Blackmantle

The Keltiad

by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison

High Queen Athlyn Cahanagh risks everything as she ventures along the perilous Low Road to find and restore her beloved Morric Douglas, a great bard, killed by her evil rival Amzalsunea

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Arthurian

640 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison was an American author and journalist. Her published works include rock criticism, a memoir, and two series of science fiction/fantasy and murder mystery novels. Most of her books are part of her series, The Keltiad

Reviews

[Delaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed most of Kennealy's Keltiad novels as their basic premise is one of the most inventive and pleasing melds of Celtic myth, fantasy, and space travel I've ever encountered. It's a shame she never finished the other books planned in this fictional world.

Blackmantle is the sole disappointment in the Keltiad, although for me this was entirely due to knowing some of the author's own background. Patricia Kennealy (which is the name most of her novels were published under) was briefly romantically involved with the late Jim Morrison, lead singer for The Doors. Though they were never legally married, the author claims that they were handfast in a pagan ceremony. Morrison was also partnered with long-time companion Pamela Courson, to whom he left his estate and who in later probate proceedings was ruled to have been his common-law wife.

Beneath all the attractive Keltic trappings, Blackmantle is a supremely egotistical and utterly self-serving retelling of the author's romantic rivalry and Morrison's dual relationships.

When I was first becoming enchanted with other novels in the Keltiad, I visited the author's website. On it, I found a dire and portentous edict warning others not to infringe on her characters, storylines, or the like. The galling part of it was that it was written to suggest that Kennealy herself was both responsible for and the sole heir of Celtic spirituality, honor, and tradition. This combined with her spiteful and selfish storytelling in Blackmantle where she so modestly casts herself as the titular warrior queen with otherwordly magic has left me with little respect for the author as a person. As a writer, she's very talented, and I love the rest of the Keltiad immensely, but it would have been better if this book had not been written.

[Sarah Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.

This book takes a lot of flack for being PKM's revenge fantasy against those who boo-hiss'd her relationship with Jim Morrison, but I don't care about her reason for writing it. Many authors are inspired by their life experiences; if PKM wants to fashion herself & Jim as the leads, that's her choice. Sorry to burst your bubbles, y'all, but there's a lot of fiction floating around wherein the author imagines him/herself as the hero & enjoys a bit of revenge against or romantic intrigue with someone specific -- so judge the book on its own merits or faults, not because you dislike PKM as a person. *shrug*

To that end: BLACKMANTLE is not holding my interest. At all. The prose is cumbersome & the episodic style bores me; the heroine is a blatant Mary Sue, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the flowery voice keeps everything & everyone at a distance, shoved behind the veils of time gaps & excessive Celtic or pseudo-Celtic terms. It's just not grabbing me, & I'm tired of trying to push through. :/ I'm often a contrary bitch here on GR, so I'd have enjoyed posting a favorable review for a book that so many dislike, but alas. Not this time.

Standard 2-star DNF.

[Bernadette Giacomazzo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Other reviewers have pointed out that writers, as a rule, have the right to pillage their own lives to write fictional stories. And while this is true - and I, as a writer, have done it myself - that doesn't mean that the writer is a reliable narrator by default. When it comes to a story, there are three sides: yours, mine, and the truth.

To get to Blackmantle: as has been said time and again, this story is little more than Kennealy-Morrison's revenge fantasy brought to life in a pseudo-Celtic setting. The book, in and of itself, is well-written from a technical point of view. Kennealy-Morrison is (well, was, as she's no longer amongst the living) a talented writer - that much, we can all agree on.

But even technically good writing does not a good story make, and it's worth noting that this book not only killed her entire Keltiad series - which were niche-y, but well-written, and had a solid fanbase - but cost her the contract with HarperCollins.

And, listen, I understand how devastating loss can be. I fully appreciate that Kennealy-Morrison never got the closure from Jim Morrison that she so clearly could have used. And I firmly believe that until the day he died, she always thought she'd get SOMETHING out of him - a second chance, maybe, or a final curtain call to their relationship with no ambiguity as to where they stood - and that his death removed that opportunity, not only for her, but for others, too.

It's okay to be sad about a death.
It is NOT okay to have THIS much venom about it so many years after the death had happened.
Kennealy-Morrison needed therapy, not a writing contract, to address that loss. Her methods of murdering all these people who dared not toe the party line about her alleged great love affair with Morrison suggest a woman who was unstable, at best.

And this goes back to what I said in my previous review about her non-fiction book, "Strange Days": Patricia's life seemingly began, and ended, with her brief fling with Jim Morrison. And this, to me, is the true tragedy of her story - because she was a woman that was ahead of her time in a lot of ways, and should have been remembered for being a pioneer in the field of female music journalism.

We should be talking about her in terms that she HOPED she'd be remembered for: as a no-nonsense, take-no-guff feminist trailblazer for female journalists of all stripes, who subsequently found success as a fiction author.

Yet, because of her obsession with one (talented, admittedly) musician, she's known as a groupie...and an unstable one, at that.

If that's not a tragedy, nothing is.

[Keri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I suppose the book she wrote about her life with Jim Morrison wasn't enough, so she had to ficitionalize it to get her revenge. I kept reading this expecting it to get better, but it never really did.

[Indigo Crow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know very little about this author or her relationship with Jim Morrison of The Doors. I'm not a fan of The Doors and have never read any other books by this author, so for the most part, my review of the book comes free of opinion on either of those things, though I admit it's difficult to separate my thoughts from such things, because the author so very obviously made the connections when she wrote this.

I will begin by saying I hate the narrative. It does not flow well. I found myself tripping up on it many times. I don't think I'm some sort of un-cultured reader that would have trouble with more "formal" means of writing. I just don't think it was necessary to use language in so... oh, what's the word? Archaic..? Of a way. That may not be quite what I'm trying to get across, but hopefully my point was made there. If she'd have just used more modern narrative, the flow would have worked so much better.

Another thing I didn't like was how "Mary Sue" the main character is. She's soooo special. Everything about her is so SPECIAL. She does what no one has ever done or ever will and succeeds at everything. That isn't interesting. It's actually very frustrating when you know your main character can do no wrong in anyone's eyes and will always come out the victor. Sorry if that's a spoiler, but it isn't very difficult to deduce how things will go after reading just a little while, so I think most readers would have figured it out before very long anyway.

The story isn't original by any means. The idea of a foundling child turned royal who then does something spectacular is probably one of the many fantasy tropes that get overused in all kinds of books by all kinds of authors. The idea of going off to Hell to save your lover isn't new, either.

And just what the heck is up with the SPACESHIPS?? No, I'm not kidding. There are spaceships. These people fly to other worlds like it's a ride downtown. Yet, everything else they do is very medieval. They don't have any other technology, but they can fly to other planets without even thinking twice about it? I'm sorry, but that just doesn't fit here. I'm all for a good sci-fi/fantasy mash-up, but the science fiction of space travel in this book is so out of place as to come off as absolutely ridiculous! That should have been left out.

I picked this book up by chance at a thrift shop. Maybe it's bad luck that I happened to read this book first out of the other books in this universe. Or maybe I'd have found the author's style of writing to be off-putting right away and her characters bland just like these in any other work she's produced. Regardless, I won't be reading any more of this author's work, since this one disappointed me the way it did. It's not BAD, but it isn't good, either. For something as so-so as this is, it's too long and too slow to read.

Still, I do feel a little sorry for her. She must have been in quite a bit of emotional pain when this was written. That, at least, definitely shows through.

[Myth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to get something off my chest here before I start.
I love this book like fire and burning and red-hot magma. Part of it is leftover nostalgia, sure, but part of it is just that Athyn is a badass.
The first half of this book deals with Athyn growing up and becoming part of a resistance movement in her country/star system/what have you. She must deal with her origins, her quite frankly abusive older brother, and take care of the horses all at the same time. Then she becomes the equivalent of a lawyer and proceeds to kick ass at the profession. And, you know, eventually become a general-y type person and save the world.
That's the first half, guys. That's the half I love. That is the half that I would go through a lot to read.
It's the second half that's disappointing.
Somebody dies, Athyn goes bonkers but the book seems to think that killing a frillion people for occasionally badmouthing you and your husband is okay, and she takes time off from her high queenship (and at this I shit you not) to go ALONE into an ENEMY STAR SYSTEM to kill ONE WOMAN.
Granted, she ends up killing more and turning a couple of people into pigs, but still. The Queen of a nation comprised of at LEAST three star systems goes ALONE into ENEMY TERRITORY to kill one woman. I don't care if she killed your husband, you ninny, you have a freaking country to run!
You know, I could understand if this was in the heat of the moment or whatever, but no, this is a couple of years later. I just... the lack of responsibility boggles my mind. YOU HAVE SPECIAL FORCES, ATHYN. FOR SERIOUS. MOST OF THEM SERVED YOU IN THE WAR. Send somebody in. Get the murderous fiend! If you really feel the driving need to kill her yourself, have them bring her back to you!
And frankly, I'd've preferred the possible bittersweet ending to the story rather than the cheery OH LOOK WE'LL BE TOGETHER FOREVER AS GODS YAY US! But then, that issue is the only problem I had with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, so it's possible that that one's YMMV.

I give Blackmantle 4/5, because that first bit is just so damn awesome.

[Lena Minaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as a teenager in the 90's. I was never able to find the rest of the series, but now I'll probably look again to see if I can find digital copies.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlike her other works which are sometimes slow to get into... Blackmantle started out great, but about 2/3 of the way through devolved into a gory psyco bloodfest as she takes revenge on those who wronged. Her. I had to skip some of the grisly details.. totally lost my interest in this charator as she changed completely into some demon. None of the other ketiad books I read were so R rated. Almost like another author took over writing it. It did read to the end, but it was boring and predicable.

[ananasparachute · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disturbing book.
Please see my review of "Strange Days", as I say this in more detail, but I was friends with Patricia online. Not close friends, more like acquaintances. But nonetheless, I used to always defend her, until after her death I was able to look at things more critically. There are major holes in her story. I also hadn't read this book.
It is incredibly creepy, a roman a clef revenge fantasy. Patricia brutally exacts vengeance against anyone that angered her (i.e. in one case she makes a saddle out of one man's skin . Some serious psychotic imagery there) and casts herself as a half-fairy Queen who travels to the underworld to rescue Morric, who is undoubtedly Jim.
On top of that, it's just poor writing. It reads like something a high school kid would secretly write to imagine revenge on their enemies. That alone isn't terribly weird, but the brutal and graphic ways she murders them in the book is very disturbing.
Do not recommend.

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oof. This was a reread years after I originally read the Keltiad, which was a teenage favorite. I recall not caring for this one then (after adoring the Tales of Aeron and liking the Tales of Arthur), but thought maybe I'd like it more now.

Nope. DNF this time.

I'm not one to balk too much at a self-insert character, but after hearing bits about Athyn in the other books, I expected to like her more. OK, I expected to like her, period. I didn't. She came across as rather insufferable, actually, and just a little too...much...with none of Aeron or Arthur's charm. (Because let's be honest, those two characters could be pretty arrogant too.) And a good revenge fantasy, also, in and of itself is not a bad thing. But this seemed ridiculously brutal to no point, except to underline again just how unlikeable Athyn was. And Morric seemed just there to be Athyn's dude...another self-insert, for a certain someone. And die. And come back. Yawn.

[Ilena Holder · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a huge Doors fan and Baby Boomer Child of the 60's I just had to read this. was very disappointed. You could tell it was a thinly disguised novel starring PKM and Jim Morrison. In other words, you could just throw a big black cape over Jim's shoulders and there you go. Her writing was very difficult to plow through, definitely not a seventh grade level as John Grisham writes. I guess she has her fans, but this was really drudgery for me. The funny part was that I bought it on Ebay. After I posted a review on Ebay, she shot me a mean email! Apparently at that time she was watching Ebay auctions of any of her books! I was scared for a while, I mean the woman is a witch.

[Kritter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but a bit slow. I did enjoy the world that Ms Kennealy-Morrison has created.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book several years ago, and found it to be a "spoil me" book...the kind that you can't honestly say is objectively a masterpiece, but it's just so darn fun to read you can't help yourself!

Morrison's concept is that there's a planet that was founded by the Ancient Celts, who escaped the planet. A very weird concept, to be sure, but it allows her to create a brand new fantasy world based on Celtic lore and myth.

I found her world to be very immersive, although the writing was by no means at the master level. To anyone who enjoys Celtic myth and just wants a fun read, pick this book up. This is the only 'Keltiad' book I ever read, so I have no idea how it stacks up to the others.

[Michael D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book is progressing pretty well. So much of the criticism I've read of this book cite only the autobiographical elements identifying Morric Douglas as Jim Morrison and Athyn Cahanaugh as Kennealy as the reasons they did not like the story. It was a good read. Parts of it reminded me of various harrowing of the underworld myths, as the heroine braved the dangers of Annwn to bring her beloved Morric back from the dead. That was the better part of the novel. There was also a part of the novel that outlined the growth of Athyn into the heroine that would perform the deeds of legend in Keltia. Certainly a better novel than The Deer's Cry, perhaps not as good as the offerings from the Tales of Arthur, but a good read overall.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire series is amazing! Yeah, I know. Celts in space. Weird. But it truly is a well written, engaging and sophisticated story with a strong woman as the protagonist and how she keeps the various tribes together in an empire that stretches across multiple planets (each named for the traditional Celtic kingdoms). It hews closely to Celtic myth and legend (such as it is) and is rich in detail and plot. And yes, the author was Jim Morrison's wife. Unfortunately it isn't in ebook format that I've been able to find. Wish it was!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A severely odd, yet satisfying read, this book is a good read. I was moved by it at the time, as I identified closely with the heroine of the book. Looking back years later, I do not know if I would enjoy it as much, but until then, my rating shall stand.

[Rebecca Huston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of Kennealy-Morrison's Keltiad novels, this one is a standalone. A pity that she stopped writing these, this one was pretty good.

For the complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_23502...

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some grammatical issues I remember seeing. All in all though, is a story of love and magic. A good read once you get into it. Also, thought it was cool that there are some Gaelic words throughout used.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kennealy-Morrison writes so beautifully, and her first six books of the Keltiad enjoy a secure position near the top of my all-time-favorite books. This story was entertaining, but I'm sorry to say it didn't engage me like The Copper Crown did.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread. Another tale of be careful what you ask for.

[Amanda Ryan-Romo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really breath-taking Celtic version of the Orpheus myth. One of the few books that has really brought me to tears and does every time I re-read it.

[Shannon S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah blah blah, hopeless Jim Morrison delusions, blah blah blah. The sad part is Kennealy can actually write. Too bad she's bat-crap crazy.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the one where PKM loses the plot big style and goes all out against The Doors movie of all things. Over the top but quietly hilarious as well.

[Galadriel Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute wonderful mix of Sci-fy and fantasy.