50 in 2016: #4-8
Mar. 4th, 2016 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Title: Captive Prince
Author: C.S. Pacat
Length: 270 pages
Wonderful Husband ran across a mention of the Captive Prince Trilogy and mentioned it to me. I looked to see if either of the local libary systems had it, and one had the first volume, so it made its way into my hands.
The basic premise: the rightful heir of Kingdom A is betrayed by his brother and sold unknown to the rightful heir of Kingdom B as a pleasure slave. And the two kingdoms are, as always, on the verge of war. If this didn't start life as a fanfic, I'll eat shoe leather. That said, I have no idea what it's fanfic of, so either it's a series I don't know, or the serial numbers have been filed off very well.
The characters, political setup, and culture are actually written in a very well-fleshed-out manner. I found myself pleasantly surprised by the depth and complexity of what was going on - and by the fact that Prince A's completely reasonable assumptions about what was happening were wrong as often as not. There is homosexual sex in this book... but not between the two main characters. Which also surprised me. Prince B is described by other characters as frigid... and reading the subtext I have a very bad feeling as to why he is. Really, my main complaint is that Kingdom B is "Vere"... so the citizens are "Veretians." Which I kept misreading as Venetians.
Unfortunately, the library doesn't have either of the other volumes, and I didn't love it enough to go buy them out of my own pocket. If the library gets them, I'll happily read them, but... shelf space.
Verdict: Recommended for those who enjoy fanfiction.
Title: Games Wizards Play
Author: Diane Duane
Length: 620 pages
A new Young Wizards book! This one is pretty long but has the intriguing premise of, basically, a wizards' science fair. In which Kit, Nita, and Dairine get to act as mentors for younger wizards. (How old are they at this point? Kit and Nita are 17ish now, maybe?) One of the mentees I like, one I don't, but it'll be intriguing to see where they both go in future volumes. Because one thing DD does is have lots of cameos from characters from previous books in this series! And a dangling plot thread through the last couple books finally gets resolved here.
My main complaint about this book is that a not-insignificant part of the book ends up being devoted (in retrospect) to Nita's future path as a wizard, and Kit feels, comparatively, shafted. I hope DD can strike a slightly better balance between the partners' arcs in future books.
Verdict: If you're a Young Wizards fan? Definitely Recommended!
Title: The Sleeping Beauty
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Length: 345 pages
Another of the 500 Kingdoms books, this time focusing on the 300-year-old half-Fae Godmother Lily and her troubled kingdom of Eltaria. This one mixes up the Sleeping Beauty myth with the Ring Cycle, with a hint of Snow White thrown in for good measure.
Thing is, Lily reads very much like a young Godmother, not like someone who's been doing this for hundreds of years. And Princess Rosamund is kind of boring. The interesting part, to me at least, was Prince Siegfried of the Ring Cycle, trying desperately to escape his Doomed Fate, and his new friend Prince Leopold, as they both try to work their way through the tournament to win Rosamund's hand. And I will say that this was the first 500 Kingdoms book where I actually liked any of the unicorns!
Verdict: Half boring, half interesting. Recommended if you like the 500 Kingdoms series.
Title: Beauty and the Werewolf
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Length: 329 pages
And the newest of the 500 Kingdoms books. This one is mostly Beauty and the Beast, with a touch of Red Riding Hood in the beginning.
I give this one props for me being sure who was the bad guy... then not being sure that it was him after all. Lackey didn't quite use a red herring, but she definitely used a literary technique I'm going to remember. I also liked seeing a Godmother get knocked on her duff by the bad guy for a change. I also found it intriguing that the Duke did not get completely cured at the end.
Verdict: Recommended.
Title: The Fire Rose
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Length: 433 pages
And this is Beauty and the Beast as told in the first of the Elemental Masters series, set in 1906 on the California coast, with the story leading up to the San Francisco Earthquake.
This one, read right after Beauty and the Werewolf, was an interesting insight into how the same author can write the same story in different ways. In the other one, he was the intellectual, in this one they both are... and yet, strikingly, the hero here is also not completely cured at the end. Perhaps Lackey is a bit of a furry? :)
Verdict: Recommended.
Author: C.S. Pacat
Length: 270 pages
Wonderful Husband ran across a mention of the Captive Prince Trilogy and mentioned it to me. I looked to see if either of the local libary systems had it, and one had the first volume, so it made its way into my hands.
The basic premise: the rightful heir of Kingdom A is betrayed by his brother and sold unknown to the rightful heir of Kingdom B as a pleasure slave. And the two kingdoms are, as always, on the verge of war. If this didn't start life as a fanfic, I'll eat shoe leather. That said, I have no idea what it's fanfic of, so either it's a series I don't know, or the serial numbers have been filed off very well.
The characters, political setup, and culture are actually written in a very well-fleshed-out manner. I found myself pleasantly surprised by the depth and complexity of what was going on - and by the fact that Prince A's completely reasonable assumptions about what was happening were wrong as often as not. There is homosexual sex in this book... but not between the two main characters. Which also surprised me. Prince B is described by other characters as frigid... and reading the subtext I have a very bad feeling as to why he is. Really, my main complaint is that Kingdom B is "Vere"... so the citizens are "Veretians." Which I kept misreading as Venetians.
Unfortunately, the library doesn't have either of the other volumes, and I didn't love it enough to go buy them out of my own pocket. If the library gets them, I'll happily read them, but... shelf space.
Verdict: Recommended for those who enjoy fanfiction.
Title: Games Wizards Play
Author: Diane Duane
Length: 620 pages
A new Young Wizards book! This one is pretty long but has the intriguing premise of, basically, a wizards' science fair. In which Kit, Nita, and Dairine get to act as mentors for younger wizards. (How old are they at this point? Kit and Nita are 17ish now, maybe?) One of the mentees I like, one I don't, but it'll be intriguing to see where they both go in future volumes. Because one thing DD does is have lots of cameos from characters from previous books in this series! And a dangling plot thread through the last couple books finally gets resolved here.
My main complaint about this book is that a not-insignificant part of the book ends up being devoted (in retrospect) to Nita's future path as a wizard, and Kit feels, comparatively, shafted. I hope DD can strike a slightly better balance between the partners' arcs in future books.
Verdict: If you're a Young Wizards fan? Definitely Recommended!
Title: The Sleeping Beauty
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Length: 345 pages
Another of the 500 Kingdoms books, this time focusing on the 300-year-old half-Fae Godmother Lily and her troubled kingdom of Eltaria. This one mixes up the Sleeping Beauty myth with the Ring Cycle, with a hint of Snow White thrown in for good measure.
Thing is, Lily reads very much like a young Godmother, not like someone who's been doing this for hundreds of years. And Princess Rosamund is kind of boring. The interesting part, to me at least, was Prince Siegfried of the Ring Cycle, trying desperately to escape his Doomed Fate, and his new friend Prince Leopold, as they both try to work their way through the tournament to win Rosamund's hand. And I will say that this was the first 500 Kingdoms book where I actually liked any of the unicorns!
Verdict: Half boring, half interesting. Recommended if you like the 500 Kingdoms series.
Title: Beauty and the Werewolf
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Length: 329 pages
And the newest of the 500 Kingdoms books. This one is mostly Beauty and the Beast, with a touch of Red Riding Hood in the beginning.
I give this one props for me being sure who was the bad guy... then not being sure that it was him after all. Lackey didn't quite use a red herring, but she definitely used a literary technique I'm going to remember. I also liked seeing a Godmother get knocked on her duff by the bad guy for a change. I also found it intriguing that the Duke did not get completely cured at the end.
Verdict: Recommended.
Title: The Fire Rose
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Length: 433 pages
And this is Beauty and the Beast as told in the first of the Elemental Masters series, set in 1906 on the California coast, with the story leading up to the San Francisco Earthquake.
This one, read right after Beauty and the Werewolf, was an interesting insight into how the same author can write the same story in different ways. In the other one, he was the intellectual, in this one they both are... and yet, strikingly, the hero here is also not completely cured at the end. Perhaps Lackey is a bit of a furry? :)
Verdict: Recommended.
