Karsa Orlong

This is the only version that should be allowed

Does it come with credit cards?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e37F8gBC8g0

Book #66: The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland Blurb: England, 1321 Welcome to the Dark Ages In the heart of the countryside lies an isolated village, where pagan Owl Masters rule through fear, superstition and murder. When a group of religious women ill-advisedly settles outside the village, they awaken dangerous jealousies. Why do their crops succeed? How do their cattle survive the plague? Are they concealing a holy relic which protects them from harm? The Owl Masters cry 'Witchcraft' and sharpen their talons. As torment and hellfire rain down, the women must look to their faith to save them from the darkness spreading across the land. Fear is a question of what you believe. And death alone the answer. Thoughts: I read Karen Maitland's Company of Liars a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much. Claim to fame: I was reading that book as I sat on a Metropolitan Line train opposite food critic Jay Rayner (it was just a few days after his mother, Claire, passed away). Anyway, yes, I enjoyed that book, it was quite the page turner, but the strange thing about it was that it left very little in the way of a lasting impression. I can barely remember anything about it now, which is odd. I bought The Owl Killers almost straight after finishing CoL, but it's taken me this long to get around to reading it, mainly because I was quite confused by the lack of impression the previous book had left on me. Having finally got around to it I find I have, again, enjoyed Maitland's writing very much. She's taken the unusual approach in this one of using multiple first-person viewpoints, and I think it works really well. Each character is well-defined and, after a few chapters, you can probably tell which of their heads you are in without reading their name, which appears at the start of each section. The Owl Killers is the tale of what happens in a small fictional Norfolk village, called Ulewic, when a group of women from Flanders build their own community, or beguinage, on its outskirts. In doing so they create a triangle of belief systems, from the Church, to the pagan Owl Masters who seem to rule the roost, to their own. The novel starts with the Owl Masters exacting their own form of justice upon a local lad amongst the fires of Beltane, and spirals outward from there as they attempt to raise a demon. The leader of the beguines, Servant Martha, is the main character (I imagined her as a Louise 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' Fletcher-type) but is painted in shades of grey: she does what she does for what she believes are the right reasons, but nothing is ever so simple. A young girl called Agatha is thrust into the keeping of Servant Martha by her father, a noble who wants rid of her because, among other reasons, she had the audacity to witness the Owl Masters carry out their ritual on the first night of Beltane. Servant Martha's favouring of Agatha arouses jealousy in another of the beguines, Beatrice, who has come there for very different reasons. The local priest, Ulfrid, has been sent to Ulewic as punishment for being caught in the arms of a young male prostitute by the bishop of Norwich, and is desperate to get back into the bishop's good graces. Outside the village, up in the hills, lives the old woman Gwenith and her granddaughter Gudrun, both suspected by the villagers of witchcraft. And then there is the charmingly named weepuddle (which won't be allowed by the board's word filter, but I like it, lol), a child in the village who comes to play a large part in proceedings. Maitland gradually weaves these characters' various tales together into a very enjoyable whole, and makes their motivations very clear and believable. There are some genuinely tense and scary moments, and she ratchets these parts up very well indeed. If I have one complaint about the novel - and there is only one I can really think of - it's that one particular happening towards the end requires quite a suspension of disbelief, and relies on the reader having bought into the story completely. Other than that, the setting, the atmosphere - in the village, the forest, and just the overall sense of foreboding - are all fantastic. 8/10

Angry email sent!

So I wait nearly two months for my complete set of Team GB First Day Covers to arrive, and one of them (Helen Glover and Heather Stanning) is missing. Bloody Royal Mail

A great band that has sadly imploded. They've not been the same since Chris DeGarmo left them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHds8CXf4NI&feature=related

Usually when I'm talking to myself

There was a debate? But it's fun!

Dammit! Okay, I found it on Amazon Yes, it's Karen Maitland. I liked Company of Liars a lot, but I think this one is better all round - providing it has a good ending

420 pages into The Owl Killers, so may finish it today

Just testing No, you're right, I shouldn't have mentioned Hyperion at the same time, because I don't have a spare copy of it Better late than never

Keep up at the back! Dune Although I Am Legend would be acceptable. For now.

I know, that's what, five cast members at least who are no longer with us? O'Hare, Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, Tim Choate . . .

First review I've read for Red Country - sounds promising!

Just read that Michael O'Hare (Babylon 5's Jeffrey Sinclair) has died, aged 60. http://www.variety.c...084?refCatId=14

I'm currently about 300 pages into The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

So's I Am Legend, The Time Machine, The Day of the Triffids, Dune and Hyperion Ah, that probably explains the Waterstone's guy's reaction I'll do the latter, probably before you read any of mine Cos it's awesome! Shut up and read it

Well that's not fair! Fingersmith is 560 pages long, I Am Legend is 176 That's enough negativity Of course you'll like it. I'm sure you can add one of them to your pile of 57,436,218,901 other library books you've already borrowed It could, but it might not! When do you have to return it?

I don't think so, somehow Well, there are only a couple in your TBR list that I'd pick I Am Legend is a must. Then there's The Time Machine and The Day of the Triffids. And the combined length of those three comes to less than Fingersmith on its own, so I think you should read them all I think I should send you my spare copy of Dune, though. Or Hyperion. Re: Abercrombie, as I've not read Best Served Cold yet I can't really recommend it

Nearly up to the end of season 3 of Castle. Very enjoyable, and I have no ulterior motives for watching it whatsoever

Ah, right, no, mine is this edition: That other one is awful! Those 50th anniversary covers are horrid. They did similar for some of my favourite books: Hyperion, I Am Legend and Dune Talking of Hyperion, they had a pristine copy of the SF Masterworks edition of Fall of Hyperion in that shop. I may have to go back and get it on the way home tonight, even though I have read it before . . . I'm starting to think I should get those instead of the SF Masterworks hardbacks Oh. Shall I take Fingersmith back, then? Okay, will do