Dueling With Fans

Alright folks, time for part two of yesterday's rambling.  Technically this is a second book, but it has been published in the same volume as the first book and really feels like a direct continuation so I always consider them two parts of the same story.  The book is Court Duel by Sherwood Smith and as always SPOILERS AHEAD (and seriously there are some major spoilers so DO NOT READ if you don't want to know the main surprise in the story).

We again are told this story by our barefoot countess Meliara (known as Mel).  She tells us that they have received all of the ill gotten riches of the former disposed bad king.  She uses the money to repair, restore, and restock her dilapidated realm, improving not only her own home, but the village as well.  She has appointed many people to act as stewards, housekeepers and generally help her run things.  Mel has also decided to try and remedy some of her ignorance by the acquisition of as many books as possible.  Her brother the Count Branaric (known as Bran)  surprises her by coming home from court with the lady Nimiar (called Nee) as his fiancee and the Marquis of Shevreath (who turns out to be name Vidanric).  Bran inadvertently embarrasses Mel by pointing out her shabby clothes (which she wears while working) and some of her less courtly manners. Nee takes pity on her and while turning out to be a wonderful friend to Mel, also offers to teach her the ways of Court in return for Mel coming to the capital until the wedding.  Mel agrees and her courtly education begins.  Meanwhile she and Shevreath continue to have spats, which Mel begrudgingly admits are mostly her fault.  They start out as conversations, but Mel almost always finds some way to turn it into an argument.  The whole group heads to the castle where it is assumed that Shevraeth will become King and start to deal with the aftermath of the disposal of the old king. Mel does her best to fit in, finding that she has become something of a celebrity following her part in the rebellion and is eased into society by the attentions of the ever popular Duke of Savona.  She runs afoul of the Lady Tamera, a popular girl who tries to ruin Mel, but is instead caught in her own trap.  Mel instead of making her a pariah uses her new found court manners to show Tamera is forgiven, which also boosts Mel's popularity.  Along with trying to deal with court, Mel aquires a secret admirer who leaves her gifts and later a lengthy back and forth correspondence about various court matters, personal matters, and how to best fix the kingdom.  She has a golden ring made for him that he will not wear until she is ready to meet, and she realizes she has fallen for this mysterious guy.  Mel learns of a plot to overthrow Shevreath and the new kingdom, along with killing the Hill Folk of her home to get to the colorwoods by the sister of the former king.  Mel rides out to stop the the killing of the Hill folks and runs into Shevreath on the way.  After ascertaining that he also knows of the plot he takes off his gloves to show her the golden ring, revealing himself as her secret admirer.  They stop the killing of the Hill Folk and turn back the troops sent to take the city, but something else seems wrong.  Getting back to the city they find Flauvic, the son of the woman who was trying to overthrow the city has learned magic and turned every person in the palace to glass.  He is defeated when the Hill Folk turn him into a tree in thanks for saving them.  Nee and Bran get married, Mel and Shevreath get married and they all continue to work for the good of the kingdom.

Trying to write the synopsis of this book is harder then the last one because where the first one deals with sweeping issues and Mel's part in them, this book is lot more subtle, with every little encounter meaning something.  Things I love.  I like how this is a direct continuation of the first book and that it shows that just because the "good" guys won the war, the problems don't just go away.  A large part of this book is the various characters talking and debating the best way to fix things.  It shows people having different opinions and the acknowledgment that there is more then one "right" way to do things.  There is conversation on how best to deal with the nobles who helped the bad king, and how to determine whether they helped him willingly or out of fear and coercion.  I found court to be interesting as it was clear the way the nobles could never speak truth aloud or state opinion openly was a direct result of the fear based rule of the former queen. One of the benefits of the new rule was a more open communication between the people.  I loved the secret admirer part of this book as it added a great romance without it overcoming the whole book.  I liked that they fell in love with each other at different times and that it was their shared love of their country, intellect, ideas and even arguments that brought them together.  I also like that the whole romance wasn't them sneaking off for a kiss.  On that note I LOVE Bran and Nee and their romance.  It is sweet, fun, genuine and included Mel as a sister to both of them.  The author could easily have make Nee a rival to Mel, but instead she became a sister that Mel desperately needed.  I liked the complexities of court and how Mel both learned about it and learned when to disregard it.  Shevreath continues to be a book crush of mine, his subtlety, his devotion to his people, his love for the odd Meliara all make me a happy girl. There were a couple of overly convenient resolutions for some of the problems our people faced and the resolution at the end was a bit weird, but it's still not the worst ending I've read.   Oddly enough there is a short story in the Firebirds short story anthology that gives a glimpse into Mel and Shevreath's future with their kids that actually works as a bit of a better ending then the one in the book, but that is kind of cool too.  Overall I recommend this book for lovers of fantasy, court intrigue and a romance that doesn't make you gag.  I give it 8 out of 10 fans and suggest reading it with the first one.  Happy Reading Everybody!
How do you feel about books like this, should they be two separate books or one book two parts?  Who do you wish was your secret admirer?  Why can't I live in a book filled castle?

Stupid Scarlet Mote

ITS FALLLLLLLL!!!!! Sorry, got a little excited there, but the weather has finally started to cooperate along with the rest of my life.  Not only has the weather gotten cooler, but I have actually been able to enjoy it while sipping cider, curled up in my reading chair with ample blankets and pillows READING!  Yep finally got to finish (and start) my books! One of the first ones is a book I feel like I have been reading forever, it is called Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey and it is the first in a series.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!
How does one go about rambling about a 901 page book?  How does one classify a book such as this?  Is it political? Is it fantasy? Is it erotica? Is it historical fiction?  Is it EPIC?  The answer to all of those in some way would have to be yes...kind of... Hmmm  I will sum up what I can, just know there are huge parts missing 'cause I want this post to be less then 27 pages long.

Our story is narrated in the first person by Phedre.  Phedre is unique because she was born with a scarlet mote in one eye, initially thought to be an imperfection it turns out that it is actually the mark of a deity called Kushiel, the lord of punishment in this pantheon.  Because of this special marking our Phedre is for lack of a better term a masochist or in the book terms an anguissette, now before you all freak out decide I have turned to a life of reading erotica, this is just one small portion of the book, and it actually serves a purpose.  See in this land of Terre D'Ange (which feels a lot like France) an alternate history of sort happened. An angel like deity was born and was turned away by Yeshua (the equivalent of the Judeo/Christian God) his name was Eula and he and his companions wandered the earth until they settled in Terre D'Ange with the phrase Love as thou wilt as there creed.  In this society Naamah's Servants or professional courtesans (both male and female) are revered for there practice of free love (well it is paid for...but you get the idea).  Phedre's marque is bought by a man named Delaunay who trains her to use her arts as an anguissette for hire to spy on important people. Delaunay has another ward, Alcuin, who while not an anguissette also chooses to enter into the services of Naamah to help gather information.  A whole bunch of stuff happens, among them a young Phedre meets a Tsingani (a gypsy type race) boy named Hyacinth who becomes an invaluable friend through out her life.  Eventually Delaunay procures the services of a Cassiline Brother by the name of Joscelin, a guard trained since he was 10 in the arts of protection who swears an oath to do anything to protect his charge.  In the land of Love as thou wilt, the Cassiline swear a vow of chastity making them a bit odd in a realm where free love is the norm. One of Phedre's clients is the beautiful Melisande, a brilliant, crafty noble woman who loves to play games.  Phedre has a love/hate relationship with Melisande, especially because she is the one of the few who know how best to utilize the plain/pleasure dichotomy that is Phedre. Confused yet?  Hang in there it keeps going.  Eventually Delaunay's spying gets him and Alcuin killed and Phedre and Joscelin get sold as slaves to the Skaldi (a Viking like race). Phedre learns from Melisande

herself that she is behind it all, but she cannot bear to have Phedre killed.  In slavery Phedre finds out what it is like to be forced to serve as a bed slave with no say in the matter, before she could always choose, always say no, and this lack of choice is unbearable to her.  She learns of a plot to overthrow the ruling family of Terre D'Ange by betrayal of one noble family (this gets really complicated, interesting but complicated...read the book for more details).  Phedre and Joscelin escape by him breaking certain vows (such as to only kill for protection)and make there way through a bitter winter to Terre D'Ange. Upon there arrival they are told by Hyacinth that they have been tried and convicted in absentia for the death of Deluany and Alcuin.  They make contact with the new Queen who believes there story and tell them that if they can find a way to Alba (an Ireland/Scottish hybrid) and help Drustan regain his throne, maybe he will bring his warriors to help secure the throne of Terre D'Ange (oh yeah Drustan and the young Queen are also in love and wish to marry which helps the cause).  Of they set to find this Drustan.  Along the way they meet up with a band of Tsingani which contains Hyacinths grandfather.  They are thrilled to see him return until they learn that he practices the dromande which is a seer like ability that is only used by women.  Saddened Hyacinth continues on with Phedre and Joscelin to secure a ship to Alba.  The biggest obstetrical is crossing the Master of the Straits, a man of great power who makes the sea rise up against them until Phedre sings for him.  They arrive in Alba, find Drustan, win the battle and head back to Terre D'Ange with Drustan and his warriors in tow. They make it back and have an epic three way battle, eventually winning and restoring the Queen and her new husband to the throne. Melisandre is captured, taunts Phedre and then escapes.  Phedre is named Deluany's heir (as she and Joscelin are now cleared of his murder) and inherits a decent piece of land.  In the end she decides to go back into the service of Naamah to see what other information she can find.  And thus ends this epic tome, the first in a series, none of which would have ever happened if she had not been born with that damned scarlet mote.

Obviously that is super bare bones basic basic basic plot line. There is a lot of really great, rich, detail that I just cannot capture in a summary.  Lets get to discussion now shall we?  I guess the first question is did I like the book and the answer is yes I did.  This book has been on my radar for years and I am pleased that I finally got to read it.  I enjoyed it for the most part.  Next Question, what did I like about it?  I liked the world building, the quasi historical setting was nice, it gave a reason to have a lot of familiar things, especially the different races while still giving some wiggle room for creativity. As weird as it sounds a society based on Love as thou wilt actually made sense in this story.  The Court of the Night Blooming Flowers as the 13 main houses were called were well written and gave some credence to all the sexy fun times, which oddly enough were used to the stories advantage.  A book like this, which states right off the bat that there will be explicitness through out could easily have been another fantasy smut book.  I have started (and rarely finished) books that sound like they have a good idea or premise but are just an excuse to have a vast amount of various sex scenes.  This is not only lazy writing, but actually makes sex boring!  This book actually uses its sex scenes (which for the most part are fairly tastefully portrayed) to further the plot.  They establish relationships  between various characters, information is divulged and Phedre's character is developed through these scenes.  Also for a 901 page book the percentage of pages devoted to sexy fun time is overall pretty minimal.  The plot, while a little complicated could have easily become convoluted, but stayed fairly easy to follow, at least the important parts.  I liked how each character had there flaws and there talents.  I loved how it showed that anybody could become your family, the ragtag family that Phedre eventually forms around herself is a great example of blood relations not being an essential part of family.

 Question 3 what did I not like about the book?  It was too long.  This is one of those books that you feel like you will be reading forever (I kind of wish I had this back in my poor college days when I had to make my books last as long as I could).  It wasn't a bad book, it just got tedious in certain areas.  This is a rookie mistake from a first time writer, the overly descriptive everything all the time, I don't need every detail of every house that the characters drive pass in there well described wagon.  Phedre's voice got a little irritating on occasion, this is written as a kind of recollection with Phedre constantly telling us at points early on "if I had only known" or "Later I would have wished to be at that event" almost always breaking the potential tension because you know something bad is going to happen and from her comments you can almost always figure out what.  As with most first person narratives you get stuck in there head, which in this case got a little angsty and introspective for my taste, but not near as bad as some I've read. I also was not completely sold on how EVERYBODY fell in love with our Phedre, I don't think there was a single person she could not turn, which makes it a little dull for she has no direct antagonist or even somebody to sharpen herself against. Question 4 would I recommend this book? I would most certainly recommend this book for the over 16 crowd that does not mind working through it a bit.  It is not an easy read, it takes paying attention to make sure you are up to speed on the whole storyline, but it is broken into 96 chapters that go by fairly quick individually, making it very easy to put down and pick back up. I will probably eventually pick up the next book in the series, but I am not dying to go get it right this instant.  I give this book 6 out of 10 whips and chains.
Does sexy fun times in books make you want to pick it up or put it down?  How long a book is too long? Does that term erotica make you laugh like a twelve year old boy?

Avian Transformations

Wooohoo, finally getting my reading groove back, after about two months of no time at all or nothing but time I have finally succeeded in returning to my about a book a week rhythm and since I am usually reading multiple books this gives me plenty of variety and fodder for my incessant rambling.  The latest book to fall to my awesome reading powers (I'm feeling a bit loopy this morning) is The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey which is a retelling of Swan Lake.  I picked this one up because I love retelling's, and I love the original ballet of Swan Lake and so far I have like Ms. Lackeys work so sounded like a pretty good bet to me. Also the cover was awesome.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD

Odile Von Rothbart is the only child of the great sorcerer Baron Von Rothbart and is desperate for his approval. While she herself is becoming an accomplished and talented sorceress, her father relegates her to the role of housekeeper and guardian to his flock of transformed swans.  Von Rothbart has raised his daughter to believe that all women are inherently devious, traitorous wenches, good for only serving a man loyalty.  To this end he finds women who he feels have been unfaithful in some way and transforms them into swans, only allowing them to turn back into humans in the moonlight.  For the most part Odile and the swans live an isolated life in a sumptuous, yet tightly controlled manor far from civilization.  The leader or Queen of the Swans is Odette, a young woman who's father promised her mother on her deathbed that he would never force Odette to marry.  As soon as her mother was dead Odette's father tried to force her to marry an older man who had already gone through several wives.  To avoid this fate, Odette convinced one of her

fathers squires that she was in love with him and persuaded him to help her run away.  As she was on her way to the great Empire to try and plead her case, she was overtaken by Von Rothbart and turned into a swan. All of the other girls we assume have similar stories, but Odette is the one we are most concerned with.  Odile keeps an aloof eye on her charges, never mingling, always keeping herself apart and trying desperately to earn her fathers attention and approval.  Meanwhile in another kingdom the Queen Regent Clothilde schemes with her minstrel to find a way to keep the crown away from her only son the Prince Siegfried when he comes of age in the coming year.  She has tried her best to keep him from becoming a competent ruler by encouraging his interests in drinking, hunting and women.  After an incident with a gypsy girl who kills herself after a carnal encounter with the Prince, he decides to try and change his ways.  He begins by finding places for all of the vulnerable women at court, sleeping only with women who approach him first (yep this is considered better behavior).  He starts drinking less and listening more, earning the respect of many nobles who earlier thought him to wild to make a good ruler.  His mother decides the best way to control him is to marry him off to a young, beautiful, docile, tractable woman, one whom the Queen could control and by proxy control her son.  Back with the swans Odette finally confronts Von Rothbart who then makes a promise that if Odette can make a man love her, knowing everything she did, and keep him from betraying that love for one month, she and the other swans will be free.  To this end Von Rothbart takes the swans and his daughter on a long journey.

 Through out this journey he shows little regard for the well-being or comfort of either his daughter or the flock.  Odile does her best and finds many ways to take care of herself and her little flock of swan maidens.  Every time she starts to feel resentful, her father comes and makes it all seem like a test, giving her the bits of approval she so desperately craves.  Oddly enough though she is left exhausted every time her father comes to visit.  She soon becomes more friendly with the flock and Odette in particular starts to spend time with the pale sorceress.  Odette puts forward the theory that Von Rothbart may be draining Odile of her powers to use for his own purposes.  Odile does not want to believe this, but the suspicion has been planted.  Von Rothbart makes an appearance and informs Odette that the man she needs to woo will be appearing soon.  Back at the castle a hunting party, including six princess hand selected by the Queen who are seeking to become the Prince's bride set out.  The Prince has no delusions about marrying for love and spends his time with the princesses looking for a woman who would make a suitable queen and would not be to upset if he spent time in other beds.  Eventually he and his best friend Benno go off to hunt swans on their own one night, setting up the inevitable meeting between Siegfried and Odette.  Siegfried is instantly struck by the transforming
maidens beauty and wants to know more.  Odette begs him to come back the next night and she will tell him her tale.  Odile listens in on the conversation between the Prince and Odette.  Odette tells him everything, including the reasons she was turned into a swan and the part about him remaining faithful.  Siegfried actually pauses at that one, but decides that it is worth it to be able to marry Odette. They make arrangements to meet at the Prince's birthday party at the castle where he will announce his intentions to marry her.  Odette and all the rest of the swans are overjoyed at this development and Odile is also very happy for her friend.  Von Rothbart appears the day of the party and informs Odile that they will be attending to watch the Prince and Odette.  After fashioning amazing costumes for them the sorcerer leads his daughter into the party, as Soon as the prince sees her he calls her Odette, making her realize that her father has transformed her into Odette's likeness and is now controlling her body.  No matter how hard she tries, she cannot shake her fathers control of her.  Siegfried pledges his love to "the woman at his side", effectively breaking his vow to Odette.  Chaos ensues and Von Rothbart kills the Queen and minstrel, but not before the minstrel confesses everything.  Siegfried and Odette reunite at the lake and confront Von Rothbart who is to strong for either of them.  Rather than be parted the pair plunge of a cliff into the lake.  Odile, finally realizing how evil her father is, kills him and then goes to save the Prince and the Swan Queen.  She is successful and the Prince assumes the crown and marries Odette.  All of the swan maidens are transformed into humans permanently and found places of honor among the Swan Queens court.  Odile is given the lake where the swans were as her own land and the title of Countess in her own right.  She serves as a councilor to the king and Court Magician and they all live happily ever after.

I was excited to read this one because the traditional Swan Lake ballet is one of my favorites and I was interested to see how it would be transformed into a fantasy story.  The author wrote it like it was set in medieval times, in our real world, in real European countries.  She used the actual religious and political ideas of that time period, giving a realistic spin to the whole thing. The story itself was quit lovely, I could actually see scenes of it danced in my head, and up until the end it actually followed the basic story line of the ballet pretty faithfully.  The role of women in this book, while accurate for it's setting, was a little disturbing.  Siegfried relationship with women, and the men's views on their place was definitely archaic to put it nicely.  Von Rothbart's view of women was despicable and we are never really given the real reason for these views other than his wife died when Odile was very young.  I loved watching Odile's transformation from an eager to please puppet to a strong resourceful woman. I also loved that she was already a beautiful intelligent noble who used her own resources to save her friends...who were also intelligent, kind, women.   The six princesses that were selected for the Princes perusal were interesting as well.  I liked the different personalities and the different way they were viewed by the Prince and his mother.  Parts of the book were slow, especially the hunting scenes of which there were many.  I guess if you were interested in medieval hunting techniques this could be interesting, but to me it just added unnecessary pages. Overall it was a good book, it won't be every bodies cup of tea, but lovers of courtly fiction will find much to enjoy, and if like me you like the original ballet, you will not be disappointed. And I personally liked it so much better than the movie.  I give this book 7 out of 10 crowned swans.

What do you think of a ballet being rewritten as a story?  How much leeway do modern writers have when writing books set in different periods of history?  How much do you want to wear Odile's black swan costume?!?