This is a gender swapped retelling of Henry the IV. The concept is interesting, but fails in execution and world building. Even within the logic of the story it's hard to tell when the "lady knights" are breaking norms and when they are the norm. There's a heavy dose of faux druid magic as well (I assume this is being drawn in from the author's other works, as little is explained about it) and moments of surprising and unnecessary obscenity. Not for me, but possibly of interest to fans of the His Fair Assassins series.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

I wanted to love this book; truly I did. Gender swapped Henry IV and such, with lesbians? What’s not to love?

Well, quite a bit it turns out.

The main problem in this book isn’t the gender swapping or the world building. These are very well done, and it is clear that Gratton has done research and read the plays. The problem is simply the total lack of characterization and a large amount of detail that is totally unneeded.

The book would have been better served by actually showing the friendship that existed between the women prior to the rebellion. The reader is told constantly about the friendship and love but there is very little showing. And when Hotspur and Hal become lovers, it just feels so empty. The parting scene between the two was incredibly boring when it should have been emotional. This is due to the total lack of chemistry between the two characters. The lack is because the reader is left wondering why Hal is so darn attractive. In the play, it can work if the actor is talented, but as presented here in this book, it falls totally flat.

And you are told everything, never shown.

I am very sad to say that Gratton’s “Lady Hotspur” is the most boring book I’ve read thus far into 2019. I got lost very early on into the story, but I struggled on because I don’t like to not finish things, especially when the publishers were kind enough to accept myrequest to read this novel. It’s very hard to keep the characters apart, even in their own title chapters which 1) was very confusing for me and 2) made me not care about the characters or the story as a whole. It was very hard to focus and I found myself forcing myself through which is never a good sign when reading.

I can not describe the story as I did not understand it very well, more than my previous knowledge of the source material Gratton took use of – Shakespeare’s Henry IV – and I wonder if this is because I didn’t really get into Gratton’s previous work “The Queens of Innis Lear” (which I tried to read before starting this one) either, mostly because of the same factors as mentioned above.

On a more positive note I could tell that Gratton likes to experiment with language and that she does that experimenting well. Even though I had a hard time focusing when reading the language itself stood out and it felt very much like I was reading an epic poem á “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” or something similar, so well done on that point.

I wish I’d enjoyed it more than I did, but here we are.

I will post my review on my Goodreads-page on January 5th 2020.

#LadyHotspur
Wow. Oh wow! Lady Hotspur is a hunk of a book. It took me a week to get through. I loved Queens of Innis Lear, so when I read that this book was available I had to read it! I am not giving any spoilers first off. It doesn't come out for a while and I think it is worth reading without giving away details. Tessa Gratton is a world building writer. Lady Hotspur has a lot going on, but the story moves at a quick pace.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review the E-arc copy of Lady Hotspur.

As spitfire as the title suggests, Lady Hotspur whisks you away to a land of lady knights and lethal fights. This title possesses all the hallmarks of excellent epic fantasy: multifaceted characters, multilayered worldbuilding, scintillating writing, and a gripping plot. I highly recommend,

I loved the Queens of InnisLear. While this novel is a different series, this is still set in the same world. Lady Hotspur is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. For those of you that do not know the play this is an engrossing read. For those that do know the play, this is refreshing and breathtaking read. The author does an excellent job in making the old tale come alive and still make the tale her own. This novel is full of court drama and political intrigue! This is novel is one of the best Shakespearean retellings that I have read this year. I recommend this fans of The Fire of Winter, Lady Macbeth, and Ophelia! Full review to come!