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Emerson, Jane - City of Diamond
Sadly, Jane Emerson (aka Doris Egan) has probably stopped writing this projected trilogy all together, so it's just this first book.
Obligatory plot summary: lots of things happen when two city-spaceships, City of Diamond and City of Opal, compete to get their hands on the Sawyer Crown, a religious relic.
I've actually been putting off writing this entry because I couldn't summarize the plot pithily! There are a ton of characters and a lot of things going on. The main plot to get the Sawyer Crown is interspersed with a marriage between the Protector Adrian Mercati of the City of Diamond and high-ranking noble Iolanthe of the City of Opal, the adventures of Adrian's demon friend Tal, and then there's the story of Keylinn Grey, who is by far my favorite character.
I like almost all the characters. Adrian took a while to grow on me because he's so mercurial, as did Tal, whose half-alien half-human nature means he is incapable of understanding social interactions. But I liked Iolanthe right off, possibly out of sheer stubbornness and happiness to have a female character. Also, I like that she grows in the book. She starts out very young, but by the end, she's taking responsibilities that she wouldn't have before, and it will be interesting to see how she turns out, if there's ever an end to the projected trilogy. And I adored Keylinn, who's a Greykey (a planet of assassin-type characters, except they're almost religious about it and their contract and etc.).
It was a little difficult reading this after reading Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books. City of Diamond has lots of maneuvering and characters, but it didn't grab me by the throat the way the Attolia books did, and there weren't those wonderful twists and turns of plot that echoed the intrigue. The characters live through twists and sudden upturns, but the reader doesn't particularly.
I think I'm going to check out some of the author's books under Doris Egan now.
Obligatory plot summary: lots of things happen when two city-spaceships, City of Diamond and City of Opal, compete to get their hands on the Sawyer Crown, a religious relic.
I've actually been putting off writing this entry because I couldn't summarize the plot pithily! There are a ton of characters and a lot of things going on. The main plot to get the Sawyer Crown is interspersed with a marriage between the Protector Adrian Mercati of the City of Diamond and high-ranking noble Iolanthe of the City of Opal, the adventures of Adrian's demon friend Tal, and then there's the story of Keylinn Grey, who is by far my favorite character.
I like almost all the characters. Adrian took a while to grow on me because he's so mercurial, as did Tal, whose half-alien half-human nature means he is incapable of understanding social interactions. But I liked Iolanthe right off, possibly out of sheer stubbornness and happiness to have a female character. Also, I like that she grows in the book. She starts out very young, but by the end, she's taking responsibilities that she wouldn't have before, and it will be interesting to see how she turns out, if there's ever an end to the projected trilogy. And I adored Keylinn, who's a Greykey (a planet of assassin-type characters, except they're almost religious about it and their contract and etc.).
It was a little difficult reading this after reading Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books. City of Diamond has lots of maneuvering and characters, but it didn't grab me by the throat the way the Attolia books did, and there weren't those wonderful twists and turns of plot that echoed the intrigue. The characters live through twists and sudden upturns, but the reader doesn't particularly.
I think I'm going to check out some of the author's books under Doris Egan now.
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I have the feeling she meant to write more in the Ivory series (the third book leaves some interesting threads hanging), but there are only the three. They're quite satisfying as a trilogy, though. I really like the main character, Theodora. And the culture of Ivory has all kinds of fun quirks.
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The society in Ivory is pretty interesting, but I never really liked the characters.
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in case you were curious . . .
(This was for work! I swear!)
Re: in case you were curious . . .
(your work rocks)