Once A Princess by Sherwood Smith
May. 11th, 2009 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreFirst, a small cover rant that is totally unrelated to the quality of the book itself: A headless woman cover! Why must my Sherwood Smith book have a headless woman? I don’t think I’ve read anything from Samhain Publishing before that isn’t one of Smith’s books, but they managed to let the women keep their heads! (I might be less annoyed if the sequel’s cover didn’t have a man with a head AND a face…)
Thirty or so years ago, a hippie named Sun met and fell in love with a prince, Mathias, from another world, and they married and had a daughter, Sasha. The prince never promised her that things would be easy, and they weren’t. When his brother-in-law, Canary ok, not his real name, but we’ll stick with the nickname) took Mathias to war, Mathias sent Sun and Sasha back to Earth. Unfortunately, Mathias never came to or sent for them, and their only contact with his world were the enemies who sometimes tracked them down.
Eventually, Sasha decided she’d had it with the constantly travelling and the combat training and such and settled down to become a waitress, only to be found again, this time by people who claim to be allies, and they take her back. Sun, naturally, is having none of that, and also returns to find her daughter, and hopefully learn what happened to Mathias, and both get caught up with factions working against Canary.
I like that Sun and Sasha aren’t quite welcomed back with open arms, as people aren’t really sure whether they abandoned the kingdom, or that they had to go, and I’m glad that Sun doesn’t seem to have spent the last 15 years asexually twiddling her thumbs and pining for Mathias, and that Sasha curses her hormones when it comes to the loudly dressed pirate, Zathdar, because she may not trust him and he may have awful fashion sense, but that doesn’t stop him from being attractive and witty. I have a fondness for stories driven by family, even if the family members aren’t actually interacting much, and this delivers.
There’s also crossdressing, secret identities, an absentee prince, a possibly mad queen, spies, traitors, inept rebels, and soldiers turned hoodlum.
In short, the world of fiction needs more stories about badass mothers on the run with their kid. Pirates can come too, though they might want to reconsider their wardrobes first.
Thirty or so years ago, a hippie named Sun met and fell in love with a prince, Mathias, from another world, and they married and had a daughter, Sasha. The prince never promised her that things would be easy, and they weren’t. When his brother-in-law, Canary ok, not his real name, but we’ll stick with the nickname) took Mathias to war, Mathias sent Sun and Sasha back to Earth. Unfortunately, Mathias never came to or sent for them, and their only contact with his world were the enemies who sometimes tracked them down.
Eventually, Sasha decided she’d had it with the constantly travelling and the combat training and such and settled down to become a waitress, only to be found again, this time by people who claim to be allies, and they take her back. Sun, naturally, is having none of that, and also returns to find her daughter, and hopefully learn what happened to Mathias, and both get caught up with factions working against Canary.
I like that Sun and Sasha aren’t quite welcomed back with open arms, as people aren’t really sure whether they abandoned the kingdom, or that they had to go, and I’m glad that Sun doesn’t seem to have spent the last 15 years asexually twiddling her thumbs and pining for Mathias, and that Sasha curses her hormones when it comes to the loudly dressed pirate, Zathdar, because she may not trust him and he may have awful fashion sense, but that doesn’t stop him from being attractive and witty. I have a fondness for stories driven by family, even if the family members aren’t actually interacting much, and this delivers.
There’s also crossdressing, secret identities, an absentee prince, a possibly mad queen, spies, traitors, inept rebels, and soldiers turned hoodlum.
In short, the world of fiction needs more stories about badass mothers on the run with their kid. Pirates can come too, though they might want to reconsider their wardrobes first.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 04:53 pm (UTC)And, you know, I would have checked it out anyway because I like Sherwood Smith, BUT THAT WAS THE EXCITEMENT SELLING POINT.