Thread 24797104

This is actually a really, really fun read. Why is it never mentioned on /lit/?

>>24797104 (OP)
We are too busy pretending Anna Karenina is enjoyable to actually read stuff

>>24797104 (OP)
Never heard of it or that author. I only recognize Hereward because of a video game I no longer play

At first I confused this for picrel, which I really enjoyed. Will have to check it out.

>>24797295
Tolkien adored it and it's very obvious it influenced him greatly. The characterisation is top notch, and given that it is partly historical the world of Anglo-Saxon England and the wider NW Europe is dripping with authenticity.

Lots of action and buccaneering, prose is kinetic and soulful, plot is not at all plodding or pedestrian in places as I thought it may (Rider Haggard being guilty of such criticism).

The eponymous hero is refreshingly pre-contemporary. No gay quest prop, no self-doubt, no turmoil, no redemption, no prisons of thought or morality, just a will to power and expression.

Not finished with it yet but that is my takeaway so far.

Raising awareness of this book is my gift to /lit/

>>24797104 (OP)
>>24797320
Finally someone else who enjoys Charles Kingsley's writings on this board. I thought i was the only one on /lit/ who read this novel
Read Westward Ho! after, IMO it's slightly better than hereward the wake.
I don't think Kingsley's work gets discussed much because he wrote historical adventure in the vein of scott that isn't popular nowadays and especially isn't popular on this board. the occasional scott threads get a few replies then die quickly.

>>24797328
Added to the list, thank you anon *raises mead*

>>24797336
Westward ho! was so popular in its day it had an entire town named after it
And if are looking for more anglo historical adventure conan doyle's historical books like Micah Clarke and the White company are also great. I'm also curious as to which haggard books you found plodding in places

>>24797320
Ok. I could not really give two shite about your fetish for retarded characters, but I'll check it out regardless

>>24797351
I've read KSM and She.

The hunting interlude from KSM immediately comes to mind. I distinctly remember multiple instances of wandering, detached explanations of landscapes, and getting bogged down in stilted exposition.

>>24797445
With most Haggard stories you have 50 pages of preliminary reading before you get to the action packed parts, at least with his lost world adventure novels. But he also write historical ficton in the vein of Kingsley, his novels red eve and the brethren being rip roaring adventure tales which are action packed adventure tales from the start.