Refusing-to-feel-guilty pleasures: the Sister Fidelma series

[sunnyskywalker]

There is a lot to like about Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, but also plenty that is... well, bad. Every time I read one, I am annoyed and wonder if I should just quit reading. Yet I have read about thirty of the damned things, and am almost certainly going to read that new one my library just got an ebook copy of

Comments

[mary_j_59]

I read one of the short stories and really enjoyed it, though I didn't think it was quite up there with Brother Cadfael. That dialogue you (mis) quoted is hilarious!

[sunnyskywalker]

I seriously am not exaggerating by very much. The dialogue really is almost that awkward at points in every book. I wish the series would be adapted to a Netflix series or something, because I bet they would smooth out all the dialogue and just let us appreciate the cool bits.

Though we probably wouldn't get quite as much legal trivia, which--odd as it sounds--would be a loss. Making obscure points of ancient law sound compelling is a pretty impressive literary trick. I did end up checking out the ebook of the latest, and there's this little aside at the beginning on the "bee law," which requires that beekeepers compensate their neighbors because the bees are also visiting the neibhors' flowers. There was apparently a debate over whether the compensation should be in honey, bees when the hive was big enough to split, or either. This was part of a discussion about the importance of legal precedent, and how the bee-law might relate to mining law. And it was so cool.

[mary_j_59]

I've read one of the books and the biggest plus for me was it felt with a time and place I am unfamiliar with.

After all get I get a little burned out with the billionth Tudor historical novel ( a slight exaggeration)

[sunnyskywalker]

I know what you mean! It is a fascinating setting, and being less familiar is definitely a bonus. We don't need to look for "fresh new takes" on it yet to hook a jaded audience because there are so few takes. It all feels new, because it is (to me).