Bards and Doctors
May. 8th, 2022 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearAfter enjoying the first in the Keeper Chronicles series by Tanya Huff, I decided to try some of her other books and discovered an absolute gem in Sing the Four Quarters.
It's about a bard named Annice, who has been disowned from the royal family and is not allowed to have children, by decree of her brother, the king. When she accidentally gets pregnant and the father of the baby is charged with (unrelated) treason, Annice fights to prove his innocence and protect her unborn child from retribution.
The worldbuilding is great, with an interesting magic system, engaging politics, and a good sense of geography. But it's the relationships that really make this book. All the characters are layered and flawed, but compelling and sympathetic where appropriate. They also all seem to be both pansexual and often polyamorous, which is a very refreshing way for a world to be.
My only gripe is that the author evidently didn't do the writing exercise where you list all your character names in alphabetical order and change any that start with the same letter. As I listened to the audiobook, it may well be that some of these don't start with an 'O', but four main characters sounded like: Olbec, Olred, Otek and Olena, which was a bit hard to keep track of. Also only a fault of the audiobook, but the words 'traitor' and 'trader' sounded exactly the same in the narrator's accent, and it was quite important to be able to keep them distinct, especially when two accused traitors were disguising themselves as traders...
However, those minor issues aside, I absolutely loved this book and will very much look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Then, last night, we went to see Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was - okay. Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong were both good value, as always. I liked the inclusion of America, as she added an interesting dynamic to the interactions. The cloak was awesome but not in it nearly enough. And it was funny in a couple of places. Plus, there were some fun new and old faces to enjoy (always good to see Lashana Lynch!).
But it was also really grim quite a lot, and tonally more leaning towards horror than action, though there was also an awful lot of not very interesting fighting. I wasn't overly keen on the presentation of Wanda, though the emotional conclusion of her arc was effective.
So, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either.
It's about a bard named Annice, who has been disowned from the royal family and is not allowed to have children, by decree of her brother, the king. When she accidentally gets pregnant and the father of the baby is charged with (unrelated) treason, Annice fights to prove his innocence and protect her unborn child from retribution.
The worldbuilding is great, with an interesting magic system, engaging politics, and a good sense of geography. But it's the relationships that really make this book. All the characters are layered and flawed, but compelling and sympathetic where appropriate. They also all seem to be both pansexual and often polyamorous, which is a very refreshing way for a world to be.
My only gripe is that the author evidently didn't do the writing exercise where you list all your character names in alphabetical order and change any that start with the same letter. As I listened to the audiobook, it may well be that some of these don't start with an 'O', but four main characters sounded like: Olbec, Olred, Otek and Olena, which was a bit hard to keep track of. Also only a fault of the audiobook, but the words 'traitor' and 'trader' sounded exactly the same in the narrator's accent, and it was quite important to be able to keep them distinct, especially when two accused traitors were disguising themselves as traders...
However, those minor issues aside, I absolutely loved this book and will very much look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Then, last night, we went to see Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was - okay. Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong were both good value, as always. I liked the inclusion of America, as she added an interesting dynamic to the interactions. The cloak was awesome but not in it nearly enough. And it was funny in a couple of places. Plus, there were some fun new and old faces to enjoy (always good to see Lashana Lynch!).
But it was also really grim quite a lot, and tonally more leaning towards horror than action, though there was also an awful lot of not very interesting fighting. I wasn't overly keen on the presentation of Wanda, though the emotional conclusion of her arc was effective.
So, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either.
