Stewart, Sean - Nobody's Son
Wed, May. 26th, 2004 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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rachelmanija's rec.
This was very, very good. Very ^_^. Like the cover says, it's about what happens after "happily ever after," which immediately intrigued me, because I had always wondered that as a kid. The young, brave commoner manages to break a terrible curse and in reward, marries the princess, and this is about the problems that happen because of it, and the hold the past can have on us all. I'm particularly fond of books that actually chart the growing of a relationship after the initial insanely in love stage is over (which is why I liked Megan Chance's A Season in Eden). To be honest, falling in love is maybe the most stressful and written about part, but the hardest part is still all the stuff that comes after.
I am also extremely happy that the author gave me not just one cool female character, but two! I can't decide if I like Lissa or Gail more -- they are both very different. Also, it seems like when it rains, it pours... read Jane Routley's Mage Fire, which had a mention of femslash, as does this book! That made me happy. Anyhow, Gail is cool because she is the stereotypical tomboy who does not want to be a princess, except Stewart doesn't make her annoyingly feisty. Gail is very much herself -- she does things because she wants to, everyone else be damned. And yet, she's also got her own blind spots because of this. And she's perfectly complemented by Lissa, her maid/lady in waiting, who I adored, because Lissa is scheming and practical and political in her own quiet way.
And I just loved that the book dealt with all the things one would reasonably expect to happen when a commoner comes out of nowhere to marry a princess. Mark is uncouth and doesn't know what the hell is going on half the time, and I also liked how the author didn't just do the he is a poor outcast thing and form his own band of poor, righteous outcasts (ala Lackey). The fact that he doesn't know what's going on is harmful, it embarrasses Gail and has Lissa working overtime to protect the two, and most of all, Mark really feels every slight.
Plus, throw in issues with Mark's absent fathers, with fathers in general and old curses and knowledge and a search for something that holds when evil is all you can see, and get a very good book.
rachelmanija's rec.This was very, very good. Very ^_^. Like the cover says, it's about what happens after "happily ever after," which immediately intrigued me, because I had always wondered that as a kid. The young, brave commoner manages to break a terrible curse and in reward, marries the princess, and this is about the problems that happen because of it, and the hold the past can have on us all. I'm particularly fond of books that actually chart the growing of a relationship after the initial insanely in love stage is over (which is why I liked Megan Chance's A Season in Eden). To be honest, falling in love is maybe the most stressful and written about part, but the hardest part is still all the stuff that comes after.
I am also extremely happy that the author gave me not just one cool female character, but two! I can't decide if I like Lissa or Gail more -- they are both very different. Also, it seems like when it rains, it pours... read Jane Routley's Mage Fire, which had a mention of femslash, as does this book! That made me happy. Anyhow, Gail is cool because she is the stereotypical tomboy who does not want to be a princess, except Stewart doesn't make her annoyingly feisty. Gail is very much herself -- she does things because she wants to, everyone else be damned. And yet, she's also got her own blind spots because of this. And she's perfectly complemented by Lissa, her maid/lady in waiting, who I adored, because Lissa is scheming and practical and political in her own quiet way.
And I just loved that the book dealt with all the things one would reasonably expect to happen when a commoner comes out of nowhere to marry a princess. Mark is uncouth and doesn't know what the hell is going on half the time, and I also liked how the author didn't just do the he is a poor outcast thing and form his own band of poor, righteous outcasts (ala Lackey). The fact that he doesn't know what's going on is harmful, it embarrasses Gail and has Lissa working overtime to protect the two, and most of all, Mark really feels every slight.
Plus, throw in issues with Mark's absent fathers, with fathers in general and old curses and knowledge and a search for something that holds when evil is all you can see, and get a very good book.
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Thu, May. 27th, 2004 11:13 am (UTC)I adore Gail and Lissa-- now that's what I call writing period attitudes. (I'm still recovering from the bit in the ninja novel, set in 1545 Japan, in which one ninja betrays the clan but is let off with the comment, "He will work on that issue." Yeah, at the bottom of a well with his pockets full of rocks.)
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Thu, May. 27th, 2004 01:27 pm (UTC)YA? Must have been labelled by someone who hadn't read him...
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Thu, May. 27th, 2004 04:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, May. 27th, 2004 05:10 pm (UTC)Got so fascinated with your whole journal that I friended you, and plan to read you, when available! Amazing--thanks. (let me know if you prefer not to be friended)
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Thu, May. 27th, 2004 06:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, May. 27th, 2004 09:17 pm (UTC)GMTA!
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Fri, May. 28th, 2004 12:00 am (UTC)I actually got the old edition, since it was at the public library -- I can't imagine it as a YA book, though! Not just the sex and the swearing, but the themes seem sort of ... well, beyond YA themes, which are generally about getting to the happy ending.
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Fri, May. 28th, 2004 12:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, May. 28th, 2004 12:07 am (UTC)