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100 Books, #27: Crown Duel
Jul. 12th, 2013 12:10 amI first got my LJ for a single purpose: I wanted to be able to post on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
athanarel, the LJ comm about Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel.
I remain terribly fond of the book. I adore the heroine, Mel, who is brave and plucky and brash to the point of rashness - I could probably throw a few more synonyms for “courageous” in this list of Mel’s virtues. But her courage is often the only thing she has going for her: she’s quite ignorant about the world, and therefore makes enormous mistakes and is forced to seriously reevaluate not just her actions but her basic beliefs about how the world works.
And I love the fact that Mel’s ignorance allows her to learn about the world with her, and that the worldbuilding makes this process worthwhile. There’s a scene I particularly love where Nee, Mel’s friend and Mel’s brother’s fiancee, explains the history of Remalna, touching at intervals on world history, through the changes in court clothing over the centuries. It’s so light and airy and so full of information! Brilliant.
But it’s not just that Remalna is well-developed - the glancing mentions of the outside world in the book make the other countries feel real, like places with stories and characters and histories. (Smith’s other books have amply affirmed this impression, although I think often the worldbuilding in her other books lacks the same lightness of touch.)
Crown Duel was also the first book that introduced me to the idea of a comedy of manners - a very gentle stepping stone toward Jane Austen and E. M. Forster and all those 1930s English authors I love to ramble about.
Plus it has an epistolary romance. Epistolary anythings are one of my favorite literary devices in the world.
***
As thefic_corner exchange is coming up, I’ve been thinking about the fic possibilities for many of my favorite old children’s and YA books. Some of them are not very conducive for this sort of thing, but I have ALL SORTS of Crown Duel ideas.
Partly this is another effect of the worldbuilding: I always had the sense that if I could climb into the book, there would be a real place to walk around, and moreover, a place I would want to walk around. But it’s also a result of the wonderful characters in the book.
The love interest of course is first rate (also visible from SPACE, but I will preserve his anonymity for the moment), but I also love Mel’s brother Bran, good-humored and slightly bumbling; Bran’s fiancee Nee, who swiftly becomes one of Mel’s best friends (to the point that Mel must remind herself that she should give Bran and Nee a little alone time), and Nee’s best friend Elenet, who is a very secondary character but fascinating in her shyness, her artistry, her melancholy.
( More fic thoughts, which are spoilerrific )
athanarel, the LJ comm about Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel. I remain terribly fond of the book. I adore the heroine, Mel, who is brave and plucky and brash to the point of rashness - I could probably throw a few more synonyms for “courageous” in this list of Mel’s virtues. But her courage is often the only thing she has going for her: she’s quite ignorant about the world, and therefore makes enormous mistakes and is forced to seriously reevaluate not just her actions but her basic beliefs about how the world works.
And I love the fact that Mel’s ignorance allows her to learn about the world with her, and that the worldbuilding makes this process worthwhile. There’s a scene I particularly love where Nee, Mel’s friend and Mel’s brother’s fiancee, explains the history of Remalna, touching at intervals on world history, through the changes in court clothing over the centuries. It’s so light and airy and so full of information! Brilliant.
But it’s not just that Remalna is well-developed - the glancing mentions of the outside world in the book make the other countries feel real, like places with stories and characters and histories. (Smith’s other books have amply affirmed this impression, although I think often the worldbuilding in her other books lacks the same lightness of touch.)
Crown Duel was also the first book that introduced me to the idea of a comedy of manners - a very gentle stepping stone toward Jane Austen and E. M. Forster and all those 1930s English authors I love to ramble about.
Plus it has an epistolary romance. Epistolary anythings are one of my favorite literary devices in the world.
***
As the
fic_corner exchange is coming up, I’ve been thinking about the fic possibilities for many of my favorite old children’s and YA books. Some of them are not very conducive for this sort of thing, but I have ALL SORTS of Crown Duel ideas. Partly this is another effect of the worldbuilding: I always had the sense that if I could climb into the book, there would be a real place to walk around, and moreover, a place I would want to walk around. But it’s also a result of the wonderful characters in the book.
The love interest of course is first rate (also visible from SPACE, but I will preserve his anonymity for the moment), but I also love Mel’s brother Bran, good-humored and slightly bumbling; Bran’s fiancee Nee, who swiftly becomes one of Mel’s best friends (to the point that Mel must remind herself that she should give Bran and Nee a little alone time), and Nee’s best friend Elenet, who is a very secondary character but fascinating in her shyness, her artistry, her melancholy.
( More fic thoughts, which are spoilerrific )
