Download Your Copy Remalnas Children (Crowns Court, #2.5) Composed By Sherwood Smith Produced In EPub
particularly compelling I must admit, I love this world, but this was rough,
Oh, I did a blog post about this when I read it, . . sitelinklink. These stories are like delicious bonus tracks in the Crown Duel album, Each of them stands alone pretty well, but they also enhance the texture and awesomeness of the main story.
Beauty is about growing up and not being what you are expected to be, which is a message I can always get behind.
Court Ship is awesome, I thought it was adroitly handled as a story of lostandfound love, The foreign princess does not come off well, but not as badly as she might have, I loved that Granny Risa is so smart about taking your chances when you have them, and not talking yourself out of something that might be good.
Read if: You have loved other Sherwood Smith stories, you like a glimpse into the world,
Skip if: You are looking for instant chemistry and happilyeverafter for sure,
Gaaah, why so short! Just when I become invested in your characters, the novellete ends abruptly, I demand closure, Sherwood Smith, Can't wait to read this again after the Norsunder war books, but I suspect it will be a while.
I want more Crown Duel,
With the high fantasy surge in young adult right now, I think that that would actually be pretty well received.
But even if there weren't a surge, I would still want more Crown Duel, I really liked the first story, I hope Sherwood Smith writes more on it in the future, The second story was ok, Rather disappointing as I was expecting more closure on some of the events, Instead these are more like short stories that are somewhat like the first parts of their own books, Oh well First short story was amusing though even if it wasn't the best, Remalna's Children consists of two short stories about the children of the main characters from sitelink Crown Duel, which I loved, so I thought I would love this too.
Unfortunately, it was rather disappointing,
The first story doesn't make a whole lot of sense, In a rather disturbing retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the plot tries to tell you it's ok to fall in love with someone who has just kidnapped you because true love always blooms withindays.
. . except it doesn't, and that pretty people have a terrible life, Not to mention you have to ignore the fact that the love interest is .
Our young heroine has so many opportunities to escape it's pathetic, and her reasons for not running away when left completely to her own devices and not restrained in any way are "he'll just catch up to me anyway.
" Couple that with our heroine just voluntarily giving her kidnapper loads of intelligence, which can do nothing but help him in his attempts to kidnap her.
I just can't even with these stupid characters.
The second story was more entertaining to me, showing Elestra's brother this time and his friend Nadav in a sort of dual love story.
The set up was interesting, the characters were interesting, but just as it gets started it ends, Both stories suffered from trying to set up too much for how short they were, Especially in the second story, there is a lot of world building and it feels like the story wants to go somewhere like a full blown book, but these are are likepage short stories, so I just ended up feeling confused and not all that invested.
It seems like maybe the author was writing these stories as a sort of precursor to a sequel, which I would love, and I think they would've worked better had they been longer.
But then again this was writtenyears ago so I doubt we're getting a sequel at this point, . . A fun little read by one of my favorite fantasy authors, I enjoyed see the next generation in Remalna have some of their own adventures Two short stories about the next generation: one featuring Mel and Vidanric's daughter and another featuring their son, along with Tamara and Savona's son.
My only complaint is the fact that these were novellas, They gave you enough story to feel concluded, but were not at all the conclusion you wanted, more the end of a chapter.
So what's next I can only imagine, Delightful as usual. I only wish these stories, especially "Beauty" had been a fulllength novel, I loved it and then felt dissatisfied that it was already over like craving a whole banana split but only getting to smell one up close instead pleasant, but eating one would have been much more gratifying.
:"Beauty" Oh, funnn! sitelinkCrown Duel fans will certainly appreciate the fact that Elestra's voice is reminiscent of her mother'sslightly sullen and tired of being different from the other court children.
The was a bit odd, and how that developed requires a bit of suspension of disbelief or ignoring your feelings from Crown Duel in order to invest in it.
However, this is certainly a novelette that would have the potential to be turned into a fulllength novel, if Sherwood Smith is ever interested in doing so.
./
"Court Ship" I wasn't a fan, The thirdperson omniscient narrator, the way it switched rapidly between characters' heads, reminded me of the narrative styles of sitelinkA Stranger to Command or sitelinkInda, which I didn't really find effective.
There's a spoiled princess being petty, . . aaaaaand not much else going on, The maybemaybenot friendship/romance was too ambiguous to allow me to care much for it,/Together for the first time, two stories about Meliara and Vidanric's oldest children: "Beauty" in which Princess Elestra the plain one goes to look at a tree, and discovers a handsome villain, and "Court Ship" in which Prince Alaraec and his friend Nadav, heir to Savona, go to court a princess, but find themselves distracted.
The princess does not intend to let them remain distracted for long, Good but not as great as the Crown Duel book, I enjoyed reading about other characters from this world, but the short stories were too short and not very fulfilling.
I almost didn't realize the book was done and suddenly I was on the next one, I was hoping for a full length book about the children from the people in Crown Duel, It ended up being two short stories, . . They started out and never really finished which was disappointing to me maybe she will write a book about them later, idk.
This is not finished! It cant be, What happens next Ok so I only read this because my local library had the ebook and I needed the little nostalgia boost.
Sherwood Smith's books meant a lot to me when I was a middle schoolerish, This is two short stories set in the world of Crown Duel published together, one about Mel and Vidanric's daughter and one about their son.
In the first story, "Beauty," Mel's daughter is tired of being plain and useless, but her talents may come in handy when a situation arises regarding a tree in the throne room.
The second, "Court Ship," is somewhat sillier Mel's son decides to make an impromptu visit to a princess he may or may not marry.
This story feels like Smith was writing off the cuff a lot more it's a lighthearted series of events that are breezed by so quickly they hardly leave an impression.
Smith's writing is as good as ever, though! She's great at creating a lush fantasy atmosphere, with a folksy sensibility that makes the characters feel relatable.
If you're a diehard Smith fan, these two stories are a fun return to those characters, Loved it, loved it, loved it!!! As may anyone who loved sitelinkCrown Duel, as it is the story of some things that happened afterwards.
The only downer is that there are but three short stories, which leave us wanting to know what happens next!!! Please, please, please may we have some more! A bit short for the price I bought on sale, IIRC, but ended up being exactly what a YA fantasy romance should be.
There's subtle romance, strong heroines, a worthy male interest, and the door left open at the end for something possibly more.
. . I love this world so much, These were obviously not at the level if her other works, being short stories but I loved them all the same.
Even when the premise of them had holes, I wanted to rating this low because I am so mad that these stories aren't full books themselves, Both of these stories feel like the first chapter to wonderful books and then that is it, It's like just getting to smell a wonderful meal but you don't get to eat it, I want the feast not a sniff! However I did love what I read and I am trying not to be petty because I want more.
This was a pretty disappointing followup to two of my favorite books from childhood, Crown Duel amp Court Duel.
The first story, Beauty, did give me the nostalgic vibes with Elestra's narration sounding similar to Mel's, but it felt really weird to have Flauvic!! of all people be the center of the story and, as strongly hinted by the story, the future love interest.
I mean, he did try to kill her parents And it's not ancient history for him, he basically just had a time skip and suddenly now is "interested" in spending an extra day with their daughter after kidnapping her.
Despite all the problems, at least Beauty seemed to be getting at some sort of message about inner beauty, self worth, and mental perspectives.
It didn't ever GET there, but given that it's so short aboutpages, it was at least engaging enough, even if it felt like more of a prologue to some other novel.
The second story was awful and totally contradicted any sort of message that Beauty might have been based around I seriously don't understand how Sherwood Smith could have written in an entire second generation of characters, who are basically described as little versions of their parents disappointingly enough, both appearance AND personality wise and made them all so, so, SO SHALLOW.
I felt like I was readingpages of teenagers describing each other's and their own hawtness, Wasn't the whole point that Vidanric and Mel would usher in a better world/kingdom/setup for
the court Then why are we basically reading about a setting that sounds like the old days of Crown Duel, which represented what Mel was against the superficiality, the fakeness, the shallowness of it all
We have not one, but two different girls I don't know their age, but the way they are described certainly makes "girls" a more appropriate descriptor than "women" basically trying to decide who available to them as a potential love interest/husband, yet their assessments tend toward ridiculously shallow things like OMG HE'S BLUE EYED.
I can't imagine a woman seriously contemplating marriage by comparing someone with old oatmeal, no matter how "bland" he supposedly looks.
And at that point she had just met him and ALL she knew about him was based on his looks, yet that's all we got of her thoughts.
I mean, that's certainly "princessy" to borrow this adjective from the author in all the wrong ways, . . How shallow can you possibly get But why even create a character that is such a caricature
As for the boys again, "men" would be too much of a stretch, and they apparently see each as boys too, all they care about is who's prettier My eyes almost rolled to another dimension when I came across the line about "the prettiest girl in Send Alian.
" And the fact that all the princess can think about is moneybags and a crown, or that she's going to wear a crown again, etc.
it's like all the worst aspects of monarchy and the princess fever phenomenon, What, exactly, makes this childish brat worthy of ruling over anyone, or does she just want a decorative tiara Does Remalna need a French Revolution or something Obviously all this is deliberate and meant to create an awful picture, but in response to a spoiled, childish princess, the "mature" girl that I think the reader is supposed to be sympathetic toward just resorts to pettiness.
. .
It pains me to give this astar rating but "it was ok" is being still being generous.
I wish I hadn't read this followup, since it's sad to read about the children of your favorite characters in such a disappointing way.
I love, love, love Crown Duel, So, I had very high hopes for Remalna's Children, "Beauty" was an excellent story, I picked up the story quickly and I love Elestra, "CourtShip" was a more difficult story to get into, I felt like I was dropping into a storyline too late, The plot was perfectly acceptable, but I felt like I should have known more about who Young Risa and Granny Risa were.
This isn't the author's fault necessarily, It just makes me want to read more of Smith's work, Hopefully, there is a book about what happened during the Pirate Wars between Lark and Granny Risa, .