Gracielis
I read this because I was curious as I have played some Guild Wars 2. The story shows how Eir, Rytlock, Caithe, Logan, Zojja and Snaff become Destiny's Edge all the way until after the fight with Kralkatorrik. These are things you have some familiarity with if you've played the game.
It was an easy and quick read, though I must admit I wanted more interiority from the characters.
As to the question whether the book is interesting for people who haven't played the game...hard to tell, though I suspect it might not be, unless you are super curious about the game but can't play it for some reason.
So, I'm trying to explore some more poetry. I decided to reread this, as Kay is one of my favourite writers.
I'm not really a poetry reader and maybe that's the issue. The very first poem, Night Drive: Elegy, (before part one of the collection) made me cry. The rest - I found some interesting ideas & some beautiful phrases, but the collection doesn't really speak to me.
As I grow older I'm fascinated by witches. The idea that witches were women who knew more, wanted more, refused to bend, to make themselves smaller.
This is exactly such a story. About three witches, and so much more. The power of language, of story, of rhyme. Three sisters with amazing names: Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Amaranth and James Juniper.
The amount of information that the author has been able to gather about five women about whom I previously knew: their names, that they were prostitutes (which turns out not to be true), and that Elizabeth Stride was from Sweden, is astounding.
The book is very interesting, and paints a stark picture of what it could be like to be a woman, and poor in times past. The story of these women is heartbreaking, and not only - nor primarily - because of Jack the Ripper.
I'm not a very good reader of poetry. Consequently the parts of this book that touched me the most were the stories about the poet's family history. But, I did like the poems, I think my favourite may be the one called For Earth's Grandsons and which begins: “Stand tall, no matter your height, how dark your skin”
