Wein, Elizabeth E. - A Coalition of Lions

[oyceter]

Um. I read this over a few weeks, and embarrassingly, I don't remember much of it. It doesn't have anything near the tension that was in Wein's The Winter Prince, and I was rather frustrated at how Wein dealt with the fates of assorted characters from The Winter Prince off screen, as it were. I was quite attached to the characters in that book, and I really wanted to know how they got there, how the battle of Camlan went. Instead, the book opens afterward, with Goewin on her way to Aksum, where Medraut spent some of his time previously.

I liked Goewin a great deal in The Winter Prince, but here, she doesn't make much of an impression on me at all. Plus, I kept getting all the characters confused, and none of what was at stake was very interesting to me at all. If you asked me right off the bat, I probably couldn't even tell you what the main conflict was. Something about a kingship, or the heir to the throne of Britain, or something, but to be honest, I don't particularly remember any of the characters well enough to care about them.

I suppose it also suffers in comparison to The Winter Prince, which was so very wonderful and dark and packed with emotion. Everything in this book just seems a little too pat, from Telemakos to Goewin to the situation, and the book just isn't half as good.

Oh well. Heard The Sunbird was better, so I shall read that sometime soon. Or maybe just reread The Winter Prince.

Links:
- coffeeandink's review
- hesychasm's review

Comments

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes. I adore The Winter Prince, and while I liked meeting some of its characters again, I wasn't nearly as compelled by A Coalition of Lions (though I liked the setting).

I've been waiting impatiently for my library to get in The Sunbird or for it to come out in paperback - will be interested to see what you think if you read it before I do. :)

[oyceter]

Yes, Medraut and Lleu! Guh. And I read a short story from Morgause's POV set before Winter Prince in the anthology Sirens (ed. by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow), which was also really good, but not so impressed by this one.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

And I read a short story from Morgause's POV set before Winter Prince in the anthology Sirens (ed. by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow), which was also really good

Ooh, will have to look that up. Thanks!