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BEARDLESS_IN_PARIS

                                         April 6, 2006

On the plane to Bali, I read:
Cecilia Holland - "The Angel and the Sword"  (2000)

Based on the legend of
"Roderick the Beardless":

A princess must go on the run from
her wicked stepfather, she disguises
herself as a man and becomes known as
a warrior knight, defending
Paris from Viking attack.

Throughout she appears to have
the assistance of some spirit,      In one scene, someone walks
a magical entity that can only      into a church and finds her
barely be percieved: an             alone, bent in prayer, and he
"angel", though it's not called     can see the outline a this
that until the novel's close.       giant entity surrounding her,
                                    projecting an air of proud,
   That's probably crucial          martial defiance.
   for the effect of the
   novel: the fantastic                       A small detail
   element is handled with                    that works much
   a very light touch.                        better than you
                                              would think.

This is something like a
"young adult" fantasy novel
except it uses a much more                 This is a lot like
authentic historical setting               that book "Mooned Woman"
than is usual.                             (or whatver it was),
                                           except that it isn't a
   And this is one of my                   piece of junk.
   standard criticisms
   of genre fantasy: why
   use an invented pseudo-
   historical setting,
   when you could use a
   real one?


        (A rhetorical question.
        The answer is that you
        need to know something
        to write historical
        fiction.)


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