Title: Crown Duel
Author: Sherwood Smith
Series: Crown & Court, book 1 & 2
Genre: Political fantasy
Opening sentence:
The broken shutter in the window creaked a warning.
After re-reading Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce I wanted to read more political fantasy, but really it all started with Goblin Emperor last year. So I asked in the Sword & Laser group on GoodReads if they could recommend something – and they could! A number of people mentioned The Curse of Chalion which led me to Crown Duel which were just what I was looking for!
Crown Duel had me in tears over some of the misunderstandings and failed communications – especially in the first half of the book. The protagonist is very young and is court up in court life and political intrigue. She has not been raised to the life and has to learn very very quickly. Unlike in Goblin Emperor this does not go smoothly. Meliara does not know who to trust other than her brother – who is far worse at court politics that she is, so she is at a lose for quite a bit of the book.
The pacing of the plot goes in ebbs and flows which I quite like – we get passages where it is just everyday life followed by crazy chase scenes. The story has action, romance and intrigue, what more could I want?
I definitely want to read more by Sherwood Smith
The stats
Published: 2002 by Firebird (first published March 1st 1997)
Read: April 08 to 13, 2015
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Emma Galvin
Author: Female, white, USA
The protagonist: Meliara , female, noble