The spoilers...
Feb. 6th, 2006 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_schrapnellRight. I loved it - but not quite as much as I loved The Queen of Attolia, I think - in part because though they were fooling the whole court, there was no way they were going to fool a reader who's been waiting breathlessly for this book for ages: clearly these two are in love, and putting the POV into a character who doesn't know Gen as we all do, and doesn't know (specifically) about his intimate knowledge of the palace, won't make us think they're having no more physical contact than the kiss on the cheek after breakfast that's resented by the Queen's loyal men! But though Gen's as foxy as ever, and as able to trick, lie and disguise his way to success, the tension isn't as great, since it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that his ability to pull the wool over everyone's (except Irene's and the reader's) eyes will lead to that success. Too straight out of the book to be able to express this clearly!
There was also a bit of repetition in the stuff in his food kind of mean tricks, though it got much more serious pretty soon. On the other hand, there was, to my delight, serious room left for a story about Eddis (and Sophos, hopefully), and I very much hope she goes there for the next book. Not only because Eddis is an interesting character in her own right, but also because Gen could easily become too damn amazing for words. I thought the one-by-one defeat of any number of the Guard in sword-fight was a bit over-the-top - especially as we'd recently been made to worry about his ruined health after the assassination attempt. The scene in which he covered the extent of his injury by moaning about it loudly, so nobody believed it was serious, was just lovely though. As was his stitching up, and Irene's fainting, and Costis's suddenly getting it and helping out. He's one very romantic hero, all right! And I liked Costis, though I begrudged him his primary role at first. And I definitely loved the appearance of the god of the Thieves. Still a lot of humour with all the emotional tension.
As I said, desperately wanting to discuss it with someone else who's read it! My negatives aren't really strong negatives, but I had heard someone (Elizabeth Bear?) who said that this was much better even than The Queen of Attolia, and I wouldn't go that far at all.
There was also a bit of repetition in the stuff in his food kind of mean tricks, though it got much more serious pretty soon. On the other hand, there was, to my delight, serious room left for a story about Eddis (and Sophos, hopefully), and I very much hope she goes there for the next book. Not only because Eddis is an interesting character in her own right, but also because Gen could easily become too damn amazing for words. I thought the one-by-one defeat of any number of the Guard in sword-fight was a bit over-the-top - especially as we'd recently been made to worry about his ruined health after the assassination attempt. The scene in which he covered the extent of his injury by moaning about it loudly, so nobody believed it was serious, was just lovely though. As was his stitching up, and Irene's fainting, and Costis's suddenly getting it and helping out. He's one very romantic hero, all right! And I liked Costis, though I begrudged him his primary role at first. And I definitely loved the appearance of the god of the Thieves. Still a lot of humour with all the emotional tension.
As I said, desperately wanting to discuss it with someone else who's read it! My negatives aren't really strong negatives, but I had heard someone (Elizabeth Bear?) who said that this was much better even than The Queen of Attolia, and I wouldn't go that far at all.
