These two books make up the Crown and Court Duet, and were my first go at anything written by Sherwood Smith. Now I am a new fan, I thoroughly enjoyed them. First book, 8 stars, second 9 stars. These books have a little bit of everything.
In the first book, (minor spoilers ahead, I outline the books) the main character, Mel, is involved in a war to dethrone a tyrant king. She becomes a prisoner, escapes, and winds up facing the king in battle, sword to sword. The war ends with her as a hero.
The second book pretty much picks up where the first left off (good thing too because the ending of the first book is a little disappointing--Similar spoilers continue). Mel wants the land to have the best suitable ruler take the now empty throne, but the only way she can know who the best ruler would be is to go to town and become part of Court. She has no practice being proper and trim, but she is determined to not let that stop her from helping a just ruler come to power. In the mean time she finds herself caught up in Court affairs as well as being the subject of a secret admirer. There is a happy and satisfying ending (which is important to me...)
Overall, a great read! Loved it! Anyone who has read Robin McKinley books and is aching for more should give this duet a try.
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You probably already noticed this, but I have Sherwood Smiths blog on the bloglist on the side of my Life Blog. She does alot of fun booktalk there.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked Crown/Court Duel. Its been awhile since I've read it, I should look at it again.
If you really liked the book, Sherwood did some short stories connected to the series here: http://sherwoodsmith.net/writing/longproject.html
And the fansite is here:http://community.livejournal.com/athanarel/
Now, what I'm wondering is how I know all this. Because I'm not a member of the site, haven't read the short stories, and Crown/Court Duel is actually the only Sherwood Smith Book I've read. (Started Inda and gave up when I was expected to learn the names of like ten new characters all at once. I am a lazy reader, I'll say that up front.)