Book Log 21 & 22/2012 - Sherwood Smith: Sasharia En Garde

[jacey]

21) 14/06/12
Sherwood Smith: Once a Princess
I was really enjoying this book - and then it ended. It didn't really conclude. I knew it was the first book in a two book series, but I expected a cliffhanger ending or a bit more of a resolution to the first section of the story. In fact it's pretty obvious that this isn't two books, it's one book split in half. Then I recalled reading that this was one book published as two. Ah, suddenly it made sense. OK, it's not a problem because I intend to get the next book immediately, but I did feel that the ending pulled the rug out from under my feet somewhat suddenly.

So really this review is covering only the first half of the story but I'm liking it so far. I've read a few of Sherwood Smith's Sartorias-deles books however this is the first one which has involved a world gate and people from both worlds travelling through.

It opens with Sasha's life in California. Her mom is worried because someone seems to have found them and then we disover that they are refugees from Khanerenth in Sartorias-deles, hiding from some kind of political plot and missing Sasha's dad, the disenfranchised prince, who was supposed to come and get them, but never did. Fifteen years have passed and Sasha has grown up.

Anyhow, Sasha ends up being conned back through the gate and almost immediately fighting for her life by the side of a handsome pirate. It seems that things are just as unstable in Khanerenth as they were fifteen years ago.

There's a reveal in the second half of the book that I could see coming a mile away but it was no less enjoyable for all that. Now I need to order that second book!

And two days later...

22) 16/06/12
Sherwood Smith: Twice a Prince
This second half of the one-book-split-into-two contains all the payoffs earned in book one. Without any preamble or story-so-far the second book picks up exactly where 'Once a Princess' left off. Sasha - after a brief but pyrotechnic clinch with Prince Jehan departs to find her father, Prince Math. Jehan plays his double game a la Scarlet Pimpernel, running with the hare and hunting with the hounds until at last all the separate plot strands (Sasha, her mother, King Canary, Prince Math, the power hungry Randart and his nephew, Damedran) come together in a satisfying big finish.

If there are some things not addressed - the forthcoming problem with Norsunder, for instance - which has plenty of foreshadowing but no development - it's obviously because all Sherwood Smith's Sartorias-deles books need to be taken as a whole and foreshadowing in this book will lead to payoff in other books.

What I particularly like about this book is the completeness of the world building with echoes from previous books such as Inda's time at sea and training in the academy. Sherwood Smith is always good value with plenty of story and excellent characters set against a very believable world.

Highly recommended.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

It's a fun book, I thought. And Sasha herself is wonderfully dynamic and positive, which is always good to read.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like Sasha a lot. Tall, strong, hook-nosed and hair like an explosion in a mattress factory! It's subverting the whole 'princesses are delicate flowers' theory, which is great. Sherwood writes good characters.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

She certainly does!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

:-)

(I did wish that the publishers didn't insist on splitting it, but it was too long for their production at that time. When I get the rights back, it'll be one book again.)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

That would be excellent? What is the wordcount? It didn't feel particularly long. I read both books in about three days. Of course, sitting up until 5 a.m. helped!
:-)
Just out of interest, since it has an older-than-teen heroine, is it published as YA? It works equally well for both YA and adult, I think, so I just wondered where the publishing world put it.

I'm happy to read across the spectrum from middle grade to adult, i.e. Diana Wynne Jones to George RR Martin and Joe Abercrombie.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

It was published by Samhain, who is a romance publisher. But it would be considered 'sweet' in that there's no sex. I think of it as sort of YA; I wrote the first draft in college, and I tried to keep the sensibilities when I rewrote it, so it feels YAish to me.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's interesting. When you buy the ebook version you don't get the nuances that come along with the imprint, the cover pic and the cover precis and blurbs - something I miss.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

A relief--I like Samhain in a lot of ways, but the covers for my books are hideously wrong.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Ah, I do understand.