Talk:Mother of Kings

Historial Novel or Historical Fantasy?

Is there any merit to recharacterizing Anderson's novel (which it undoubtedly is) as a historical fantasy? Anderson introduces the old Norse gods as well as magic (actually Finnish magic) as real characters on the same level as the humans involved. That usage is entirely consistent with the sources from the sagas, but it seems to me that "historical novel" gives a slightly different connotation to the elements that make up such a novel. In a historical novel, the characters may be believe in magic or accept its existence, but the author (or narrator's voice) generally does not. (Josephine Tey once called the best historical novels "history with conversation".) Tor, the publisher, labelled the book as a "historical fantasy". Originalylem (talk) 13:58, 28 November 2009 (UTC)