Micklem, Sarah - Firethorn

[oyceter]

Unfortunately for me, this is one of those books in which everything is rather competently executed, and yet, it never quite clicks.

Firethorn, orginally named Luck, takes on her name when she eats the berries of the poisonous firethorn plant and survives. She credits her survival to the will of the god Ardor. And then she goes off and becomes the sheath (sort of like a groupie for knights) of Sire Galan as he and a whole bunch of other people gallop off to war.

One of my main problems with the book was that while the world was interesting, in the end, it didn't feel like it was driving toward anything. There is a conclusion, but if you asked me, I still couldn't quite tell you what the book was about. Not just theme-wise, but plot-wise! Firethorn just sort of follows Galan around and he gets into various bits of trouble. I'm even more confused because apparently this is the first book of a trilogy, and I have no idea what the second two books will be about.

I did like the world-building, and the depiction of the life of a drudge or a sheath amidst a whole crowd of not-too-nice knights. And I was especially interested in the system of gods, in which each god has three aspects. I kept getting Hazard and Ardor mixed up though, for some reason. And while I liked the god scheme, I was a little confused as to why Firethorn is supposedly the chosen of Ardor. There is a little sense of destiny and fate in this book, which Firethorn muses on, but it's never quite at the forefront, which I am used to re: god's avatars.

I also had a problem because I couldn't find anyone in the book I liked, or even found remotely interesting. Firethorn as a character isn't too bad, but she's in love with (or something with) Sire Galan, and for the life of me, I can't understand why. True, he's got a reckless streak that could be portrayed as charismatic and appealing, but in the book, he mostly just comes off as not too bright and incredibly rash. It's also strange because this is via Firethorn's POV (the book is first-person-POV), and I still don't understand why she sticks around him. So my estimation of her character goes down a little. And everyone else in the camp is really quite distasteful, and not even in the way that makes me react with a combination of fascination and disgust. I'm mostly just put off.

Anyhow, the book just never quite clicked with me... would be interested to see what other people thought.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

"Sheath"? Ew ew ew ew ew.

[oyceter]

The author was actually pretty good about that -- the book is really down-to-earth and gritty about sex, along with all the other stuff, so I didn't mind the terminology so much. Plus, bonus points for the frequent use of "prick" instead of some other horrible, horrible things I've read ;).

[ladystarlightsj.livejournal.com]

I always forget to comment when you make a book post, so here goes. I got "Catherine, called Birdy" out of the library and enjoyed it. I'm looking for this one as we speak, will try to remember to comment on it after I'm done.

Thanks for these, I get lots of good recommendations from them!

[oyceter]

Oh I'm glad you liked Catherine, Called Birdy! I had so much fun reading that one.

And thank you ^_^.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she got "sheath" from this song?

http://www.broadside.org/music/lyrics/sheath.html

[oyceter]

Hrm, cool!

Do you know her, btw? I noticed she's on the board of Broad Universe.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I think we might have been at the same con once, but I've never met her.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Thirding the "OWWWWW" over "sheath". If she wants to make her culture use repulsive euphemisms like that, she needs to make it a genuinely nasty tale of sexual exploitation instead of the romanticisation it seems like from your review.

[oyceter]

It is on a whole a pretty nasty tale -- there's a grittiness about the world and a meanness about most of her characters that is a little off-putting. And Micklem never really portrays Galan in a very good light at all. So in that context, "sheath" didn't bother me much at all. On the other hand, it makes me very confused as to why Firethorn sticks around with him.

[geekturnedvamp.livejournal.com]

I think she sticks around with him because she doesn't have much of a choice--the impression that I got is that in the beginning, after she comes back from the forest and is living in the village, she doesn't really have family or many good prospects in the community beyond just sort of hanging out and being a peasant (which has already been shown to be not such a great life, especially given that they're a conquered people), and the experience in the forest changed her enough that when the chance for something different comes along, she takes it.

Overall I think how very unromantic it is (and the grittiness in general) might have been my favorite thing about the book, because basically she goes off with this guy because they have good sex and because an incredibly uncertain future as his whore really isn't that much worse than whatever else she may have to look forward to and because she really doesn't have anywhere else to go. (I can see why it wouldn't appeal to you, but I kind of liked how uncompromising Micklem was on the nastiness... plus I grew up reading Jane Gaskell's Atlan series and Tanith Lee's A Heroine of the World, and I tend to enjoy 'heroine is forced to become a camp follower but eventually triumphs' epics). However, ultimately I had that feeling of the yeast not quite rising with Firethorn, and the end did feel a little half-baked to me too--I enjoyed it and was curious enough that I'll definitely read the next one when it comes out (particularly if I get a free advance copy again), but I won't rush out and buy it.

[oyceter]

It really is very much an anti-romance! Which is in general of the good, except for some reason, I just wasn't very entranced by the relationship. I like very much how Micklem is very open about the sex and what goes on with the sex, but it was just very hard staying with the book because there were no characters that I liked, so I felt a little barred out, emotionally.

It'll be interesting to see what else Micklem writes after this.