Janny Wurts

I really like this book but I have a quibble. This is probably the third fantasy book I have read where (trigger warning for this and suicide) infanticide occurs ( the other one is a book by Sara Douglass). It never fails to surprise me. Like, was killing the newborn baby necessary? I don't really understand the usage of this as a device. Sure, a baby isn't so much a character as much as it is a macguffin in this story, but everyone was totally down for the illegitimate baby to be the heir to the kingdom. This book is really good at balancing the romance plotline and the fantasy plotlines. The worldbuilding was genuinely interesting, and as much as I hate series, I wish there was a sequel to explain more about this world. However, in a romance there must be a HEA or happily ever after. The ending implies that the ending wouldn't be an HEA for these characters because it is not the baby that the protagonists make together. In fact, the prince explicitly states that yeah, her having a baby is cool because it is saving his life, but wouldn't it be cooler if it were in fact his baby? This story wouldn't lose much if the baby lived, but because this society has a weird hangup about legitimate heirs the baby dies and the time traveling sorcerer is totally cool with that, it is all part of the plan. It just feels like the author is saying that having a cuckoo in the nest would completely destroy the HEA because it isn't their baby, when their romance is clearly strong enough to overcome this, and would have more positive messaging if the baby had lived.… (mehr)

Ok, so I got 67% into this book and it just isn't working for me. Janny Wurts is a very good writer, I am not as convinced with Raymond Feist, but the pace dragged, and my interest was not held. The plot centers around Mara, a girl who belongs to a clan called the Acoma who suddenly finds herself its leader when her family is murdered by her enemies. Mara is a great character, in theory. She is basically a political savant. She makes plans and everybody is a piece on the chessboard. Her ultimate goal is to secure the clan of Acoma so that it can never be threatened again. The reason why I say she is a great character in theory is because as a "strong female lead" she is a bit too perfect. Her plots land her deeper into shit, but she always manages to come out alright in the end. I think the problem is lack of action. The action scenes are very compelling, but most of the book is Mara thinking about the implications of making a miniscule move on a larger political chessboard against ambiguous enemies you won't meet past the 50% mark. There is nothing Mara cares about more than the Acoma, she doesn't really have friends. She has servants, but there is no character to kind of bounce off of Mara's ridiculous exceptionalism. Between the slow pacing and political machinations that bored me to death, the setting was a little bit too close to feudal era Japan for my taste. It felt like boring fanfiction for a better anime about the Edo period. Maybe you'll like this if you like Game of Thrones. It certainly has Game of Thrones vibe, but Game of Thrones has better pacing.… (mehr)