Shattered Court by MJ Scott

The light, fluffy book somehow more
pessimistic about gender roles than the high
octane nightmare fuel that is Dark Jewels. 

My latest library jaunt brought me Shattered Court, a high fantasy love story by Melbourne writer MJ Scott. This book was a pleasant surprise for me. Despite being heavy on the romance - and you know my feelings on romance - it had some interesting ideas.

It follows the adventures of Lady Sophia Kendall, a royal witch on the verge of inheriting the hereditary magic that will determine her future. However an unforeseen calamity sends her life off-course and her unnatural power makes her an unwilling pawn in court politics. With the help of royal guard Cameron Mackenzie she must navigate the dangerous undercurrents of royalty and religion.

Although much lighter and fluffier, Shattered Court has a lot in common with Anne Bishop's Dark Jewels series. Both depict cultures centred around women whose magic performs a vital function. In Dark Jewels a female-only caste called queens have the ability to rejuvenate the land, while in Shattered Court royal witches commit their magic to the protection of the land. But the conclusions each writer reaches are different.

Where queens enjoy nearly unchallenged dominance, royal witches can't even decide who they marry. In fact their magic makes them akin to valuable livestock, traded off to increase the status of whatever noble is currently in favor. Given the fact they once were very powerful, you can make a pretty good case for MJ Scott depicting the logical outcome of a society like Dark Jewels.

However, on closer inspection a key difference between the two roles emerges: the element of choice.

Given Anglion's situation, maybe this is why 
the Blood are so gung-ho about preserving 
female power?

Whatever other issues I may have with the Dark Jewels, it's fair to say that the characters have a fair range of options. Being born into a queen doesn't mean you have to perform the duties of one. There's even some leeway with gender roles, as women can serve in courts and men can rule in certain circumstances.

Contrast that to Shattered Court, where royal witches have no choice at all in their duties. They undergo a ritual to bind their magic the minute they turn eighteen, information is edited to hide the ritual's true significance, and the binding itself is permanent. Unlike queens, who are only temporarily inconvenienced by rejuvenating the land, it's implied that royal witches never regain their full strength.

Given this difference, Shattered Court isn't so much a deconstruction of Dark Jewels as a 'for want of a nail'. The point is that while the abilities of a certain class might be valuable, that alone won't ensure they're valued as people. You also have to ensure informed consent in the performance of those abilities. To go for the obvious real-life connection, childbirth is an essential female-specific role but women haven't always had control over the process.

Maybe I'm over-analyzing (fine, definitely over-analyzing), but the world-building kept me reading long past my usual threshold for romance. It was a very easy read and the characters were likable. I was particularly intrigued by the Princess Eloisa who played her cards very close to the chest, making it impossible to tell if she was an ally or an enemy. Personally I hope she arranged everything, because that would make her a master manipulator on the level of Nick Fury.

Shattered Court might appear like harmless fluff, but it's smarter than it seems, and doesn't outstay its welcome. It ends on the perfect note to leave you hungry for more.

Top Five Star-Crossed Lovers in Aussie High Fantasy

Romance is a big part of high fantasy. Whether it's Etta's misguided yearning for Kennit that made her consort to a pirate king or Daenerys' marriage to Drogo that put her on the road to power, the romances are epic and life-changing.

However they don't always work out. Sometimes they end very badly. So here the top five star-crossed lovers in Australian high fantasy. All couples on this list share a mutual attraction which they are unable to follow through on and originate from a series by an Australian author.

Because this post will be discussing plot points of various books, watch out for *SPOILERS*.

Prophecy doesn't care what you want.  

5. Axis and Farady - The Axis Trilogy

Yes, big surprise. A Sara Douglass novel is on a list of ill-fated romances.

Axis and Faraday met during a relatively innocent time of their lives, before they encountered the Forbidden or the Prophecy that would shape their lives and very identities. Axis was a bastard prince assigned to escort Faraday to her wedding to his hated half-brother. Their forbidden attraction would shape the fate of Tencendor.

But not in a way that either of them would like. Axis' enemy got wind of their love and captured Faraday, intending to use her as a hostage. Axis had to watch her torn to literal pieces in front of him, unable to move without losing his advantage. And he only managed it because he'd fallen in love with someone else, which just adds insult to injury.

What could be more romantic than fighting
monsters in a bloody war?

4. Willan and Hrudis - A Dark Winter

For a slightly less bloody example, there's the unlikely attraction between Hrudis and Willan.

Hrudis was a shield-maiden, sworn to chastity and the sword. Willan was a guardsman-turned-squire among reinforcements sent to help defend her homeland. It would be a stretch to call it a relationship as they never made any promises or consummated the simmering sexual tension - but they were trying not to be killed by zombies or monsters, so you can't fault their priorities.

In fact, Willan and Hrudis managed to act like adults, which is a rare thing to see. They knew from the start it was never going to happen, not without one of them giving up a vital calling. There was no drama, no angst, just a single quiet kiss before they parted ways forever.

3. Rhian and Zandakar - Godspeaker Trilogy

No, royal weddings don't fix everything.

Speaking of acting like adults, there's a reason the only two sane people in the Godspeaker Trilogy are attracted to one another. Rhian was a princess struggling to claim her throne in the face of rampant misogyny. Zandakar was a prince exiled from his home for daring to suggest that maybe genocide wasn't the best foreign policy.

Zandakar was one of the first men to ever take Rhian's ambitions seriously and Rhian gave Zandakar a much-needed purpose. In any other story, they would have married, bringing peace and unity between their lands.

But not this one.

In a surprisingly realistic twist, Zandakar returned home to rule his people while Rhian remained behind to rebuild hers. They never spoke of their feelings and never met again.

Love doesn't overcome every
obstacle. And thank god for that.

2. Zenith and StarDrifter - The Wayfarer Redemption

I'm going to catch so much flack for this...Yes, he's her grandfather. Yes, it's all kinds of ickie and wrong. Just let me explain.

Zenith and StarDrifter were from the royal family of the Icarri, and therefore cursed only to ever feel real passion for those within the same bloodline. So their falling in love was totally acceptable in their culture, except that Zenith was raised with human attitudes and was revolted by her own desires, ending their relationship before it even began.

And then Zenith was gruesomely murdered by a madwoman, because this is a Sara Douglass series and no one can ever have nice things, ever.

1. Ylena and Alyd - The Quickening

Beauty may not be a curse but pervy
princes definitely are (fanart by celladore)

Children avert your eyes! The final and worst-fated couple on this list are not for the faint-hearted.

Ylena and Alyd were two young nobles sickeningly in love. Unfortunately Ylena received word that a corrupt prince intended to demand her as a tourney prize and married Alyd in secret. When the prince found out he backed off, because apparently ceremonial rape is okay, but adultery is just a step too far.

The day is saved, the bad guy is thwarted, it's a happy ending, right?

Wrong. The prince did not take rejection well. He framed Ylena's family for treason, executed Alyd and puts his decapitated head in the cell where Ylena was imprisoned so she could look at it all day and night. Ylena eventually escaped, only to die a painfully pointless death.

Proving that you don't have to be in a George R. Martin novel for your epic stars-colliding romance to go down in flames.

Captive Prince & Prince's Gambit by C.S. Pacat

The impossible just happened.

I read a series that restored my faith in romance novels.

Yes, I know. I'm as shocked as you. I honestly never thought this would happen. I gave up years ago, burned out on poorly written supernatural romance or Mills and Boon that sacrificed characterization for sex and plot (always in that order) and thinly veiled rape scenes (yeah, you wish I was joking). I'll read it for the porn, obviously, but I gave up pretending there was anything like higher art to it.

Then I cracked open the Captive Prince... okay, so I pressed the button to turn my kindle on... and rediscovered hope.

The Captive Prince was sexy, it was imaginative, it didn't do the literary equivalent of throwing characterization out of a moving car. In fact it cradled characterization to its manly bosom and made sweet tender love to it.

Yes, I went there. I wrote that sentence. Because it happened.

The premise is your standard sexy slavery premise. (Been there, done that, hidden the books where no casual peruser of my bookshelf can ever find them.) The prince Damon is betrayed by his bastard half-brother and sold as a pleasure slave to a neighbouring enemy kingdom. Trapped in this decadent foreign culture, he has to survive a power struggle with his new owner, prince Laurent, and escape home to re-take his throne. You can already see the sexy questionably-consensual shenanigans coming, no pun intended.

But this book focuses on what romance novels usually ignore. The characters. Specifically, their motivations, their loyalties, their place in the world. These things aren't warped to shape the plot, they're what drives the plot. They're the reason the two leads despise one another, and the reason they eventually come to a grudging respect (pun intended). Despite there being very little sex, at least between the two leads, the delicious slow-winding tension proves what I've suspected all these years - good characterization can be sexy.

The world-building is no slouch either. In case you haven't figured it out, this is male-male romance and the author's taken an unusual tactic in normalizing it. Apparently in Laurent's culture there's a superstitious dread attached to bastards, so in order to safely engage in premarital sex, the upper classes openly keep same-sex 'pets'. Interestingly Damon's culture has no stigma against either kind of sex, and he accuses Laurent's people  of 'making things needlessly complicated for themselves'. In a way it's representative of the two cultures and two men; Laurent is all elaborate schemes and hidden agendas while Damon is bluntly straightforward and blind to nuance. It's one of the reasons they consistently misunderstand one another and also turn out to be very good for each other.

Readers should be aware that this is the first book of a trilogy. The first two have been released, but the third won't be out until February. Both are a decent length with self-contained stories and incredibly addictive. I hopped straight from the Captive Prince to Prince's Gambit, even though I had work the next day. On a more serious note, some readers may find certain subject matter disturbing. Sexual assault is threatened and depicted, and child abuse is discussed. I respect the author for actually addressing these issues instead of pretending slavery is all sunshine and rainbows, but some readers may want to steer clear.

If that doesn't bother you, I highly recommend these books. They're not going to win the next Miles Franklin Award but they perform spectacularly well inside their niche and aren't afraid to take chances. Brisbane fans also note that the author is going to be at Supanova this month so it's a great chance to get your stuff signed and thank her for her part in guiding the romance genre out of the dark place Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey took it to in recent years.

It was a novel experience, reading romance without the shame or regret or bitter self-loathing, but I think I like it.

"A golden prince was easy to love if you did not have to watch him picking wings off flies."

The Last T'en by Cory Daniells

I've finally forced myself to start digging into the Bookfest pile next to my bed. Bookfest is a great place to find series that are no longer as popular as they used to be but it's a bit like fossicking for gold (see what I did there?). You can get some real stinkers and some real gems.

The Last T'en is somewhere in between.

I don't like to say 'meh' because that implies the book was bad, and it wasn't. It was just average. It's one of Cory Daniells early series, so as a starting place for a new author it was pretty good. It was easy to read, had some interesting world-building, and presented thorny obstacles for the characters.

The premise is that the cultured island of the T'en has been conquered by General Tulkhan of the brutal Ghebites. The last surviving member of the royal family, Imoshen, must use every tool at her disposal to preserve her people's way of life. She will bind the General to her or die trying.

To be clear; this was a romance. Which means there was a lot of the characters going back and forth on how wildly attractive they found each other, but how inappropriate that attraction was. So if that's your thing you'll enjoy this, but if it's not you won't. For a romance novel, it was positively thoughtful, breaking down the political situation with a surprisingly heard-headed female protagonist who has no issue manipulating the male for survival or political gain. It was no Game of Thrones, but it didn't embarrass itself either.

However, if it's going to be judged as a romance, I have one major criticism. It came dangerously close to having the female protagonist raped by the male, not once, but twice. One of these instances was somewhat justified by him coming from a patriarchal culture in which that behavior was the norm and represented the ultimate gap between their ideologies. One could even say it was inevitable; the brutally logical outcome of these two cultures and these two people with that kind of power imbalance. However the other instance was not necessary to the plot or character development, and came off as a somewhat distasteful attempt to build sexual tension (FYI: rape is not sexy).

That aside, it's an addictive read. I found myself halfway through without realizing it and was annoyed I had to put it down to do something else. Yes, it's kind of trashy, but it's enjoyable and it will keep you entertained for the length of the book. The only major quibble I had with the writing was Daniells' habit of switching point of view without a break in the text. I'd recommend it for older teens and up because it deals fairly explicitly with sex.

Just bear in mind this isn't political fantasy with romantic elements; it's romance fantasy with political elements. How much you enjoy it depends on which end of the scale your preferences lie.

Circle of Fire by Keri Arthur

It occurs to me that I've been doing a lot of high fantasy on this blog, but nothing in the way of urban fantasy, which is just a crying shame because there are some damn good paranormal authors out there.

The book I'm reviewing today is Circle of Fire, which is the first novel in the Damask Circle trilogy and involves a woman with psychic abilities trying to save missing children from a supernatural threat. While not the best urban fantasy I've ever read - that honor goes to Kim Harrison's Hollows series - it does have its own light charm. 

The story is fairly interesting, involving kidnappings and dark rituals, but is unfortunately overshadowed by the less-than-compelling sexual tension between the two main characters. Note that this might be due to my own bias, as I can't stand 'true love' that happens over a course of twenty-four hours and a single sexual encounter where one of the participants was drugged...

....and I just made it sound a whole lot worse than it really is. Okay, backing up. 

The supernatural elements are the best part of the book, as the main character Madeline steps deeper into a world she's only been peripherally aware of. There's just enough hints to give us a taste of what's to come, while leaving plenty of fodder for the next book. 

As a character Madeline is a bit of a doormat, but considering her background you can understand why. Not only does she have a power she can't control, she's the survivor of an abusive relationship, is estranged from her family, and the suspect in a murder. And all of this is prior to the events in the book. Fortunately the plot is about her growing out of her shell and fixing back together her shattered self-confidence, so things do get better for her. 

The main male character Jon was a rather generic love interest as supernatural novels go: mysterious, brooding alpha male with hint of danger. As a lot of the tension in the book centered around his interactions with Madeline, that's probably part of why I wasn't overly invested in the romance. If I don't care for one of the characters, I can't care about the relationship. The one thing I can say for him is that he treats Madeline with respect, which is something a lot of love interests in paranormal novels struggle with (I'm looking at you, Edward). 

To sum it up, I've read a lot worse urban fantasy - do not get me started on Stray - and at least the characters were attempting to act with consistent logic. The action starts slow, but picks up speed around the halfway point (noting that that isn't a particularly long book in the first place). So long as you don't take it too seriously it'll do you no lasting harm. 

Which, in all honesty, is pretty good advice concerning most urban fantasy.

Circle of Fire can be ordered in digital form on Amazon, and in phyiscal form on Booktopia and Book Depository. Otherwise, Keri Arthur is fairly popular at the moment so just check the paranormal section at your local bookstore.