy answer that could win you enough money to settle your mortgage. Deepest thanks to Dave Barry for the term; the examples used to define it are my own.]
Rating: 
Summary: Great for writers but even better for gamers
Review: Another of the "Great for writers but even better for gamers" series, this book is exactly what I wanted from a reference, unlike the somewhat meandering Body Truama in the Howdunit series. The book hits on so many topics, it's impossible to list them all: food, clothing, medicine, economy, measures, titles, saint, weapons...the list goes on and on. All are referenced in an easy to read, no commentary style that provides keywords in bold text with their definitions in each section. Even better, there's a Further Reading section at the end of each chapter.As a springboard for further research, What Life Was Like is a prime resource. Of most immediate ues to gamers with a historical bent are the date of clothing styles (to avoid anachronistic styles of dress) and a description of the day to day activites of a castle. While it's probably a bit extreme to apply all of these principles to role-playing fantasy, which is, after all, FANTASY, this book goes a long way in providing a sense of feel to an environment that's so different from the modern world, it seems fantastic. Thus this scene: "The warrior takes a slurp from his soup bowl, then sticks another forkful of meat in his mouth as he mumbles, 'Yeah, I know him. What's it to ya?'" Becomes this: "The warrior takes a slurp from his trencher, then sticks his knife into a hunk of meat and stuffs it in his mouth. He mumbles, 'Yeah, I know him. What's it to ya?'" No forks til the late fourteenth century! Forget wooden bowls, people used hollowed out bread as bowls. Also prevalent throughout this Writer's Guide are the pictures and lists. Although my own personal preference is for line drawings in a work such as this, the pictures (of period actors) do the job. Also, the lists, when they appear, are relevant and to the point, including a list of popes and kings. There are other books in the series that would probably find an application in role-playing: Guides to Victorian England, Renaissance England, and even the Wild West. If they're anything like Everyday Life in the Middle Ages, they're worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Concise primer
Review: I agree with another reviewer here who says this book is good for a concise reference on the Medieval ages. This book is meant as a writer's reference and therefore is not designed to go as far into detail as say a college text book. I'm a writer of a dark fantasy series based in a feudal society and I've found this book not only invaluably helpful but also extremely easy to handle. Let's face it, there are just times we writers want a quick fact about etiquette, dress, etc and not an entire lecture. That's when I pick up this book, page to the correct section, and 9/10 times will instantly find what I'm looking for. It sure beats scanning mountains of academic text to find a simple fact or two. I also like how the authors list short bibliographies at the end of each chapter for authors who'd like more indepth material to research. The vocabulary lists are my favorite. I actually have each marked with tabs now for instant access. This really is the perfect starter (primer) for those just beginning or considering the possiblities of a series set in a Medieval society. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I agree with previous critical reviewers on all points and I'll add that this book is about the lives of nobility rather than mainstream society. There are no chapters entitled "Peasants and Slaves" or "Famine and Disease". The book seems to be directed towards persons interested in the Society for Creative Anachronism or other historical recreation groups. In other words, the point of the book doesn't seem to be in giving an accurate or comprehensive historical account regarding medieval life but rather what you might want to know to be able to describe or participate in romanticized versions of medieval life. Moreover, all aspects of medieval life are idealized (in part due to focus on the lifes of the relatively affluent), and the author repeatedly suggests that things weren't so different from how they are now, even in terms of medicine and the status of women. Finally, many pages are wasted on indices of useless esoteric vocabulary. I think it's ridiculous that the subtitle suggests that this is a useful guide for historians and students. 2 stars because each chapter has a list of references that might be good.
Rating: 
Summary: Good as a concise reference
Review: I got a copy of this book because I was looking for a concise reference on the middle ages for fiction writing, primarily as a source of names and terminology. For this purpose, the book satisfied my needs. I found the vocabulary lists throughout the book particularly helpful. I don't have the expertise to comment as to whether the book is any good as a historical reference.
Rating:
Summary: Stop scavanging for errors, everyone...
Review: I think that this book is extremely useful, especially the chapter about food, as it tells you things that is almost impossible to find elsewhere - such as a brief list of what they ate, what they did, when they ate, who served what, how they were seated, etc etc etc. I've been hearing all this trashing about how horrible the pictures were, but I don't think they're nearly as bad as everyone keeps making them out to be. So what, a person left his glasses on - they weren't depicting a full-size model of someone from the middle ages, he was only modelling certain features. And also, below the picture of the Viking it says "the model wears a Viking CEREMONIAL horned helm with ear flaps." It never stated that that was the everyday helmet of a viking, if anybody bothered to read what was underneath. The robes of the two monks in the picture looked different to me, and it says "the man on the left wears a Benedictine robe; the man on the right wears a Franciscan robe." Everybody here is looking for a textbook for school, as opposed to a guide book. She even says so in the Introduction - "this book is designed as a mere starting point or as a reference to look up much needed information as quickly as possible." I think this book is a terrific guide and can't honestly see what all the fumes and steam are about. Some of the vocabulary words and definitions are utterly useless for me, but then most of them are gold. I'm not a professor of Middle Ages, so obviously I'm not picking up the grittiest mistakes, but that doesn't matter - I'm a fantasy writer, I don't need to know the specifics, and after being one of those people who went to the Library to look for information.... half of the books were crap meant for someone who had five years to read and understand a 900-page manual on FOOD that only talked about how they had no information and could not get any information on the food. And frankly, if you're a fantasy writer, you don't need to get into the nitty-gritty stuff. I really don't care if the peasant-garb existed or not (and yes, it did, because I used to go on the internet on all sorts of sites on the middle ages, and for every typical female peasant garb it looked remarkably like the one in the book.) This book has to be the clearest and quickest way to get information on the middle ages, and it gives you all the information you need to write an entire scene on something in detail and clarity, without blurring the background and hoping everyone won't notice the lack of detail and knowledge. You all can trash this book or toss it in the flames, but it's going to stay with me for a looooong time.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't match the hype, but a great starting point
Review: On my first or second reading I would have given book a negative review. I think that was because of the awe-inspiring title: "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles from 500 to 1500". That in itself was enough, an almost impossible premise for any book to live up to, particularly one that is only 232 pages (counting the index). But the back of the book adds more hype, suggesting it will provide all the facts you need to write about food, clothing, medicine, royalty, heraldry, vocabulary and war in a period that spanned 1000 years and saw massive social and technological change. By that standard it fails. This book will only get you started. But by that second definition, a "starting point", it's excellent. I have ultimately come to love it and regularly use on it as my first source. At the end of each chapter is a bibliography of books that go into a lot more depth on each topic. And the chapters, while short, are well organized and for the most part decently written, giving a good introduction to the topics mentioned earlier as well as a brief overview of kings of the middle ages (both in the British Isles and nearby places such as the Scandinavian countries and France) and invaluable discussions of the different ethnic groups that populated this place and time, with chapters on Anglo-Saxons, Britons (Welsh), and Vikings, among others. Yes, you can find most of this stuff on the Internet. But who wants to surf through dead links and long-winded URLs trying to find out who was king of Scotland in a particular year? Besides, some of the places I go to write don't always have internet access. You have to have a few books. Among the book's faults are the pictures, black-and-white photos apparently of friends dressed for re-enactments. Vikings didn't really wear those stereotypical horned helmets, yet she includes a picture of a strapping blonde Viking wearing one. Another shows a young man wearing a thirteenth-century cape and some hip modern glasses: groovy, but probably not accurate. Faults aside, this is still a great starting point for any historical fiction writer's library. If I could only keep five of the pile of books I've accumulated while writing a story set in 1033 England, this would be one. I do wish Kenyon had expanded it to another hundred pages and provided more detail (particularly regarding how things changed in specific centuries and maps). I would have especially liked to see more specifics in the lists of words that end many chapters. Sometimes they appear to be French, for example, but there's no indication where or exactly when they were likely to have been used.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't match the hype, but a great starting point
Review: On my first or second reading I would have given book a negative review. I think that was because of the awe-inspiring title: "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles from 500 to 1500". That in itself was enough, an almost impossible premise for any book to live up to, particularly one that is only 232 pages (counting the index). But the back of the book adds more hype, suggesting it will provide all the facts you need to write about food, clothing, medicine, royalty, heraldry, vocabulary and war in a period that spanned 1000 years and saw massive social and technological change. By that standard it fails. This book will only get you started. But by that second definition, a "starting point", it's excellent. I have ultimately come to love it and regularly use on it as my first source. At the end of each chapter is a bibliography of books that go into a lot more depth on each topic. And the chapters, while short, are well organized and for the most part decently written, giving a good introduction to the topics mentioned earlier as well as a brief overview of kings of the middle ages (both in the British Isles and nearby places such as the Scandinavian countries and France) and invaluable discussions of the different ethnic groups that populated this place and time, with chapters on Anglo-Saxons, Britons (Welsh), and Vikings, among others. Yes, you can find most of this stuff on the Internet. But who wants to surf through dead links and long-winded URLs trying to find out who was king of Scotland in a particular year? Besides, some of the places I go to write don't always have internet access. You have to have a few books. Among the book's faults are the pictures, black-and-white photos apparently of friends dressed for re-enactments. Vikings didn't really wear those stereotypical horned helmets, yet she includes a picture of a strapping blonde Viking wearing one. Another shows a young man wearing a thirteenth-century cape and some hip modern glasses: groovy, but probably not accurate. Faults aside, this is still a great starting point for any historical fiction writer's library. If I could only keep five of the pile of books I've accumulated while writing a story set in 1033 England, this would be one. I do wish Kenyon had expanded it to another hundred pages and provided more detail (particularly regarding how things changed in specific centuries and maps). I would have especially liked to see more specifics in the lists of words that end many chapters. Sometimes they appear to be French, for example, but there's no indication where or exactly when they were likely to have been used.
Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Review: So there's a few historical inaccuracies. So the cover is that goofy orange, with Queen Elizabeth (though she shows up nowhere in the book). So it's filled with silly photos taken from a low-budged Renaissance Festival. I still found this book EXTREMELY useful. The reviewer that said that you should use this as a springboard hit the nail right on the head. No, the facts aren't extremely detailed. No, they're broad-ranging. But it's enough presented here to get your imagination working, and several books are listed to check out for further information. I found the clothing timeline to be very interesting and detailed (and accurate for the most part). Plenty of information on festivals, holidays, musical instruments, vocabulary you might use, etc. There's even a nice long listing of saints, and some of the Crusades. The thing to remember is that this is a writer's guide only. If you're looking for quick facts, this book is perfect for you. If you don't want to fish around in 8 medieval textbooks to find out what your hero might have eaten for dinner, get this book. Sherrilyn Kenyon is a romance author and quite honestly, if you're a romance author looking to pick up some easy facts on English history for some research, this is your book. Those actually trying to do in-depth research will, most likely, be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Yep, I noticed the illustration of Queen Elizabeth on the cover too. Whew, a bad beginning for a not-very-helpful book. It's padded with lists of words that probably would not be used in a work of fiction (the reader would not know the meaning of words like "gworb" or "streen", so why include them?)If she wanted to include word lists - how about lists of personal names that were common in the Middle Ages? And how about a discussion of the emergence of surnames in the Middle Ages? That would have been helpful. She discusses forms of address from peasants to nobles but doesn't broach the subject of how nobles addressed each other, or how peasants addressed their fellow peasants. I think what would really make the book useful would have been a detailed diagram of a castle, illustrations of clothing, armor, mail, etc. that were actually produced in that time period, information about the plagues of the time period, the symptoms, etc. This book is lacking so much that would be really and truly useful that I have to agree with the other reviewers who mentioned that the bibliography is probably the best part of the book.
<< 1 >>
|
