Book Review: Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
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juushikaTitle: Crown Duel (Crown Duel and Court Duel) (Crown & Court Book 1-2)
Author: Sherwood Smith
Published: New York: Firebird, 2002 (1997, 1998)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 471
Total Page Count: 157,024
Text Number: 458
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from Multnomah County Library
Review: I wanted to like the first book, but found it frustrating: the politics are simplistic, the plot predictable, and in the midst of that the protagonist—intentionally written as immature—seems dim rather than merely inexperienced. But I'm glad I stuck with it. The second book retains these faults, but introduces delightful social complexity which makes Meliara's character flaws less one-note; I enjoyed the daily details of her survival in the first book, but I adored her imperfect maneuverings through social niceties and court etiquette in the second. (The fan language! The fantastic, complex relationships between women!) The romance remains utterly predictable, but its epistolary nature is so endearing that, by the end, that's hard to hold against it. Crown Duel is a wildly uneven effort, raw and stumbling, but eventually transforming itself into a small delight: flawed, certainly, but lively and charming.
(I didn't have the heart for the vignettes that append the e-book—do let me know if I'm overlooking something essential.)
I was insufficiently in love with Crown Duel as I read it, for a number of legitimate reasons (the first book is awfully slight)—but now I find myself thinking about it all the time. I'm a hard sell for hetero romances, particularly ones which are predictable because straight; there's no tension, so no investment, and I find heteronormativity grating. And this one has that predictability: the identity of the letter-writer is only nominally secret, because the arc of Meliara and Vidanric's relationship is obvious from the beginning. (And I will always wish that Meliara's PoV had more subtlety, or that there was evidence of Vidanric's presumed flaws in the narrative rather than just her narration; instead, she's obviously unreliable and unreasonably stubborn.)
But had I been able to suspend more disbelief, and with the diffuse glow of hindsight: what a marvelous dynamic. Vidanric's seduction can hardly even be called that, despite the power imbalance of his hidden identity, because he presumes so little; and the anonymity benefits them both, Vidanric for escaping his infamy, Meliara for a reprieve from court etiquette. I think, often, about the images of the library, of Meliara's sitting room—uncompanionable silences when they cross paths physically—companionship found instead in a meeting of minds, in tutelage, in debate—the bookishness of setting and epistolary style—the combined anticipation and comfort of the letters (replacing the tension that heteronormativity strips away)—a relationship never viewed from without but existing purely within, private, secret, honest: it's perfect counterpoint to the detailed and convincing court politics of the second book (I will be forever in love with the fan language) and it digs right into the id and burrows there, a romantic ideal.
Author: Sherwood Smith
Published: New York: Firebird, 2002 (1997, 1998)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 471
Total Page Count: 157,024
Text Number: 458
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from Multnomah County Library
Review: I wanted to like the first book, but found it frustrating: the politics are simplistic, the plot predictable, and in the midst of that the protagonist—intentionally written as immature—seems dim rather than merely inexperienced. But I'm glad I stuck with it. The second book retains these faults, but introduces delightful social complexity which makes Meliara's character flaws less one-note; I enjoyed the daily details of her survival in the first book, but I adored her imperfect maneuverings through social niceties and court etiquette in the second. (The fan language! The fantastic, complex relationships between women!) The romance remains utterly predictable, but its epistolary nature is so endearing that, by the end, that's hard to hold against it. Crown Duel is a wildly uneven effort, raw and stumbling, but eventually transforming itself into a small delight: flawed, certainly, but lively and charming.
(I didn't have the heart for the vignettes that append the e-book—do let me know if I'm overlooking something essential.)
I was insufficiently in love with Crown Duel as I read it, for a number of legitimate reasons (the first book is awfully slight)—but now I find myself thinking about it all the time. I'm a hard sell for hetero romances, particularly ones which are predictable because straight; there's no tension, so no investment, and I find heteronormativity grating. And this one has that predictability: the identity of the letter-writer is only nominally secret, because the arc of Meliara and Vidanric's relationship is obvious from the beginning. (And I will always wish that Meliara's PoV had more subtlety, or that there was evidence of Vidanric's presumed flaws in the narrative rather than just her narration; instead, she's obviously unreliable and unreasonably stubborn.)
But had I been able to suspend more disbelief, and with the diffuse glow of hindsight: what a marvelous dynamic. Vidanric's seduction can hardly even be called that, despite the power imbalance of his hidden identity, because he presumes so little; and the anonymity benefits them both, Vidanric for escaping his infamy, Meliara for a reprieve from court etiquette. I think, often, about the images of the library, of Meliara's sitting room—uncompanionable silences when they cross paths physically—companionship found instead in a meeting of minds, in tutelage, in debate—the bookishness of setting and epistolary style—the combined anticipation and comfort of the letters (replacing the tension that heteronormativity strips away)—a relationship never viewed from without but existing purely within, private, secret, honest: it's perfect counterpoint to the detailed and convincing court politics of the second book (I will be forever in love with the fan language) and it digs right into the id and burrows there, a romantic ideal.
