Linguistically this book is a marvel. Headley does some amazing things with language. There is a ton of alliteration and lots of repeating sounds, which leads to some undeniably beautiful prose.
I will say that the juxtaposition between old and new is very startling. This book reads like a classic translation of Beowulf, accented here and there with some lines of modern language. For me, this created a strange element of humor in this otherwise serious epic tale of heroes and monsters. I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'm a fan of this old/new style. It felt strange and peculiar to me.
A challenging read, but an interesting study of language.
4 stars
Genres: Poetry, Classics
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