Edgerton, Teresa - Goblin Moon

[oyceter]

I am too lazy to give good plot summary, and the plot is too complicated to be summarized anyway. Suffice to say, this is one of the rare fantasies that seems to be set in a non-medieval Europe. There is intrigue and alchemy/science, powdered wigs and secret societies, as well as trolls, homunculi, drowned island empires, and all that good stuff.

Of course I loved it.

I suspect that this fits into what most people call "fantasy of manners" (which I've never been able to wrap my head around) and I just slot into my random lumpy category of "intriguey sort-of historical book with much opportunity for spies and other good stuff."

I just read some reviews around LJ and on Amazon, and it looks like opinion varies as to what era the book is set in -- so far I've seen Regency, Victorian, Gothic and Age of Reason. I'm throwing my hat in with Age of Reason, given the combination of alchemy and science, the existence of the seramarias stone (seems to be this universe's equivalent of the philosopher's stone), powdered hair, foppish clothing, snuff and face patches. I adore the Age of Reason.

It was a little difficult slipping into the book, since the narration is very visible (and there were "In which..." chapter headings! I love those!) and a bit wry and distant. But once I did, I had much fun. I didn't connect much with any of the characters, but given the distance from them via the narrator, I wasn't that surprised or put-off. I did end up liking Miss Sera Vorder for her straight-forwardness, although she hasn't bowled me over with coolness. My problem with straight forward characters is that I tend to not like them in intriguey things because they are by nature anti-intrigue.

Francis Skelbrooke is very Lymond-esque and may have bowled me over, but I refuse to admit it.

The book does suffer from having a little too much plot; it ends rather abruptly, and I'm not sure if it was planned as a duology or if the sequel just sort of sprung up (The Gnome's Engine, which I have already started. Thank you, rachelmanija, for making me buy both at the same time!). Also, the two main plotlines never quite converge satisfactorily. And despite the book being called Goblin Moon, there is very little evidence of goblins and other such creatures, except on the side.

However, this is all completely made up for by the existence of aforementioned powdered wigs and alchemy and such! I now have a hankering to rewatch Dangerous Liaisions.

Any recs on more books like this one? I absolutely adore court intrigue, especially when there are spies and disguises involved.

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I think it was always planned as a duology; they came out in quick succession. There's Edgerton's later The Queen's Necklace, set in a similar but different world; very long but should have been longer, because the last quarter feels rushed. She also has a bunch of medieval fantasies which I like, but which are not so very unusual.

Hrrm. I say Age of Reason, with a good dose of Regency. I know Gregory Keyes has a series set during the dawn of the Enlightenment, although I haven't read it, or him; you know about Stevermer and Wrede; I also recommend Alis Rasmussen's The Labyrinth Gate and Ted Chiang's "Seventy-Two Letters." Maybe Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, coming from a different direction (Dickensian social realism with ogre factory-owners forcing changelings to construct iron dragons).

I think of those books of Edgerton's as belonging to fantasy of manners, you're right, which means I associate them with Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, PC Hodgell, Caroline Stevermer, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, and Ellen Kushner, all of whom you've probably read already.

[oyceter]

I started the Keyes series back in high school and never ended up finishing it (it's hard to follow series when one can only buy books during summer vacations in America). The latter books were getting very cracktastic though!

I shall check out the Chiang and the Rasmussen!

I have embarrassingly only read one Brust, and it wasn't even a Vlad one.

I've also never read Hodgell! Any recs?

Yay, more books! Thanks!

PC Hodgell

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

PC Hodgell is great. She's only got the one series, and you will have to order it online from amazon.com or direct from the publisher, Meisha Merlin. The first book is God Stalk, and must be read first. They're very strange, very funny, and very dark beneath the surface. The first one is set in the amazing city of Tai-Tastigon, which has such a complicated lay-out that some residents play out a ball of string whenever they leave the house, then follow it back home. Just like Tokyo!

This brief excerpt should give you some of the flavor of the work:

"Apprehensively, Jame recited the charm. It usually took Cleppetty half an
hour to ready her bread for the oven; Jame's rose in five minutes. When
the widow sliced into the baked loaf, however, they discovered that its
sudden expansion had been due to the growth of rudimentary internal organs.

That was the end of Jame's apprenticeship in the kitchen."

Re: PC Hodgell

[oyceter]

Ooo, ok. I like that. Internal organs always of the good.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Brust is full of court (well, court-like) intrigue. His Vlad books get better-written as they go along, although the most recent ones have been pursuing plotlines I don't find terribly interesting; still, you should probably start with the first one, Jhereg, although the prose and plotting gets a lot more polished later. They're not in chronological order, though, so you could also start with Yendi, the second book, which I think would push a lot of your buttons. It's about assassins in love.

[oyceter]

Oooooooooooooooooo.

Ok, definitely need to check out Yendi. Dude, so my button.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I've started several of Gregory Keyes' books, and never got more than a chapter in: dull, dull, Dullsville. I would try before you buy.

[oyceter]

I was ok with his Age of Reason books, largely because I am inherently interested in the subject, but for the water god river god whatnot books, bored to death.

Also, the Age of Reason ones get progressively weirder.

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

Edgerton has another book, _The Queen's Necklace_, that was out in trade paperback a few years ago. I haven't seen it since, but it was a fun read as well.

[oyceter]

Ooo gotcha, I'll look that one up too!

[ellarien]

Sounds intriguing. I think this may be another author to look for next time I hit the used bookstore.