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Smith, Sherwood - Crown Duel
Sat, Nov. 27th, 2004 04:28 pm(originally published as Crown Duel and Court Duel)
I started this with a great deal of trepidation, actually, and I didn't really fall for the book until the beginning of Part II. The book starts out with the very broke Countess Meliara Astiar and her brother Branaric promising their dying father to oust the evil tyrant who is not only evil and tyrannical, but also threatening to break the Covenant with the Hill Folk (who remind me a wee bit of the kodama in Princess Mononoke). In general, I am very wary of storylines that sound like this, and several particularly righteous speeches made by Mel didn't help quell my qualms. I was also not quite sure what to think of Mel -- she kept faintly edging into the dreaded spunky category and then edging back out again, and while I rather liked her, her dreadful earnestness about her cause was rather grating after a while.
I really should have trusted the author more (*waves to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sartorias*).
Somewhere around the middle of the first half, Smith begins taking advantage of the first-person POV and begins nudging the reader away from the idea that the book agrees with Mel's very black and white view of the world. So yes, I was very delighted when this happened, and I didn't have to be mad at Mel anymore. I tend to get angry at characters when I disagree with them and their actions seem to be endorsed by the author.
The second half was when the book started hogging my attention, though. Mel begins in the mold of the spunky heroine in the first half, but because of what happens, her surety about her world and what she's fighting for gradually wear away. She's left with a bundle of doubts when she must go back to court, which she hates. And oh, I sympathized so very much with Mel in the second half and her obliviousness to all sorts of court play. I am, alas, all too familiar with the feeling that something very important and unsaid is sneaking right by you while you look like a total dunce for not noticing the subtext.
A few quibbles: the worldbuilding is not quite as solid as I would like, and the Hill Folk in particular and the colorwoods tend to fall to the side. There are several expositiony bits in the beginning explaining the scarcity of wood in Mel's world, but the book is more concerned with political battles than with the impact of a largely woodless society. The colorwoods slip in and out of the story so much that when they were brought back in at one point, I had actually forgotten about the existence of the Hill Folk. And because they aren't woven in quite as well as they could have been, there are some rather deus ex machina moments. Also, sometimes there were a few too many narrow escapes and plot twists so that it felt like things would continue past the natural ending point.
But. I loved Mel. I loved watching her have to grow up and sympathized with the feelings of confusion when confronted with a world more complicated than she would like. And I couldn't help it, because all those moments she would have, when she finally figured out the undertones that everyone else was picking up on, and those "Doh!" moments, those are all totally me. She's got a great heart and a wonderful, innocent cluelessness, and I was having so much fun reading about her trials and tribulations at court. And, also, Shevraeth? Is very, very cute. Especially when he's being consternated by Mel, which is fairly often. Also, I am a complete sucker for courts and politics and things like fan languages and unspoken things, even though in real life I would probably be awful at it.
And bonus points for Mel's first kiss. I liked how it was arousing and stimulating, despite the fact that Mel wasn't in love, and her deduction that just because something sparks doesn't mean it's good for you. Romance heroes and heroines should really take note.
ETA: Just found out there's a story on Mel's daughter in Firebirds! Ha! I feel so gratified when I find these things out. It makes me feel very justified in having bought anthologies.
Links:
-![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
rilina's review
I started this with a great deal of trepidation, actually, and I didn't really fall for the book until the beginning of Part II. The book starts out with the very broke Countess Meliara Astiar and her brother Branaric promising their dying father to oust the evil tyrant who is not only evil and tyrannical, but also threatening to break the Covenant with the Hill Folk (who remind me a wee bit of the kodama in Princess Mononoke). In general, I am very wary of storylines that sound like this, and several particularly righteous speeches made by Mel didn't help quell my qualms. I was also not quite sure what to think of Mel -- she kept faintly edging into the dreaded spunky category and then edging back out again, and while I rather liked her, her dreadful earnestness about her cause was rather grating after a while.
I really should have trusted the author more (*waves to
sartorias*). Somewhere around the middle of the first half, Smith begins taking advantage of the first-person POV and begins nudging the reader away from the idea that the book agrees with Mel's very black and white view of the world. So yes, I was very delighted when this happened, and I didn't have to be mad at Mel anymore. I tend to get angry at characters when I disagree with them and their actions seem to be endorsed by the author.
The second half was when the book started hogging my attention, though. Mel begins in the mold of the spunky heroine in the first half, but because of what happens, her surety about her world and what she's fighting for gradually wear away. She's left with a bundle of doubts when she must go back to court, which she hates. And oh, I sympathized so very much with Mel in the second half and her obliviousness to all sorts of court play. I am, alas, all too familiar with the feeling that something very important and unsaid is sneaking right by you while you look like a total dunce for not noticing the subtext.
A few quibbles: the worldbuilding is not quite as solid as I would like, and the Hill Folk in particular and the colorwoods tend to fall to the side. There are several expositiony bits in the beginning explaining the scarcity of wood in Mel's world, but the book is more concerned with political battles than with the impact of a largely woodless society. The colorwoods slip in and out of the story so much that when they were brought back in at one point, I had actually forgotten about the existence of the Hill Folk. And because they aren't woven in quite as well as they could have been, there are some rather deus ex machina moments. Also, sometimes there were a few too many narrow escapes and plot twists so that it felt like things would continue past the natural ending point.
But. I loved Mel. I loved watching her have to grow up and sympathized with the feelings of confusion when confronted with a world more complicated than she would like. And I couldn't help it, because all those moments she would have, when she finally figured out the undertones that everyone else was picking up on, and those "Doh!" moments, those are all totally me. She's got a great heart and a wonderful, innocent cluelessness, and I was having so much fun reading about her trials and tribulations at court. And, also, Shevraeth? Is very, very cute. Especially when he's being consternated by Mel, which is fairly often. Also, I am a complete sucker for courts and politics and things like fan languages and unspoken things, even though in real life I would probably be awful at it.
And bonus points for Mel's first kiss. I liked how it was arousing and stimulating, despite the fact that Mel wasn't in love, and her deduction that just because something sparks doesn't mean it's good for you. Romance heroes and heroines should really take note.
ETA: Just found out there's a story on Mel's daughter in Firebirds! Ha! I feel so gratified when I find these things out. It makes me feel very justified in having bought anthologies.
Links:
-
rilina's review