Mary Rose’s Reviews > Fantasy and Science Fiction Medievalisms: From Isaac Asimov to A Game of Thrones > Status Update

Moving Beyond Tolkien's Medievalism: Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawny Man Trilogies by Geoffrey B. Elliott - 3 stars

The Arabian Nights in 21st-Century Fantasy Fiction and Film by Kris Swank - 4 stars, really good chapter

Sword and Science: Science-Fiction Interpretations of Medieval Arthurian Literature and Legend in Stargate SG-1 by Steven Gil - Not gonna rate this but I just wanted to log that Stargate SG-1 sounds like the dumbest possible show. Like. It sounds awful.

Empire and After: Science Fiction's Medievalism in the Golden Age and Beyond by Don Riggs: 2 stars, spread a little thin for a chapter of this length and does not adequately develop the observations about the three stories at play here, also missing a good analysis of knowledge-transmission in the historical Middle Ages to tie it together.

‘Our Minds Are in the Gutter, But Some of Us Are Watching Starz...’: Sex, Violence, and Dirty Medievalism by Andrew B.R. Elliott: 3 stars

Grim and Grimdark - Gillian Polack: 1 star. Uselessly points out similarities between two works without answering its starting question or making a case for why one would care to explore these in the first place. Net zero information at the end.

Rewriting the Fantasy Archetype: George R.R. Martin, Neomedievalist Fantasy, and the Quest for Realism by Shiloh Garroll - Hugely misses an opportunity to talk about how Martin's vision of violence in the Middle Ages is hugely skewed, particularly WRT noblewomen. Medieval kings did not just get away with what Joffrey does to Sansa. He would have been assassinated. Get it together.

Low-Culture Receptions of Tolkien's High Fantasy by Chris Bishop: 2 stars. Just stating facts, no analysis or questioning of established narratives. Blah.

Introduction: Dreams of the Middle Ages by Helen Young: 3 stars, a fine introduction but I wish the state of the field could have been elaborated on in a few places.