Sutcliff, Rosemary - Sarah Hayes

SARAH HAYES

Rosemary Sutcliff has always enjoyed the idea of the outsider, of the odd one who is isolated by fate to perform some special act. Though it has become almost a formula now, the magic lingers on—even in her new novel [Sun Horse, Sun Moon] which verges on self-parody….

All the Sutcliff hallmarks are here: the sonorous descriptions, the perfect evocation of an alien culture, the stilted quasiprimitive dialogue (with its unique use of the soothing phrase "na-na"). And, at about a third of the length of the earlier novels, this spare tale could easily be taken for a faint copy. But it is not. Though it lacks detail and human warmth, it conveys instead the mystery of ancient civilizations: the bleak unadorned style and story suit an age that remains dark and impenetrable to this day. The plot is a simple one, but the use of contrasting images of horses, shadows, birds, and cold winds give it a complex patterning that is the verbal equivalent...

[The entire page is 218 words long]

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