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Summary: An outerspace, Keltic autobiography.
Review: I was able to get to page 200 before giving up. The characters are underdeveloped and shallow. There is a "waiting" for action which is predictable when it finally comes. A catharsis for the author? I miss the Keltia I have come to enjoy, richly developed, emotionally meaningful. Ms. Keneally does a disservice to her "bard" Morric Douglas by keeping his character remote and distant. I grew tired of the anger, which almost seemed undeserved based on the shallowness of the character she was avenging.
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Summary: boring...............
Review: I was bored with this book. Could not read the whole thing because I felt like I was reading "strange Days" all over agian. Her whole focus is Jim Morrison. Boring book.
Rating:
Summary: boring...............
Review: I was bored with this book. Could not read the whole thing because I felt like I was reading "strange Days" all over agian. Her whole focus is Jim Morrison. Boring book.
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Summary: disappointing combination of mysticism and Morrison
Review: I was truly disappointed in this book. The story takes place in Kennealy's Keltia universe, but she has replaced plot and character development with a (thinly) veiled fictionalization of her life with the late Jim Morrison. Her male protagonist is a serene bard (musician), originally part of a popular music group, who splits with his band, is killed with a drug called "hazen" (heroin?), and is rescued by his one true love. His name appears a variation of the Celtic rendering for "Jim Morrison", and his nickname "Fireheart" is (by merest coincidence) also the name by which Keneally refers to Morrison in her earlier non-fiction account of their life together. Where she is not reworking her life, she spends describing Wiccan rites and philosophies. I truly enjoyed the previous two trilogies dealing with Keltia. In fact, that is the only reason why I didn't abandon this book midway through. While the framework remains, the fleshing out is gone. Her characters are shallow, and the plot goes to its inevitable conclusion. I hope she either returns full-bore to her earlier style, or abandons all pretense of keeping to the Keltia theme. Blackmantle just doesn't work.
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Summary: Not worth the time to read it
Review: I was very disappointed.This book droned on and on. It lacked a genuine plot and the writing was blah. That is all the comment this book deserves.
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Summary: Keltia is a fantasy world you will want to live in.
Review: In Keltia even the common folk have nobility and never was that more apparent than in the tale of Athyn, the horse girl who rose to be High Queen of the land. Blackmantle is her story and the story of her legendary love for her lord, Morric.
As always, Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's Celtic love of language shines through. Her use of the rhythms and cadences of the written word are part of what make Keltia the beguiling world it is. If you have even a drop of Celtic blood you will settle into the world of Keltia like a child snuggling into a favorite daydream.
In a departure from her retelling of some of the old tales of Arthur in her last trilogy, with Blackmantle, Kennealy-Morrison gives us a more personal tale, and a love story that will appeal to even those who usually take a pass on the fantasy novel. But those who like their fantasy well blended with adventure will be well pleased also; Athyn's campaign to drive the usurping Firvolgi from the land is filled with battle and heroics. And f
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Summary: A synopsis of a novel, not the novel itself.
Review: Lack of dialogue, more 'telling' than 'showing', rushed pacing, and overuse of authorial intrusions make this book a disappointment to loyal readers of Patricia Kennealy-Morrison. 'Blackmantle' might have been an epic series stretched out along two or three books, but even having to wait for those books would have been preferable to reading what amounts to a several hundred page synopsis of the novel(s) the author should have written. If you want vintage Kennealy-Morrison, stick with 'The Copper Crown', 'The Throne of Scone', or 'The Silver Branch'.
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Summary: Women of Power, Women of Class
Review: Lush prose of relentless originality makes Blackmantle, like its Author, a force to be reckoned with. Here are characters of fortitude in a culture where magic, honor, and high Love nurture the extraordinary in the mortal spirit. Blackmantle --like the other books of Keltia-- transcends its subjects and mere life in the kind of writing that changes lives. With this book, Kennealy-Morrison continues the work of her late husband (universally loved, high-impact Jim Morrison of The Doors) by challenging her audience. She inspires identity and creativity, demanding and encouraging the best of the human spirit. Bravo, Morrisons. We hear you.
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Summary: Disappointing after Arthur & Aeron
Review: My 1st experience with Ms. Kennealy's writing was the "Aeron" trilogy, starting with The Copper Crown - truly excellent in my opinion, as was The "Arthur" trilogy. Suffice to say that Blackmantle was a severe disappointment. Athyn's development was disjointed, the obsession with revenge & torture unappealing and plot meandering. Morric appeared as a paper thin entity not a consort; the other characters also lacked depth enough to be anything but pale scenery. I found myself scanning, not reading, hoping vainly that the plot would improve. This book doesn't have much in common with its predecessors or the Keltia previously described /created. Skip this book and read Copper Crown or The Hawk's Gray Feather as an introduction to Keltia. Hopefully Ms. Kennealy will regain her previous focus in future "Keltia" installments and put aside the disappointing diatribe shown in Blackmantle.
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Summary: Cure for insomnia
Review: My introduction to Kenneally's work was the Aeron series, and I loved every word of it. I had much the same reaction to the three Arthur books, piqued by the fact that the Arthurian material, and particularly women in the Arthurian material, is my academic specialty. So when Arthur's hero and role model appeared on the book store shelf, I grabbed the book, sped home, fed the cats and dogs, ditched a whole pile of English II essays, ordered out and prepared for an all-nighter. Well. I slept like a baby. To date I have tried three times to read this book and have now given up. The book is not about Athyn, it's about the author and her relationship with Jim Morrison. It's a roman a clef that could be picked by a geriatric nun with a hairpin. Truth: I don't care about Kenneally's private concerns, her marriage or lack of it to Jim Morrison, or her personal acrimony toward the other people in the man's life. When I pick up a novel about Keltia, I want it to be about Kelts, drat it! Blackmantle is autobiography, it may be therapy, but it's not "A Novel of the Keltiad."
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