Ibbotson, Eva - A Company of Swans

Apparently, before she started writing YA, Ibbotson wrote romances. Looks like this (1985) was written after Kathleen Woodiwiss' bodice ripper, The Flower and the Flame (1972), but it feels as though it were written before. Not that I have read either, actually, but I've generally heard that the Woodiwiss book was the start of a new kind of romance novel generally called "bodice rippers" because of the upped doses of sex.

A Company of Swans is about Harriet Morton, kind-hearted and downtrodden, who wants to escape her repressive family and become a ballerina in the Amazon. It makes more sense when you read the book, honest! She runs into Rom Verney, love ensues, etc. etc. etc. Doing plot summaries of romances is usually pretty beside the point, imho.

Anyhow. I'm still trying to decide if I liked this or not! I didn't dislike it, but there were some parts that borderline irked me, like the outright evilness of Rom's ex-love and Harriet's family, along with the shining goodness of Harriet. However, Ibbotson doesn't go into wall-throwing territory, because while Harriet is pure and good and the like, she's somehow so pure and good that I can't help but like her, rather like Honda Tohru in Fruits Basket. And while there are misunderstandings and the like, they don't go on for so long that I feel like hitting the characters on the head with a very large stick.

I also like that Rom and Harriet genuinely seem to like each other, and that when Rom has the (very bad) misunderstanding that Harriet is throwing herself at him, he begins to react like your standard romance novel hero (i.e. thinks this entitles him to have sex with her willy-nilly), he actually manages to stop and think and realize she is not doing so, which is more than I can say for your standard romance novel hero. Of course, part of this is because Harriet's goodness is so shiningly apparent.

Obviously, I am rather conflicted about this book.

Bonus points for being set in the 1910's as well as in the Amazon, both areas which most romances do not focus on. I'm curious to read Ibbotson's other romances to see how they compare. And it's just very strange, because while I can see many of the romance cliches that I so love to harp on, they're there in a different form. I can't tell if that's because Ibbotson is doing something with the cliches, or because she's writing in a period when the cliches haven't hardened into cliche, or if she's writing things that will eventually become cliche. I just realized I have no notion of the history of romance as a genre, and this irritates me.

Kirstein, Rosemary - The Steerswoman

I grew interested in this series when I read coffee_and_ink's review, particularly the slightly premise-spoilery parts, because her description of the book as a book concerned not with nifty science, but with the actual scientific method was interesting and not standard sci-fi. Even though the book seems to be marketed as fantasy -- the mass market I borrowed from the library is published by Del Rey, with some badly drawn yet arcane looking things on the cover -- to me it feels much more like sci-fi because of how it treats information.

Rowan is a Steerswoman; the Steerswoman are repositories of information. The only rules are that Steerswomen (and the very occasional Steersman) always speak the truth, that they may not refuse to answer a question, and that they may ask questions of anyone. If anyone gives a Steerswoman a false answer or refuses to answer, they are then under a ban so that no Steerswoman will answer their questions again. It's a very interesting premise, especially as a means to transmit information in a pre-technological society. Also, as a side note, squee!! I have found my perfect profession! Unfortunately, it doesn't exist outside of this book! But can you imagine? Going about just finding the answers to things and investigating whatever you found curious! I guess it is rather like being a professor, except I don't like the pressure to publish. I don't care so much about publishing (my thesis has absolved me of that), but I like explaining things to people and figuring things out.

Ahem, anyway. Rowan has been investigating some strange jewels that she's found, but for some reason, the wizards don't want her looking into this. The wizards are the only people who refuse to answer the Steerswomen's questions, and like Rowan and the rest of the Steerswomen, just reading about this irritates me because of the impediment of the dispersement of knowledge.

The writing is a bit clunky in this book, but the characters and the mindset of the book are so interesting that I don't particularly mind. Rowan thinks like a scientist; she questions, and then she questions her questions, and in one of the central problems of the books, where theory seems to contradict fact, her mindset about it is what allows for a crucial breakthrough. I just can't say how exciting it was, reading about these things! And while the reader often knows more about what's going on than Rowan does, just watching her methodology is fascinating and really really neat! I think this is why I am an amateur at everything; I just like knowing random things about a ton of different stuff.

Rowan teams up with Bel, an Outskirter, and I particularly like the friendship between the two and how they respect their differences.

Anyway, as you can tell, I was quite excited about the premise, and as the book kept going, I just got more excited! I like information. It is my friend.

The book doesn't really go into the implications of the Steerswomen's way of life; Rowan is deeply troubled when she has to go undercover to figure out the mystery of the jewels because she has never lied in her life, but I don't think Kirstein really addresses the harmful nature of the truth in this book. She does have someone theorize that the wizards may keep secrets because their magic is so potentially harmful, but in general, the book is in favor of the open dissemination of knowledge. So am I, in almost all cases, but it makes me wonder... do the Steerswomen avoid asking personal questions? In the book, everything Rowan wants to know is mostly theoretical and the like, but I can see cases in which a Steerswomen gains medical knowledge about people but can't necessarily preserve confidentiality if someone asks a question about a specific person, or more personal things, like affairs and whatnot.

I mean, the Steerswomen don't do that, but they also don't say that they don't as a rule, because they have to answer all questions asked of them truthfully.

I am looking forward to reading the other books and knowing more about Rowan and Bel's world now, yay!

Links:
- rilina's review (on both this and The Outskirter's Secret, no spoilers)

Chase, Loretta - The Last Hellion

I seem to have been bitten by the Loretta Chase bug now, except someone has checked out all of her books from the library except for two, and (tragedy of tragedies) I have already read those! Who dares foil me in my quest for books? I'm already over budget this week, but I am sorely contemplating making a late night raid at the used bookstore to see if they have any I haven't read. Grrr. Want fix now.

Anyhow. Lydia Grenville is something of a Nellie Bly for the Argos, and she somehow ends up punching Vere Mallory, Duke of Ainswood and last of the Mallory hellions (whatever that means) in the face. Sparks ensue. Lots of stuff on the back cover about taming the Amazonian Lydia, except thankfully, not much taming is done.

Like the other Chase books I've read, this one is funny, has strong women, and a really cute hero. I really adored the banter between Grenville and Ainswood, particularly Ainswood's not-so-subtle fall into love with Grenville and his not quite knowing what to do about it. I also loved that Grenville was immensely practical, because hey, someone has got to be when you're in a romance! There are some plot points that aren't quite necessary, but I wasn't going to complain much, because I liked the characters so much.

I keep saying this, but I really don't know how Chase does it. She takes these stock characters that I tend to dislike in romances and fleshes them out and makes them funny. Her women are usually strong, and while her men can be known as rakes, they're usually rakes who are nice rakes. And more importantly, they're nice to everyone, not just the one person they're in love with. And they have their own strict moral code, which I like. I also like the fact that her heroes tend to fall in love first and that her heroes don't have an issue with this, unlike other manly men heroes who deny it till the last minute. And I like that her women aren't forced to compromise to be with the hero, because the heroes love the heroines' strength and character. Of course, now I am making large generalizations after reading only four Chase books, two of which I don't remember very well!

But I want to hunt them all down now, even The Sandalwood Princess, which coffee_and_ink said may make me sporky.

Links:
- rilina's review