Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore

[meganbmoore]

You 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.

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.

Comments

[estara.livejournal.com]

I believe that Lee just can't handle a personal self-image where she would be attractive/worthy? enough for Taro to love her all of the time. She's so sure her emotions are so dull that anything can only be temporary.

I do think she's now appreciating Taro for what he really is, after the horrid flashback information in the second book about his childhood, but she just doesn't believe she measures up, except jobwise in her very meticulous work ethic.

And we still get that Taro truly only believes Lee is the one person who gets him and can be his shelter from the expectations of the world, even though the author only uses first person.

What I also like about the series is how their explorations of powers that have helped them survive also manage to ride them deeper and deeper into the "not-appreciated people because too powerful, too direct and not polite" category.

And now we got Aryne and I can't believe she'll stay safely at the Academy for her whole schooling.

One thing I was wondering: how could the Empress not know, that her shield/source pair would need money over there: there is enough trade with the islands.

I think the Empress and her son are the most dangerous enemies so far, if it keeps going this way.

I'll keep buying if the author'll keep writing ^.^

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Lee is categorically incapable of considering herself attractive or interesting. She spent too much time trying to be plain and uninteresting and blending into the furniture to realize that she really isn't suited for that, and would have been utterly miserable that way. She is appreciating Taro a lot more now, but is still clinging to a lot of her earlier ideas about him, probably so she won't have to change her own self-image. Hopefully, she won't have managed to chase him off by the next book.

Since Aryne appears to be both a Source and a Shield(the daughter of a Pair, maybe? And I got the impression that hasn't happened to the royal line before...a Source or a Shield.) I suspect we'll see a lot more of her.

The queen not knowing they'd need money was a bit absurd, but I have no problems believing she's self-absorbed enough to not realize that.

[irenak.livejournal.com]

it was almost immediately obvious that Taro was nowhere near as bad as she thought he was in Resenting the Hero

This was my major problem with the first book, too - it was pretty clear Taro was snarky and flirty but also a truly decent guy, too, and Lee's constant insistence on it being otherwise really started to grate. And I'm not sure whether that was a set-up of Lee-as-unreliable-narrator or a case of telling-not-showing but it too often felt like the latter not the former. It's made me hesitant in continuing the series.

Also, as a side note - why do the cover artists insist on drawing Taro as a white dude? 'Cause that's been bugging me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I liked Lee in the first book, but that often made me want to smack her. A lot of it has to do with Lee's self image...if she ever completely admits she was wrong about Taro, then she has to address her misconceptions about herself, too, and she isn't ready for that. She gets better about that in the second book, but it's still there enough to make her annoying(but then, I'm 99% sure Lee is supposed to annoy us) and still a bit in the third. The voice is rather uneven early on, but has settled in pretty well at this point.

The covers of this series kinda just make me shake my head.