Of Swords and Parasols

I really liked the first Lace and Blade anthology, with a few caveats, when I read it earlier this year, but what less in love with this one. Which is sad, as it was the cover of this one that made me notice the anthologies.

But really, for a book with a woman with a pretty dress and a sword on the cover, it was rather…light on women. Then again, it is a Headless Woman cover. But really, my problem wasn’t the fact that it was light on women that bugged me so much as the fact that several of the stories stopped just short of advocating the idea that choosing Male over Female was for the best. The stories also see much less focused on the “swashbuckling x romance x magic” theme, though I suspect that may be a natural danger regarding anthology series. Looked at as a whole instead of on a story-by-story basis, I liked it a good bit, if not as much as the first, but the only stories that really stood out to me were Sherwood Smith’s story about Jane Austen vs. Dracula, and Madeleine Robins’s story set in a world where same-sex marriage is normal, and a heterosexual and seemingly asexual women get stuck in an arranged marriage and decide to take matters into their own hands.

Inda is the second son of the Prince of Choraed Elgaer. According to tradition, his older brother, Tanrid, is to train at the military academy, while Inda is to be trained at home, and become Tanrid’s champion when he inherits. By royal decree, however, second sons are now to attend the academy, too, and so off Inda goes, only to become the target of merciless bullying and multiple beatings. Every boy who befriended a boy nicknamed Sponge was the target of abuse, the goal to either make them turn on Sponge, or to hurt Sponge by hurting his friends, with either outcome acceptable. Targeting Sponge is especially strange, given that Sponge is the king’s second son, and even moreso because the source of the abuse was Sponge’s own brother.

This is a strong departure from Smith’s YA books, which (the ones I’ve read, at least) tend to be fairly contained medieval-lite books about girls on adventures. Smith doesn’t shy away from making her leads suffer, there, but none of it compares to what she puts Inda through. In addition, this is a hugely complex book. In complete honesty, I couldn’t keep everyone and their names, positions and relationships straight in the first half of the book, which focuses primarily on the brutal military academy. Later, when Inda’s life takes another turn (the book starts when he’s ten, and ends when he is, I think, about sixteen) it gets easier for me as only a few characters at a time are focused on.

Inda is the central character, but there’s no feeling of “destined hero” about him so far. Just a smart kid who got the short end of the stick a few times because he stuck by his friend. My favorites, though, are his friends Tau and Jeje, and his sister, Hadrid, who taught him how to fight, and seems to be Sponge’s protector.

Professions aren’t divided between men and women, and there are a lot female sailors, warriors, and business women. There are also male and female whores, and it’s considered as natural for women to visit a brothel as it is men. Homosexuality also seems to be widely accepted (and bisexuality exists, and is normal), in the societies focused on here, at least (I understand that other books in the series differ some, in these areas) with the only concern voiced over it regarding the sexual preferences of the princes.

There are also secret societies of women, and secret ways of fighting and secret histories only the women know. Like the fact that rape and sexual molestation/harassment in general are almost completely alien concepts due to earlier women killing sexual predators until the instinct was bred out of society. This is, I think, the only fantasy series that created a medieval-based world with a hefty dose of gender equality and explained how something that follows the basic rules of a patriarchal, sexist society didn’t turn out that way.

This is the first in a four book series, the last of which recently came out in hardcover.

First, 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.

The complete list of books I read it 2008 is in poll form here.

( top books of the year )

Even the basic setup of this one is fairly spoilery, so it all goes under the spoiler cut.

( spoilers )
All in all, I enjoyed the first book of the trilogy the most, but liked all three.

Growing up in an orphanage, Wren has always loved stories about heroes and quests and curses, and even playacts the roles of heroes in legends, and always has a story ready to be related. So when her best friend, Tess, reveals she’s actually Teressa, the secret daughter of the king and queen who’s been kept a secret for years because of a threat from another ruler, Wren is only too happy to jump at the chance to take Tess up on her offer to go home with her. Soon, however, the old threat is carried out, and Tess is kidnapped, with Wren the only witness.

Not about to wait around for the adults to plan their course of action, Wren sets out to rescue Tess herself, joined by Tyron, and apprentice magician, and later Connor, Tess’s 14-year-old uncle, who’s more than a bit of a later addition to the family, being only two years older than his neice. The basic story is fairly normal, but the characters, both adolescent and adult, are well fleshed out and interesting. It’s not as good or polished as Crown Duel, but is the beginning of a pretty solid followup (this is the first of a trilogy).

There are, however, two things that stand out to me. The first is this speech of Wren’s, when given the standard “you should go back home where it’s safe and let us boys handle things” line:

If there is anything more red-nosed, flap-eared, fungus-grown windbaggish than people who bundle other people out of the way with rotten scrummage about ‘keeping them safe,’ just like flea-bitten hoptoad Keepers, I hope I never see it. I’m leaving. And I hope you’ll be able to keep up, but don’t try because I don’t want to see you.

Now that? That is a magnificent flounce. And something more people in fiction could stand to hear. The thing is, less magnificent flounces along the same line will result in the text paying lip service to the flounce, but not really backing it up. Here, the text is “ok, being a little unreasonable here…” and then Wren is able to prove herself, but also suffers for going into a situation se wasn’t prepared for.

The second thing is that, throughout this, Tess is trying to save herself. Not token little misguided attempts doomed to failure, but genuine bids at freedom. Is she successful? No, but she tries, and she’s also able to participate in her own rescue.

PS-Is anyone else's update page looking weird?

In some ways, the plot of this book (originally released as two books) is the most generic of generic fantasy plots. Countess Meliara of Tlanth (we shall call her Mel, as the book calls her Meliara so rarely that I blinked when it did) and her brother, Branaric (Bran) are descended from the royal line through their mother. Their mother was murdered years earlier by the current rulers of the country, and they swear revenge, eventually starting a rebellion. Things do not, of course, go exactly as planned and Meliara is captured and used to attempt to force Bran to surrender. Later, she escapes with the aid of a nobleman named Shevraeth, whose loyalty she has cause to doubt, and she makes her way across the countryside to rejoin Bran. Along the way, she gains a reputation as being the only noble involved in the whole mess who cares about the common folk.

Once things have settled down, she retires to the country to rebuild her estates, but is persuaded to enter society by Bran’s new fiancee, Nimiar. There, she finds herself clashing again with Shevraeth, who she still does not trust, and encountering a potential plot against the crown. She also finds herself face-to-face with court intrigues she has no training for, potential suitors, and possible rivals, as well as a secret admirer who guides her through the court with his letters.

All the above fits the basic description of far too many fantasy novels to name. What sets Crown Duel apart from the rest is not the story it tells, but how it tells the story.