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strayfe_angel's review against another edition
4.0
The story was unique and very beautifully done. As a novelette, I was ultimately unsatisfied. I wanted to know more about what the heck was going on outside and why - also far more resolution to Rossian's story.
BUT! That might have just been me - because it was all in keeping with the tone of the story. And I'm going to say that my dissatisfaction is actually a compliment because I really wanted more.
BUT! That might have just been me - because it was all in keeping with the tone of the story. And I'm going to say that my dissatisfaction is actually a compliment because I really wanted more.
xterminal's review
3.0
Vera Nazarian, The Duke in His Castle (Norilana, 2008)
Interesting novella by Norilana headmistress Nazarian, a blend of fantasy and romance in the classical sense of the term (high adventure mixed with passion, rather than the passion-based stuff we know as romance today). Not without its flaws, but well worth your time nonetheless.
Rossian, the Duke of Violet, is the title character, the leader of one of seven duchies in the kingdom that is the world of the novel. Like his six compatriots, Rossian is incapable of leaving is castle, held in place by a curse from the Just King; none of the seven may leave, for reasons unknown. Rossian has his hypotheses, though, and they find themselves tested when a woman who claims to be an emissary of the Duchess of White shows up in Rossian's study bearing a box of bones.
The back of the book has a lot of words being thrown around that I'm not entirely sure apply to it, between it being called “erotic” (“disturbing” is far closer to the mark for the sexual scenes to be found here) and it being compared to Angela Carter, which is the tallest of orders (and obviously, I'm not holding it against Nazarian that someone blurbing the book was overzealous). The book's one problem, in my opinion, is the baroque language; you'd expect a book of just one hundred eighteen pages to be short, sweet, and to the point, but Nazarian is almost rococo in its application. That is a matter of taste, of course, and I'm sure many readers will find it as delightful as I find it off-putting. I certainly enjoyed this, and I hope others will discover Nazarian as well. ***
Interesting novella by Norilana headmistress Nazarian, a blend of fantasy and romance in the classical sense of the term (high adventure mixed with passion, rather than the passion-based stuff we know as romance today). Not without its flaws, but well worth your time nonetheless.
Rossian, the Duke of Violet, is the title character, the leader of one of seven duchies in the kingdom that is the world of the novel. Like his six compatriots, Rossian is incapable of leaving is castle, held in place by a curse from the Just King; none of the seven may leave, for reasons unknown. Rossian has his hypotheses, though, and they find themselves tested when a woman who claims to be an emissary of the Duchess of White shows up in Rossian's study bearing a box of bones.
The back of the book has a lot of words being thrown around that I'm not entirely sure apply to it, between it being called “erotic” (“disturbing” is far closer to the mark for the sexual scenes to be found here) and it being compared to Angela Carter, which is the tallest of orders (and obviously, I'm not holding it against Nazarian that someone blurbing the book was overzealous). The book's one problem, in my opinion, is the baroque language; you'd expect a book of just one hundred eighteen pages to be short, sweet, and to the point, but Nazarian is almost rococo in its application. That is a matter of taste, of course, and I'm sure many readers will find it as delightful as I find it off-putting. I certainly enjoyed this, and I hope others will discover Nazarian as well. ***
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