Walton, Jo 1964–

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Walton, Jo 1964–

PERSONAL:

Born December 1, 1964; married (marriage ended); married Emmet O'Brien, July 28, 2001; children: (first marriage) Sasha.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Montreal, Quebec, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

John W. Campbell Award, 2002, for best new writer; World Fantasy Award, 2004, for Tooth and Claw; Romantic Times Critics Choice Award, 2006, for Farthing; Nebula Award nomination, Locus Award nomination, and Sidewise Award nomination, all for Farthing.

WRITINGS:

FANTASY NOVELS

The King's Peace, Tor (New York, NY), 2000.

The King's Name, Tor (New York, NY), 2001.

The Prize in the Game, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Tooth and Claw, Tor (New York, NY), 2003.

Farthing, Tor (New York, NY), 2006.

Ha'penny, Tor (New York, NY), 2007.

Cowriter of games, including Realms of Sorcery and Into the Dark Continent. Contributor to periodicals, including Heroquest, Odyssey, and Pyramid.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jo Walton is a writer specializing in fantasy fiction set during the early Middle Ages. Her first novel, The King's Peace, is a medieval fantasy in which a young woman endeavors to bring about the destruction of raiders roaming her native land. The heroine, Sulien apGwien, pledges herself to King Urdo, who hopes to unite various factions and form a cohesive force capable of repelling the marauding invaders. Jackie Cassada, writing in Library Journal, described The King's Peace as "gracefully written" and deemed it "luminous." Roland Green, meanwhile, wrote in Booklist that Walton has realized a "most worthy" variation on the Arthurian legends, and Nancy K. Wallace affirmed in Voice of Youth Advocates that Walton's novel constitutes "a beautiful story of love and war." Another critic, writing in Kirkus Reviews, summarized The King's Peace as "a vivid, fluent narrative."

Walton followed The King's Peace with The King's Name, a sequel in which King Urdo attempts to end a civil war sparked by an unruly lord. Sulien apGwien once again charges into battle at the king's behest. Roland Green, in a Booklist assessment of The King's Name, observed that "the pacing is brisk, the emotional impact great," and a Publishers Weekly reviewer hailed Walton's second novel as a "fine work."

Walton continues relating adventures from the world of King Urdo and his fellows in The Prize in the Game. Inspired by Arthurian legend, she tells the story of young warriors training together, whose relationships with one another influence the history and politics of their respective kingdoms. Complicating the relationships is an accident involving horses, an accident that offends the goddess Rhiannon. "Walton sure-handedly evokes a primitive realm," declared a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "where the Otherworld seamlessly impinges upon reality, bringing sounds, smells, sorrow, hatred and burning love to life." The Prize in the Game, wrote Booklist contributor Roland Green, will appeal to "the intelligent sort of Celtophiles who respect authors with something under their Celts." "A bitter climax splits the tale wide open for a sequel," a Kirkus Reviews writer explained, calling the novel Walton's "best installment yet" in her fantasy cycle.

Tooth and Claw, Walton's World Fantasy Award-winning novel, is in some ways a comedy of manners in the same vein as the nineteenth-century writers Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope. The major difference lies in the fact that the protagonists are all dragons. "If social rank in Victorian society sometimes was a metaphorical case of ‘eat or be eaten,’ Walton's version takes this notion quite literally," declared David Soyka on the Strange Horizons Web site. "Right from the opening chapter." The novel begins with the death of Bon Agornin, head of a large and respectable family. As is proper in dragon society, he calls his heirs together to devour his corpse after death, thus distributing his wealth (and his social position, which among dragons is based on size and power) among the family. When the upstart brother-in-law takes more than his fair share, however, the youngest brother takes action in a most unexpected—if very dragon-like, on reflection—way: he files a lawsuit. This places his brother, protagonist Penn Agornin (a parson) in an awkward position: he is the only one who knows of the late Bon Agornin's deathbed confession of a minor, but socially compromising, indiscretion in his youth. Should the lawsuit play out in court that indiscretion will emerge, potentially damaging their sisters's chances at making good marriages. The result, concluded Booklist contributor Frieda Murray, is "a little masterpiece of originality." "Full of political intrigue and romance," a Publishers Weekly reviewer stated, "this provocative read sets the stage for further adventures."

Walton shifts gears in Farthing, an alternate-history novel set in post-World War II England. In this timeline the English, instead of vowing to fight the Nazis to the very end, have instead made peace with Hitler's Germany and abandoned the continent. "Hitler turned full attention to subduing the rest of Europe, and the USSR in particular," explained reviewer Dan Hartland on Strange Horizons Web site. "America, meanwhile, sunk further into isolationism and elected Charles Lindbergh as President. In short, the world has thrown up its hands and given up the fight." In 1949, when the novel begins, a right-wing faction known as the Farthing Group is "poised to take control of the Conservative party and Britain itself." The complication arises from the murder of the architect of the peace plan, Sir James Thirkie, at a weekend house party. Someone has taken great pains to try to associate the murder with the Jewish son-in-law of the hosts, Lord and Lady Eversley. It falls to Scotland Yard's Inspector Carmichael to sort political from private motives.

"Thus the scene is set," Hartland declared, "for what is in many ways a likeably traditional country house murder mystery. Farthing features a broad cast of interesting characters, a central mystery which yields its secrets only reluctantly, and a talented outsider of a policeman." "It's comparable to Agatha Christie's novels," Ellen Bell wrote in School Library Journal, "with substantial social issues and a heavier dose of history thrown in." "But Farthing is also a book about fascism," stated Adrienne Martini in her Bookslut Web site review, "and the parallels between her Britain and today's climate is never didactic and always effective. It's also a book about husbands and wives, however, and about class and sex. It is quite an achievement." "In every aspect, from the petty snobbery hampering the inspector to the we-don't-do-that-here conclusion," Frieda Murray wrote in Booklist, "the plot encourages warily reconsidering the daily news."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2001, Roland Green, review of The King's Peace, p. 327; October 15, 2001, Roland Green, review of The King's Name, p. 388; December 1, 2002, Roland Green, review of The Prize in the Game, p. 652; November 15, 2003, Frieda Murray, review of Tooth and Claw, p. 589; August 1, 2006, Frieda Murray, review of Farthing, p. 58.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2000, review of The King's Peace, p. 1241; November 1, 2002, review of The Prize in the Game, p. 1579; September 15, 2003, review of Tooth and Claw, p. 1160; June 15, 2006, review of Farthing, p. 606.

Library Journal, October 15, 2000, Jackie Cassada, review of The King's Peace, p. 108; October 15, 2003, Jackie Cassada, review of Tooth and Claw, p. 102; July 1, 2006, Jackie Cassada, review of Farthing, p. 71.

Publishers Weekly, November 12, 2001, review of The King's Name, p. 41; November 4, 2002, review of The Prize in the Game, p. 67; September 22, 2003, review of Tooth and Claw, p. 89; June 12, 2006, review of Farthing, p. 35.

School Library Journal, December, 2006, Ellen Bell, review of Farthing, p. 173.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 2001, Nancy K. Wallace, review of The King's Peace, p. 28; April, 2004, Merideth Jenson-Benjamin, review of Tooth and Claw, p. 62.