Review: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

★★

"There's a journey we must go on, and no more delay ..."

I'm still not really sure what the journey actually was to be honest. The plot, in it's most literal sense, is about an elderly couple called Beatrice and Axl and their journey to find their son. Alongside that there is some Arthurian legend, ogres, Saxons, strange monks and a dragon, that all sounds quite exciting but somehow I found myself struggling to muster the enthusiasm to open the book and keep reading.

It's a very hard book to review because so much of it is "literary fiction" and the meaning and symbolism was just lost on me, I knew there was something there I wasn't grasping and I've finished the book with no more clarity than when I started. The best way I can describe it is like wandering through someone else's dream where the small meanings are so personal that you don't notice them and the story makes no sense and keeps jumping around aimlessly.

Review: Edwin: High King of Britain by Edoardo Albert

★★★★

I'm a big historical fiction fan and this was very well written and researched. It tells the story of Edwin's rise to power in the 7th century and his conversion to Christianity, something I knew nothing about before. The author did a great job bringing the history to life and it was a very enjoyable read.

My only minor complaint is that is it heavily focused on Edwin's conversion to Christianity and it does skip over large time periods in his life. Don't get me wrong the religious aspect was very well written I just felt it may have been emphasised at the expense of a more rounded recounting of his life.

I have the second and third books in this series and I'm looking forward to reading them too.

I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.