Coronets and Steel, Sherwood Smith (365 Books, Day 46)

An anonymous person has given me some paid account time on DW. Thank you! I look forward to playing with some features. If you feel like telling me who you are, awesome, and if not, it is up to you and thank you again.

Obligatory disclaimer for this review: sartorias is a friend of mine, which does not affect the content of the review in any way.

It was kind of an odd experience reading this book when I have never actually read The Prisoner of Zenda. I mean, I know the approximate content of The Prisoner of Zenda, because it is one of those things I have picked up through pop-culture literacy as it is referenced a lot and retold a lot and put through a blender a lot. But I haven't read the original. I got the impression that this book kept a lot more about its predecessor than many things which just keep the central conceit, but I can't tell you how close a retelling this actually is, or even whether it's a retelling or a based-on or a direct descendant or what. The Prisoner of Zenda is referenced in-text, let's put it that way.

And this is a perfectly respectable Ruritanian romance, with worldbuilding that feels vaguely more plausible than many Ruritanias and a lot of fun food and clothes and trappings and weapons and political intrigue, and that very specific pleasure one sometimes gets to have in books nowadays where one says to oneself 'I've seen this exact scene before, but it totally wasn't the female protagonist holding the sword, and I like it this way better'. If you like women who fence and sorting out minor branches of the Hapsburgs and know something about the life of Grace Kelly-- in short, if you are a person who likes Ruritanian romances, which I am in certain moods-- this will meet your needs. It was a lot of fun.

I did not, entirely, buy the actual romance part of the romance, but then honestly I am a tough sell on that in most fiction ever. Besides, it did not strike me as the point. I also found the ending oddly paced, but not enough to be actively annoying. Fun is really the active word here, the kind of book that does not desperately engage me emotionally but also does not insult my intelligence and is simply entertaining. Every so often you just want a good swashbuckler. This is one.

( possibly minorly spoilery )

Coronets and Steel, Sherwood Smith (365 Books, Day 46)

An anonymous person has given me some paid account time on DW. Thank you! I look forward to playing with some features. If you feel like telling me who you are, awesome, and if not, it is up to you and thank you again.

Obligatory disclaimer for this review: sartorias is a friend of mine, which does not affect the content of the review in any way.

It was kind of an odd experience reading this book when I have never actually read The Prisoner of Zenda. I mean, I know the approximate content of The Prisoner of Zenda, because it is one of those things I have picked up through pop-culture literacy as it is referenced a lot and retold a lot and put through a blender a lot. But I haven't read the original. I got the impression that this book kept a lot more about its predecessor than many things which just keep the central conceit, but I can't tell you how close a retelling this actually is, or even whether it's a retelling or a based-on or a direct descendant or what. The Prisoner of Zenda is referenced in-text, let's put it that way.

And this is a perfectly respectable Ruritanian romance, with worldbuilding that feels vaguely more plausible than many Ruritanias and a lot of fun food and clothes and trappings and weapons and political intrigue, and that very specific pleasure one sometimes gets to have in books nowadays where one says to oneself 'I've seen this exact scene before, but it totally wasn't the female protagonist holding the sword, and I like it this way better'. If you like women who fence and sorting out minor branches of the Hapsburgs and know something about the life of Grace Kelly-- in short, if you are a person who likes Ruritanian romances, which I am in certain moods-- this will meet your needs. It was a lot of fun.

I did not, entirely, buy the actual romance part of the romance, but then honestly I am a tough sell on that in most fiction ever. Besides, it did not strike me as the point. I also found the ending oddly paced, but not enough to be actively annoying. Fun is really the active word here, the kind of book that does not desperately engage me emotionally but also does not insult my intelligence and is simply entertaining. Every so often you just want a good swashbuckler. This is one.

( possibly minorly spoilery )

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Tiger's Blood, Laurence Yep (365 Books, Day 47)

The novelty of having the second book of a Laurence Yep fantasy series appear at the library was so huge that I had to pick it up. Seriously, I had read the first book of three separate fantasy series of his, and there the availability stopped. Fortunately, one of those series was this one.

The main problem I had with the first book, The Tiger's Apprentice, was that it felt very rushed and condensed and tell-not-show, so it was mostly just a travelogue with cool bits. This one has a fair amount of that as well, but substantially less; there are huge chunks where it feels like a book instead of an outline for a book. Consequently it is much better, although still nothing I would call spectacular.

Also, the protagonist is chasing around an undersea dragon kingdom for most of it, so if you like undersea dragon kingdoms this is quite a good one. It reminds me somewhat of L. Frank Baum's The Sea Fairies in that the undersea things (except the dragons) are based entirely on things that actually exist and aren't magical, but which are so strange and visually interesting that the text treats the distinction as fairly academic. The Sea Fairies, though, has a horrible case of twee, so it's nice to see someone doing this without it being actively nauseating.

I don't think you'd need to have read the first book to follow this, as previous things were pretty well summarized and also in some ways not much happened earlier. This jumps to 'would recommend for a very low energy day or to a young kid' from 'would not recommend except as interesting failure or if doing research on this mythology', so though it's still nowhere near as good as the non-fantastical Yep I've read, it might be worth starting here if you're interested in his fantasy. If I run into it I'll certainly read the third one.

Tiger's Blood, Laurence Yep (365 Books, Day 47)

The novelty of having the second book of a Laurence Yep fantasy series appear at the library was so huge that I had to pick it up. Seriously, I had read the first book of three separate fantasy series of his, and there the availability stopped. Fortunately, one of those series was this one.

The main problem I had with the first book, The Tiger's Apprentice, was that it felt very rushed and condensed and tell-not-show, so it was mostly just a travelogue with cool bits. This one has a fair amount of that as well, but substantially less; there are huge chunks where it feels like a book instead of an outline for a book. Consequently it is much better, although still nothing I would call spectacular.

Also, the protagonist is chasing around an undersea dragon kingdom for most of it, so if you like undersea dragon kingdoms this is quite a good one. It reminds me somewhat of L. Frank Baum's The Sea Fairies in that the undersea things (except the dragons) are based entirely on things that actually exist and aren't magical, but which are so strange and visually interesting that the text treats the distinction as fairly academic. The Sea Fairies, though, has a horrible case of twee, so it's nice to see someone doing this without it being actively nauseating.

I don't think you'd need to have read the first book to follow this, as previous things were pretty well summarized and also in some ways not much happened earlier. This jumps to 'would recommend for a very low energy day or to a young kid' from 'would not recommend except as interesting failure or if doing research on this mythology', so though it's still nowhere near as good as the non-fantastical Yep I've read, it might be worth starting here if you're interested in his fantasy. If I run into it I'll certainly read the third one.

You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost. There are comments over there.