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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Patricia and Jim transported to Keltia, November 19, 1998
I read all the comments here before starting Blackmantle, and I must say I generally agree with them all, good *and* bad, particularly the one about the "heaving bosom" cover. The book looks like a Harlequin romance, for heaven's sake! They're not even wearing the most important jewelry mentioned in the book. Blackmantle *is* Kennealy's retelling of her relationship with Jim Morrison, except set in Keltia. That was fairly obvious even to me, and I haven't read any of her non-fiction about that relationship. That said, it did not interfere a great deal with the story, in my opinion. The weakness of this story was not its basis in Kennealy's life, but the lack of action, too much tell and not enough show, and the complete underdevelopment of almost every character that wasn't Athyn, and that includes Morric. I couldn't tell you anything much about any of Athyn's friends or siblings, since they were basically just a name and nothing more. On the positive side, I must say that this book has some interesting scenes about the faerie folk, the Keltic gods, and explanations for a few of the elements in the books that come later in Keltia's timeline. Also, I did enjoy it fairly well, despite its predictibility and lack of depth because it was meant to be a fable about true love and the length someone will go to to restore that love. Is it the best of her Keltia books? No, not by a long shot. It's probably the worst. But it's not unreadable. If you miss Keltia, visit your library and take it out.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cure for insomnia, May 30, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Blackmantle (Keltiad) (Mass Market Paperback)
My introduction to Kenneally's work was the Aeron series, and I loved every word of it. I had much the same reaction to the three Arthur books, piqued by the fact that the Arthurian material, and particularly women in the Arthurian material, is my academic specialty. So when Arthur's hero and role model appeared on the book store shelf, I grabbed the book, sped home, fed the cats and dogs, ditched a whole pile of English II essays, ordered out and prepared for an all-nighter. Well. I slept like a baby. To date I have tried three times to read this book and have now given up. The book is not about Athyn, it's about the author and her relationship with Jim Morrison. It's a roman a clef that could be picked by a geriatric nun with a hairpin. Truth: I don't care about Kenneally's private concerns, her marriage or lack of it to Jim Morrison, or her personal acrimony toward the other people in the man's life. When I pick up a novel about Keltia, I want it to be about Kelts, drat it! Blackmantle is autobiography, it may be therapy, but it's not "A Novel of the Keltiad."
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dark "Blackmantle", June 21, 2005
This review is from: Blackmantle (Keltiad) (Mass Market Paperback)
As Patricia Kennealy-Morrison will tell anyone who listens, she once was briefly wed to Doors frontman Jim Morrison. But she rewrites her own love life in "Blackmantle," a messy and rather dizzying fantasy novel, which is too vengeful and wild to be enjoyable in its own right.
Imagine her autobiography "Strange Days," but with a lot more murder.
Athyn was born on a battlefield to a dying mystery woman, and was brought back home as a foundling by one of the surviving warriors. Years later, she is cast out of her family's home by her cruel foster brother, and goes on to become a legendary brehon. Then she discovers the shocking truth -- she is actually the hereditary queen of Keltia.
During this time, she also falls in love with famed bard Morric Douglass. Eventually the two are married, as Athyn drives out the Firvolgi invaders. But the beautiful junkie Amzalsunëa is still obsessed with Morric, and poisons him when he comes to comfort her. Now Athyn goes on a rampage against anyone who wronged Morric -- and then goes into the underworld itself, to challenge the god of death.
At first glance, "Blackmantle" sounds like a sci-fi version of the Orpheus legend. But it becomes clear after a short time that this is a therapy session put to paper, where Kennealy-Morrison can get revenge on all the people in her life who have ticked her off, then live happily ever after with an idealized, faithful Morrison. It gets a little stomach-turning, in more than one way.
It certainly doesn't help that Athyn -- Kennealy-Morrison's glorified alter ego -- is such a nasty person. At one point, she skins and debones several men for trivial slights; she also hunts down and beheads Morric's ex-girlfriend, who is a parodic copy of Morrison's longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson. Not to mention the brutal racism toward the Incomers, whose sole flaw seems to be that they are not Kelts. By the last third of the book, it's hard not to wish that a meteor would crush Athyn.
Kennealy-Morrison has an admittedly pretty style, with plenty of description and some truly interesting scene, particularly her vision of the Underworld. It does get a bit exaggerated in its faux-Celtic (faux-Keltic?) atmosphere at times. Unfortunately, it's bogged down by too much talking from Athyn, too much adoration of the plastic Morric, and too much sneering at the absurd parody of Courson.
Reality and fantasy collide with a nasty splat in "Blackmantle." In the end, it seems merely like a way for Kennealy-Morrison to get back at Courson and the Doors in fiction, as she could not do in life.
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