A Thorny Problem

I am not one hundred percent sure why I picked up Champion of the Rose this time around.  I know why I had it in my stack, I had read a couple of reviews that had some intriguing concepts in it, but for some reason I did not expect to like it that much.  Shows how much I know because I really enjoyed this book.  I was in desperate need of a true fantasy book with magic and elves and all that good stuff and this fit the bill in an unexpected way.  It is full of magic and the Fair Folk, but there is so much more to this world then fairy tale trope.

The story is about Soren who has been chosen to be the Champion of the current ruling monarch...the only problem is that there is no King or Queen, and has not been in close to 200 years.  In Tor Darest the fictional country where our story is set, the set-up is a bit unusual.  The beginnings of the country started when the Queen of the Fae gifted the land that became Darest to Domina Rathen a powerful mage who in turn placed a powerful enchantment over her whole future lineage and the country itself.  The enchantment manifested in the form of The Rathen Rose and it's job was to pick a person who was most suitable to
become whatever the current ruler needed most, protector, lover, advisor, parental figure, it varied from ruler to ruler.  The Rathen Rose would do whatever it could to protect the Rathen line.  Eventually the Rathen line died out and the country has been held by the Reagent's who while powerful mages themselves can never wield the true power that a Rathen can.  This is the state of the kingdom when a blooming rose is discovered on the vine for the first time in centuries and Soren sets of to find her king or queen.  She eventually stumbles upon a man called Strake who it turns out has been caught in some sort of time phase thingy which eventually makes some sort of sense and has now returned 200 years later.  On their way back to the palace the Rose takes over both Soren and Strake and forces them into an act which results in Soren being impregnated with Strake's child.  This understandably causes no end of tension between the two, with Strake not able to separate Soren from the Rose that perpetrated this pretty awful act.  Meanwhile a killer from the past seems to have followed Strake through time and is now

hunting him again.  Soren and Strake return to the palace and immediately try to set things to right.  Many court games are played, and Strake tries to find a way to end the enchantment of the Rose.  Unfortunately they discover that any move against the Rose would probably end in Soren and her unborn child's death so they decide to try and find a different way.  Meanwhile they hunt and try and find out more about this mysterious killer who can appear and disappear, who uses razor claws to dismember victims and who has the appearance of a you Fae boy.  A council of the Fair and Humans is called and surprisingly we get some straight forward answers...which I will not reveal (don't you love how sometimes I spoil everything, and others I make you go read for yourself, I'm fickle that way) and all seems to be going right...until an assassination attempt on Strakes life from a very unlikely source happens (which actually did take me by surprise which was cool).  This provokes the Rose into taking over Soren again and she has had enough of being controlled.  She convinces Strake that they need to destroy the enchantment once and for all so that nobody else including their unborn child can be controlled.  The ending is quick and I will let you read it for yourself.

OK so this sounds like a pretty typical fantasyish story and it is, but there are a couple things the author did that I really liked.  The main thing was the world she built felt very complete.  There were traditions, religions,  taboos, commerce, festivals everything that a society of that time period would have...with what I think is an awesome twist.  Genders are completely...hmmm I'm not quit sure how to put it...fluid is the only word I can think of.  The author treats both genders completely equally, not giving dominance to males or females and relationships in the world are fluid as well, with both genders loving across all boundaries equally,
male/female, male/male, female/female.  It is not unusual for a person to be with a male lover and then later a female in fact tri-bonding is a common way for two females and a male or two males and a female who all love each other equally to form a type of family and enable the birth of children.  The best part was that this was not a big deal at all, it is just the way things are, nobody is gay or lesbian or bi, they just love each other regardless. Now I know this is not every body's cup of tea, which is totally valid, I just thought it made this world even more unique and different from our own, just one more way to not make it Medieval England with faeries.  I also like how the author played with our assumptions and would turn even little things around on you in the blink of an eye.  I personally did not care for the ending, it happened very quickly and a little to neatly/happily ever after for my taste.  It was like she thought she might write a sequel so she did not answer every question (which is fine), but she wasn't sure if she would get around to it so she gave it a complete ending just in case.  This is one of my pet peeves is when you read this great book and then the last 20 pages are just a quick "oh crap I have to finish this somehow um yeah here ya go".  The author also has a couple of favorite words that get old very

quickly (seriously if somebody shutters their eyes one more time!) and the reconciliation between Strake and Soren was a little quick/forced but other then that I enjoyed it.  I have heard a lot of mixed opinions on the event at the beginning of the book the leads to Soren's impregnation and a lot of people have called it a rape that the Rose forced Soren to do to Strake, but when I read it, it seemed the Rose took over both parties and the reason it was marginally worse for Strake (even though it was Soren who has to carry, give birth and raise a a baby) was that he could struggle enough against the Rose to be more aware of what was happening, while Soren was completely blanked out by the Rose.  Read it for yourself and let me know what you think on that particular matter.  Over all I would recommend this book for the over 15 crowd, I found it thought provoking and fairly well written and well worth the read.  I will be looking for another book from this author to see if she continues writing in this thoughtful manner.

What do you think of forced pairings as a plot device?  How do you feel about gender fluidity on worlds that are not supposed to be Earth?  Are you starting to get why I call these ramblings?