'Ladyhawke' - Joan D. Vinge (Piccolo Books)

I'm fully aware of how old this is going to make me sound but damn my arthritis was giving me some grief yesterday, today as well :o( I'm mostly quite lucky with it, it only pops in once or twice a year to say hello, but when it does turn up, damn it hurts... I did have vague plans for yesterday but they were all cancelled and replaced with painkillers and a comfort read instead. 'What comfort read was that?' I hear you ask ;o)  Well... 'Ladyhawke' of course. 

I've already reviewed the film over Here and because this was a comfort read (and my mind was never going to change on it), I'm enlisting the help of 'Past Me' who wrote a post, on the book, about ten(ish) years ago. Don't judge me, my arthritic knee hurts... ;o)

If you want the original post, it's Here. I've made a couple of small changes, nothing that you'd notice though (I'm just being fussy). Here goes...

Captain Etienne Navarre is a man on whose shoulders lie a cruel curse. Punished for loving each other, Navarre must become a wolf by night whilst his lover, Lady Isabeau, takes the form of a hawk by day. Together, with the thief Philippe Gaston, they must try to overthrow the corrupt Bishop and in doing so break the spell...

So...

Did you watch the film or read the book first? As far as I was concerned, I didn't even realise that there was a film until some years later and, looking back, I think that was a good thing. Yep, I'm talking about the awful eighties soundtrack that accompanies Rutger Hauer fighting the Bishop's Guard (and trying his manful best to ignore it as he does so) I'm sure a little piece of me died when I saw the film for the first time and the music started playing. But the book though…

I've had my copy of 'Ladyhawke' for a good forty years, at least, and it still hasn't lost its power to utterly captivate me. I start reading and that's it, I'm in the story until it finishes. 'Ladyhawke' is by no means a classic and doesn't do an awful lot that is different. A curse is a curse wherever you go and this is very much the deal here. Where Vinge makes things shine though is her characterisation and how this shows through when you actually see Navarre and Isbeau have that 'almost together' moment on the cusp of dawn. There's a part of me that is an old romantic and it never fails to make me well up a little to see two people in love who can't be together because of evil magic. Vinge also has a happy knack of being able to get inside her characters heads and really lay them bare in such a way that you can't help but will them on. Navarre comes across as one dimensional initially but he is anything but once you get into his head.

But I was saying, two lovers that can never be together... What was I talking about? Of course they will be together! I told you that this is a book that doesn't do an awful lot differently and the outcome is never really in doubt (hence the comfort read) despite some moments where you wonder what could happen. The final chapters are stirring affairs that rush the reader headlong into the final outcome whilst still giving the reader a feeling of doubt (especially when the bells ring, you'll know what I mean if you've read the book/seen the film). It's a heady mixture that still keeps my eyes on the page, even though this is a book that I must have read dozens of times now.

It's no secret then (and definitely not a spoiler) that the ending is a happy one; like a medieval fairy tale with loads of grim bits but a hefty dose of morals at the end. Everyone gets what they deserve and this kind of ending seems rather quaint when placed against other, more recent titles. There's still a place for it though and I'd say a very necessary one. Our world may not be one for happy endings but fiction tells us that happy endings can happen and it's important for us to know this. 'Ladyhawke' does this very well indeed and there are enough second hand
copies floating about out there for you to get some of those good vibes too. I'd thoroughly recommend it in fact.