Kirstein, Rosemary - The Language of Power

( Spoilers for book and series )

Links:
- kate_nepveu's reviews (non-spoilery and spoilery)

(no subject)

Ok I give up. I am tempted by S2, mostly for the perk of having all my icons displayed by my posted entries.

Alas, I have attempted serious dabbling in S2, and I have very little clue how to recreate my current layout. With user pictures in each entry. I beseech the flist for help.

ETA: seeing as how S2 has kicked my ass (again!), I have had to recompense by fiddling around with my banner image instead. Le sigh.

McKillip, Patricia A. - Od Magic

In the kingdom of Numis, all magic must be learned at Od's school of magic and used for the king; outside magic is thought of as a potential threat to king and country. There are rumors of Tyramin in the Twilight Quarters, a street performer who is allegedly capable of real magic, and Od's school has just acquired a new gardener with some strange powers.

I liked this book, and it's a McKillip, but I didn't like it half as much as I've liked some of her others. The imagery and the magic is still in place, but the theme is a little obvious, and I felt that there were a few too many supporting characters. I liked all of them, except I thought it was rather funny how the dust jacket focused on Brenden Vetch, as he was the least memorable character for me. I liked the often lost princess Sulys and Tyramin's daughter Mistral, but I felt too often that the story was going off in too many different directions, and the convergence at the end was a little too neat.

I feel a little bad saying this, because it was still a very enjoyable read, and I really loved some of the images of magic, particularly the hidden magics of other people and how they relate to small women's magics that are unnoticed and deemed powerless. I rather wish that I got to spend more time with Sulys and Mistral, though, because I liked them. And Yar the wizard.

Anyway, good, but I didn't like it as much as Winter Rose or Alphabet of Thorn.

Links:
- oursin's review
- rilina's review
- jinian's review

Brockway, Connie - McClairen's Isle: The Ravishing One

(reread)

Alas, this is the last book of Connie Brockway's McClairen Isle trilogy, and Brockway has yet to convince me of her ability to write good trilogies. Her individual book plots seem good, but then the overriding trilogy plot always seems to hijack it and then the book gets all wrapped up in the trilogy plot, which interests me not at all. I read romances for the romances, damnit. Also, it is a Scottish trilogy. Nuff said.

Anyhow, I actually haven't read the first two in the trilogy. Fia Merrick is the daughter of Ronald Merrick, Earl of Carr, wickedest man alive, or something. He allegedly married Janet McClairen and killed her for McClairen's Isle, and his castle there was renamed Wanton's Blush. Not really the most subtle of villains. Her two brothers, Ash and Raine, have already been happily married off in the previous books. Anyhow, Carr has raised Fia, who is drop dead gorgeous, to marry whoever he chooses so that he can... I dunno, steal her husband's fortune or use his status, or something appropriately villainous. Obviously, everyone thinks Fia is evil as well, though she has a heart of gold well-hidden underneath.

Oh yeah, I forgot the hero. Thomas Donne is our hero, a man with a buried past and secret destiny and alternate identity (do the three always go together, do you think?). He thinks Fia is an evil whore. Fia had a brief crush on him before. Angst ensues.

I am a fan of angst. I will even read Scottish trilogies for angst, as long as the angst doesn't involve stupid, stupid misogynistic assumptions (alas, non-misogynistic angst seems to be less prevalent than one would think). I liked the beginning angst, which is why I reread this, in hopes that I had somehow been mistaken about the later deflation of the book. Unfortunately, the angst quickly dies away, there never really seems to be any real tension between Fia and Thomas after the first few encounters, because Thomas has those Sekrit Mindreading Abilities usually given to heroines (at least this time it's the guy), in which he can discern at a single glance that the seemingly wicked Fia is really just a softy at heart. Of course, since she is a heroine, as opposed to a hero, all the nasty rumors about her are completely false, whereas for a hero, they would be just true enough to give readers the Bad Boy thrill.

Blah blah denouement, stupid made-up conflict, resolution, death of Carr. Also, I think it totally doesn't work to have two brothers both be rakishly handsome and dangerous and etc., because once you get to that happy reunion scene in a trilogy, the testosterone is basically just through the roof. For some reason, it seems as though even though three brothers in a trilogy will have different traits, they must all be portrayed as brutishly male and horribly alpha when it comes to their starring book.

Sorry, I am digressing. But it's so fun to poke at romance stereotypes! This is prompting me to write a rulebook for romance heroes now.

Anyway, not throw-against-the-wall bad, but definitely nowhere close to the best Brockway can put out.