The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard Review

[labingi]

This is the first self-published book I have ever read a good chunk of without realizing it was self-published. [EDIT: This is not a dig at self-published writing. I am self-published and hope my books are roughly comparable to traditional in quality, but it is a mountain to climb to do all the traditional publisher work yourself on your own dime, so I'm impressed when a work does it, and I want to uplift that it's possible.] The book is as well written as a number of recent traditionally published books; it’s well edited, proofread, designed, nice cover art. It looks professional.

But in retrospect, it had to be self-published because it’s a Silmarillion fan fic with the names changed, and a traditional publisher wouldn’t take it for fear of being sued. (Not really spoilery: this is clear quite early.) Its premise (I’ll just render this in Tolkien terms) is one of the exiled Noldor returns to the Undying Lands after dying (?) in Middle-earth. That’s a fantastic premise for a fic! With some alterations, it’s a great premise for an original story. That’s why I bought it! I don’t think it fully exploits this premise, though. It’s a goldmine for psychological and philosophical development, and it has fairly little of either, in my opinion.

It does have a great original addition in the idea of a male and female elf who are well-matched “professional/vocational” rivals to such a degree they can be almost interchanged with each other. That concept may be the story’s strongest, and again, I felt it wasn’t fully exploited.

But some of my discontents are discontents with the source material (The Silmarillion): 1) the style is, for my taste, too expository—too much “telling,” not enough “showing”; 2) I just don’t get the concept of the Undying Lands on any deep level, because my cosmology is very different from Tolkien’s. Goddard is, I think, trying to follow Tolkien here, and part of my difficulty suspending disbelief may come from my just not getting it. I give her marks, on the whole, for showing respect for Tolkien’s work and not altering his Elves in any bizarre ways.

One the whole, I find the book conceptually fascinating but not developed deeply enough to fully engage me.

Spoilery review at my DW.

Comments

[rocky41_7]

I'm in the middle of reading this one right now and it's literally Maglor returns to Valinor AU fic...not sure I can get through it. It's too bad, because the book isn't bad, but it's so intensely derivative I just keep comparing it to Silm.

[themis1]

Try her 'Hands of the Emperor'. (Also, many self-published books have beautiful covers and are properly edited. Mine are, for example, and I'd challenge you to identify that they're self-published without knowing that.)

[labingi]

Yeah, I feel similarly. I think I would still have had some difficulties (ex. too expository) if it were an original story, but it would be easier for me to fill in background in my head. With this one, I feel like the background is already there and, as you say, it's the Silmarillion.

[labingi]

I'm definitely hearing I should try out her other works.

I hope that my own self-published books are well edited and look professional too. I didn't mean to suggest this doesn't often happen, but it's true that this is the first book I ever thought was traditionally published and then realized I was wrong. A lot of this is probably down to my just not being a big reader of recent books.

Anyway, I meant it as a compliment, but I can see how it doesn't come off that way. Will edit.

[themis1]

I love Hands of the Emperor - it's long, and very slow, but somehow satisfying. Don't expect fast action!

Thanks for the edit!