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Armed in Her Fashion (2018)

von Kate Heartfield

MitgliederRezensionenBeliebtheitDurchschnittliche BewertungDiskussionen
766349,016 (4.06)5
"The novel is written with arresting detail and challenges literary tropes about women. Its roster includes half a dozen complex female characters and one trans male character, all of them captivating, sympathetic, repulsive, flawed, dangerous, selfless, determined, and damaged. They and Heartfield's powerful battle scenes make this well worth the price of admission."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) In 1328, Bruges is under siege by the Chatelaine of Hell and her army of chimeras--humans mixed with animals or armour, forged in the deep fires of the Hellbeast. At night, revenants crawl over the walls and bring plague and grief to this city of widows.Margriet de Vos learns she's a widow herself when her good-for-nothing husband comes home dead from the war. He didn't come back for her. The revenant who was her husband pulls a secret treasure of coins and weapons from under his floorboards and goes back through the mouth of the beast called Hell.Margriet killed her first soldier when she was 11. She's buried six of her seven children. She'll do anything for her daughter, even if it means raiding Hell itself to get her inheritance back.Margriet's daughter is haunted by a dead husband of her own, and blessed, or cursed, with an enchanted distaff that allows her to control the revenants and see the future. Together with a transgender man-at-arms who has unfinished business with the Chatelaine, a traumatized widow with a giant waterpowered forgehammer at her disposal, and a wealthy alderman's wife who escapes Bruges with her children, Margriet and Beatrix forge a raiding party like Hell has never seen.… (mehr)
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Surreal fantasy, set in Bruges under siege in the Middle Ages, set in a Bruegel painting, where all the grotesques are characters, and the regular folks are just trying to survive.

Both bizarre and utterly compelling, with strong, stubborn female characters, an interesting depiction of politics at the time, and a trans soldier who keeps getting misgendered. Fascinating. I’m not sure exactly who to recommend this to, but I’ll start with my Middle Ages loving friends, who can appreciate the rich setting as much as the adventure.

Advanced readers copy provided by edelweiss. ( )
  jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |
What a weird book.

A trans man-at-arms, a shrewish old wet nurse, and a spinster with a magic distaff march on the gates of Hell to reclaim a stolen inheritance. Also features a debate on whether zombies are legally dead.

It could be fantasy, it could be alternate history, it could be philosophy. It was definitely strongly feminist, in a somewhat similar way to Women Talking, where the worth of women is always defined in relation to the men.

But it did discuss that women are expected to give and give and give, and it is a blemish on their womanly character if they ever want to take. Margriet, Beatrix, and the Chatelaine all experience this in some form. Also, how a man and a woman can hear the same conversation and make radically different conclusions. I couldn’t help thinking of Margriet’s accidental invitation to her husband was very like those vampiric legends, but also a case of willful misinterpretation.


And there are so many allegories for Hell. In the afterword, the author says the book was based on Dull Gret by Pieter Brueghel- I thought it useful for envisioning some of the crazier scenes (but again, all of this book was batshit).



There are more discussions of Hell, about how horrible and inescapable marriage can be, how the injustices a man can bring on his wife are the worst thing in the world (The beast was Hell because it was home to her husband, the antagonist laments at some point). Other good phrases: It is right that a wife should die, when her husband has no further need of her (if indeed he ever had need of her, even if he never provided for her while he was alive). If Judas and Caesar cannot be found in Hell, is it really Hell? It brings suffering and monstrosities, but it doesn’t match a Christian definition.

There were some Book of the New Sun-type asides that seemed to make reference to how horrible the modern world would be to a thirteenth century peasant. I thought those were pretty funny. They discuss how glasses and prosthetics are kind of chimera-ish, if you think about it.

Margriet was an interesting protagonist. She wasn’t very sympathetic or relateable, but her strong sense of justice was pretty indisputable by modern standards. She wasn’t a very loving mother to her adult daughter, but you could see how she knew better than to share her bitterness with children (unlike certain characters in An Unkindness of Ghosts, cough cough). There was love in her, but certainly not for any man.

The setting in general was really excellently researched. It was incredibly and specifically tied to its setting. I had to look up a lot of terms (especially clothing and different types of nunneries), but it was a good thing. It tied me more closely to Bruges in 1328.

I didn't really love this book, but I thought it was interesting. ( )
  Tikimoof | Feb 17, 2022 |
I want to say this is a well-thought-out historical novel, and it definitely dovetails nicely with history, but let's face it: It's Hell on Earth.

In a lot of great stylistic ways, I'm reminded favorably of Peter Newman's [b:The Vagrant|23559647|The Vagrant (The Vagrant, #1)|Peter Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1419775822s/23559647.jpg|43159288], only it's right here and the minions of hell all speak French.

The novel is very female-centric, making this all kinds of awesome. Not all men are jerks, but all the revenant men definitely are. Add that to the laws which disenfranchise the lot of women, a cool attempt at bringing Justice to Hell, and a big smackdown when that doesn't pan out.

These mothers, widows, and even a non-identified transgender warrior all do everything they can to survive and secure their place in the world filled with dead-but-still-being-assholes husbands.

Don't assume this is just a fast-paced and bloody-minded fantasy with the minions of hell pouring out of the Earth. I mean, it is absolutely that, but it's also about doing the right thing... or not. :) :)

I very much enjoyed this. I'm gonna keep my eyes on this author. :) ( )
  bradleyhorner | Jun 1, 2020 |
Pros: very feisty women, lots of history, clever integration of the hellbeast

Cons: writing was a little dry at times

When her revenant husband returns to the besieged city of Bruges and reveals he’s hidden a fortune, Margriet de Vos demands her rights: a third of that wealth belongs to her, the rest to their daughter. Her husband now serves the Chatelaine of Hell, and intends to give her this gold. But Margriet won’t be deterred. Neither war, the King of France, nor Hell itself will keep her from getting her due.

Meanwhile, Claude a transgender man-at-arms and former guest of the Hellbeast also wants the de Vos treasure, or rather, a mace he unwisely sold to Margriet’s husband and now needs back.

The story is mostly told from Margriet’s point of view, though there are a few scenes from her daughter and Claude’s viewpoints as well. Margriet is very feisty, willing to fight over a sou if she feels she’s owed it. Her daughter’s much kinder but has little agency, as her mother’s overprotective and often overbearing. Margriet supported the family by working as a wet nurse, which isn’t something that comes up often, though historically it was a common thing. It was also nice seeing a middle aged woman as the protagonist, especially one who is near-sighted in an age where glasses can only be afforded by the elite.

Claude was a great character. It’s awesome to see often overlooked people in history and, while misgendered through a good part of the story, the author always maintains his understanding of who he really is. Though they were short scenes, I really enjoyed the revelations regarding aspects of womanhood he’s missed (like breast binding) and how he survived in a soldier’s camp.

The author cleverly integrated her mythological aspects into actual history. At the end of the book she cites a Flemish painting that was her inspiration for the book, and it added an entire new layer to the story itself.

The writing can be a bit dry at times, in that it’s not a particularly fast paced or adventurous tale. There’s a lot of sitting around and talking or walking between cities.

If you like medieval history or want a historical fantasy that’s different from the norm, this is an interesting read. ( )
1 abstimmen Strider66 | Feb 12, 2019 |
Kate Heartfield's Armed in Her Fashion is a dark, gritty fantasy set in well-researched 1328 Bruges and environs. Not only does she realistically portray a transgender character within the period, but her entire cast feels real, from her near-sighted wet nurse protagonist to the very chatelaine of Hell. This is a fantastic read. ( )
1 abstimmen ladycato | Jan 17, 2019 |
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But tel me this: why hydestow, with sorwe,
The keyes of thy cheste awey from me?
It is my good as wel as thyn, pardee!
—Chaucer, The Wife of Bath’s Tale
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For Xavier, who loves history.
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Margriet de Vos peered at a horizon smudged with the smoke of small fires.
Zitate
That goddamn drunkard in the street. May he life to be flayed alive. With a dull knife. And she would use his skin for a book, and write all her accounts in it with ink of gall and wormwood.
A woman may put on a mask of a man but it does not turn her into one. The law is the law.
She did envy Gertrude after all—not her grief, which must be greater than Beatrix could even imagine, but her boisterous presence in the world. Gertrude took up space; Beatrix was always watching from the corners.
He did not like the king’s smell, perfumed and oily. Claude had known men like him before. Vainglorious. There was a kind of violence that went with such vanity, an unwillingness to let anything else in the world be beautiful.
She was such a kind-hearted woman, really. She just husbanded that kindness, as if it would run out.
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"The novel is written with arresting detail and challenges literary tropes about women. Its roster includes half a dozen complex female characters and one trans male character, all of them captivating, sympathetic, repulsive, flawed, dangerous, selfless, determined, and damaged. They and Heartfield's powerful battle scenes make this well worth the price of admission."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) In 1328, Bruges is under siege by the Chatelaine of Hell and her army of chimeras--humans mixed with animals or armour, forged in the deep fires of the Hellbeast. At night, revenants crawl over the walls and bring plague and grief to this city of widows.Margriet de Vos learns she's a widow herself when her good-for-nothing husband comes home dead from the war. He didn't come back for her. The revenant who was her husband pulls a secret treasure of coins and weapons from under his floorboards and goes back through the mouth of the beast called Hell.Margriet killed her first soldier when she was 11. She's buried six of her seven children. She'll do anything for her daughter, even if it means raiding Hell itself to get her inheritance back.Margriet's daughter is haunted by a dead husband of her own, and blessed, or cursed, with an enchanted distaff that allows her to control the revenants and see the future. Together with a transgender man-at-arms who has unfinished business with the Chatelaine, a traumatized widow with a giant waterpowered forgehammer at her disposal, and a wealthy alderman's wife who escapes Bruges with her children, Margriet and Beatrix forge a raiding party like Hell has never seen.

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Kate Heartfield ist ein LibraryThing-Autor, ein Autor, der seine persönliche Bibliothek in LibraryThing auflistet.

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