As we head around the bend toward the back of the novel and the back of the year, the closing of the mystery and of the timespan that is clearly our stage, it’s time to take a peek at some of the best Faerie Queene cues in Part Five. If you haven’t caught up to our thoughts on Troubled Blood so far, there is time, so check out our Hogwarts Professor takes on a wide variety of angles for this novel so far. I’m having a grand time keeping the Spenser score running, looking at ways in which our intrepid detectives are mirroring elements of The Faerie Queene, and I hope you’re having as much fun as we are! Follow me after the jump for five Faerie Queene take-aways from Part Five! Remember, spoilers galore, so stop here if you need to get past chapter 59! [Read more…]
Part V of Spenser and Strike: The Knight of Justice Comes up Swinging with Britomart Triumphant
Troubled Blood and Spenser–Part Four Thoughts
Apologies for the late post today! With these hefty readings, I’m falling behind nearly as much as my students, but I dare say I’m having more fun with my reading than they are with theirs! I hope you’re enjoying the threads we’ve thus far discovered that tie Troubled Blood to its literary inspiration, Edmund Spenser’s epic Faerie Queene. If you have not been following along with our multi-faceted coverage of the new Cormoran Strike novel, I hope you’ll catch up, and then I hope you’ll come with me after the jump as we enter the next season, both literally and figuratively, in the latest installments of the adventures of our modern-day knights Artegall and Britomart, Strike and Robin.
As we are all racing toward what is sure to be a thrilling conclusion, it is sometimes hard to slow down long enough to process the artistry being exhibited by Rowling/Galbraith, but as we reach the end of Part 4, here are the four most interesting Spenser connections that both show the depth of our story’s connections to The Faerie Queene and may offer us clues for the journey ahead.
Strike and Spenser Part 3-Names, Beasts, and Stars (and more!)
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know we are traveling on a day-by-day first-read-through journey of Troubled Blood, and I am your tour guide for the Spenserian bits of the trip, pointing out interesting Faerie Queene-related scenery as we go past it. Of course, the weeks, months, and (likely) years to come will yield much more exciting discoveries, as our author, under whichever name she chooses, 
writes book series that hold up under multiple reads, with new treasures revealed each time.
Join me today for thoughts on Part 3, the Winter section, with Discontent aplenty and some great Spenser connections! Spoilers after the jump, brave travelers, so if you’ve made it past page 344, keep reading below!
Spenser Thoughts on Troubled Blood Part 2
Now that serious Strikers have our copies in hand, we’re off with our part-by-part commentary, and I am delighted to be taking the role of Spenser Color Commentator! I’ve loved The Faerie Queene since I first joined Redcrosse on his quest in my teens, and I’ve always claimed 
that the only reason it wasn’t as popular as the Lord of the Rings was because of Spenser’s use of Chaucerian language, a feature that makes him seem far more ancient than his contemporaries, like William Shakespeare. With the horrible monsters, the beautiful ladies, and the constantly battling knights (one of whom is also in the aforementioned group of beautiful ladies), it’s a recipe for blockbuster gold, so I’m thrilled to see how Galbraith/Rowling is taking Spenser’s epic as her scaffold for Troubled Blood. Beyond the epigraphs that begin each chapter and section, she has also woven in beautiful connections to the allegorical adventures of Spenser’s knights. Join me after the jump for observations on Faerie Queene connections in part 2 of Troubled Blood. We’ll be spoiler-free up until page 153, so if you aren’t there yet, catch up, and join us for an initial look into our Spenser-flavored mystery!
Spenserian Hopes for Troubled Blood with Sneak Preview Chapters
We’ve only a few days to go before the arrival of the eagerly awaited fifth Cormoran Strike installment! My local independent booksellers have my copy safely in stock, ready to hand over to me on September 15, like the professionals they are (and like people who still miss the thrill of Harry Potter book release parties in the old days). In the meantime, we’re having a grand time with the tantalizing almost-10-chapter preview of Troubled Blood, which has confirmed many of our suspicions and also left us wondering what the other 63 chapters hold. From Joni Mitchell to Marilyn Manson, the range of musicians who appear to be inspiring this adventure is an impressive one, and the literary scope promises to be just as rich. If you have not kept up with Bea Groves’s beautiful insights on the Literature Game of the Strike series, catch up before Tuesday! As we’ve been hoping since the title drop, it looks like Edmund Spenser’s glorious magnum opus The Faerie Queene is a major pillar of the complex literary scaffolding we’ve come to expect from 
Rowling/Galbraith. While we wait for Tuesday, you may or may not be in the mood to read the entire six books and a bit of The Faerie Queene’s planned twelve books that Spenser was able to complete before his untimely death in 1611(C.S. Lewis reportedly said that he hoped he would discover, upon reaching heaven, that Spenser was there waiting with the remaining six books). Whether or not you are a Spenser fan, here are six and a bit hopeful possibilities for the way Spenser may be woven throughout Troubled Blood, based on what we have so far!
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