Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
Jun. 5th, 2008 01:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreYou know, the covers in this series sometimes make me wonder. While the cover of the first book doesn't fit at all with the actual events of the book, it does fit with Lee's idea of what life with Taro will be like. The cover of the second book really just makes no sense, as Lee's indulgently amused expression doesn't remotely fit with her interactions with either of their mothers. The cover of this book has Lee in a jaunty pirate-lady type of pose, not really seeming to mind that she's showing off a fair bit of cleavage. This really doesn't seem to fit with the super-conservative Lee at all. But then I read the book, and I realized she was just happy to have a full set of clothes to wear again.
In Heroes Adrift, the flamboyant nobleman playboy Source (person who helps keep the weather under control) Shintaro Karish, and his super conservative and serious Shield (person who keeps the source from killing him/herself during the weather controlling) Dunleavy Mallorough, are sent by their empress to an island cut off from the country's main soceity to look from any descendants of a not-quite-legitimate royal line that was exiled there a few decades back. There, they are scandalized to learn that, with weather that doesn't require the aid of Sources and Shields to keep it under control, the laws requiring citizens to give Pairs anything they need without charge are ignored. What? Have to pay for things? And earn money? Alien concepts! They are further scandalized after they join a group of travelling entertainers and learn that Taro, considered amazingly beautiful on the mainland, is considered plain there, while Lee, normally considered plain, is considered an exotic beauty for her red hair and pale skin, and becomes a dancer in the troupe. A scantily clad one, just to scandalize them some more. In a first book, or as a series setup, this plot point would be amazingly trite and Mary Sue-ish, but in a third book, with the reader well accustomed to the norm, it's more of an amusing reversal. During their travels, they meet Aryne, the ward of a con artist, who is also an untrained Source, and reluctantly agree to take her with them.
In Heroes Adrift, the flamboyant nobleman playboy Source (person who helps keep the weather under control) Shintaro Karish, and his super conservative and serious Shield (person who keeps the source from killing him/herself during the weather controlling) Dunleavy Mallorough, are sent by their empress to an island cut off from the country's main soceity to look from any descendants of a not-quite-legitimate royal line that was exiled there a few decades back. There, they are scandalized to learn that, with weather that doesn't require the aid of Sources and Shields to keep it under control, the laws requiring citizens to give Pairs anything they need without charge are ignored. What? Have to pay for things? And earn money? Alien concepts! They are further scandalized after they join a group of travelling entertainers and learn that Taro, considered amazingly beautiful on the mainland, is considered plain there, while Lee, normally considered plain, is considered an exotic beauty for her red hair and pale skin, and becomes a dancer in the troupe. A scantily clad one, just to scandalize them some more. In a first book, or as a series setup, this plot point would be amazingly trite and Mary Sue-ish, but in a third book, with the reader well accustomed to the norm, it's more of an amusing reversal. During their travels, they meet Aryne, the ward of a con artist, who is also an untrained Source, and reluctantly agree to take her with them.
One of the problems with first person narration is that, very often, the reader figures things out long before the main character does, and has to wait for the character to catch up, which can be frustrating. This is especially true with a character like Lee. While I like Lee a lot, she can be annoying. She's extremely judgmental and opinionated, makes snap decisions, clings to her preconceptions and initial impressions like a dog with a bone, and is so concerned about being practical and by-the-books that I'm sometimes surprised she remembers how to breathe. Just like it was almost immediately obvious that Taro was nowhere near as bad as she thought he was in Resenting the Hero, it becomes very obvious, very quickly, just who and what Aryne is, so while watching Lee and Taro fret about finding the missing heir and experience quasi-parenthood, the reader (or at least, this one) is somewhat left tapping her foot, waiting for them to figure it out. I'm also not quite sure what I think just yet of the change in Lee and Taro's relationship. While there was a high probability of it turning outright romantic from the start, Lee still has a very low opinion of Taro in that area, and I can't help but think that, as much as she cares for him, Taro is a lot more into Lee than she is into him at this point, and that it could take a lot to get her head out of the sand.
Aah...all that sounds much more critical than I actually feel, something that seems to be popping up a fair bit in my posts lately.
One thing I noticed is that the writing seems to have hit its stride in this book. While the first book had a lot of the first book problems I refuse to ever hold against a first book, the voice was still somewhat uneven and sometimes forced in the second, though definately smoother than the first. The kinks and occasional forcefulness of Lee's voice seem to have been ironed out, and the book flows much more smoothly.
Aah...all that sounds much more critical than I actually feel, something that seems to be popping up a fair bit in my posts lately.
One thing I noticed is that the writing seems to have hit its stride in this book. While the first book had a lot of the first book problems I refuse to ever hold against a first book, the voice was still somewhat uneven and sometimes forced in the second, though definately smoother than the first. The kinks and occasional forcefulness of Lee's voice seem to have been ironed out, and the book flows much more smoothly.