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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
This was... strange?
It felt too short for everything that it was trying to accomplish. It tried to fit an entire world and its wars into a short novelette.
Still, I enjoyed reading it and I guess it is only natural to want a bit more explanation for the world building.
This story follows two main girls - one is a princess or a Jewel and the other is her servant - or Lapidary. Lapidaries are trained to use the power of gemstones and with such help and serve those in power. They are the only survivors of a palace massacre but they are not trained for battle...
Might be one I need to re-read to get a better grasp of the world here.
It felt too short for everything that it was trying to accomplish. It tried to fit an entire world and its wars into a short novelette.
Still, I enjoyed reading it and I guess it is only natural to want a bit more explanation for the world building.
This story follows two main girls - one is a princess or a Jewel and the other is her servant - or Lapidary. Lapidaries are trained to use the power of gemstones and with such help and serve those in power. They are the only survivors of a palace massacre but they are not trained for battle...
Might be one I need to re-read to get a better grasp of the world here.
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The story's beginning was confused. I couldn't get into the story that well. I like the idea of gems driving people mad. But the characters were hard to differentiate, and calling the ruling monarch a "Jewel" made the story muddled. I was never clear if the lapidary was a servant of a ruler, or some kind of jewel smith. And the use fo the rules as a mantra was overly repetitive. The guidebook asides didn't add anything.
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lin is a princess of a valley kingdom, where royalty, aka Jewels, are attended upon by servants, called Lapidaries, who can manipulate the will of the valley's native magical gemstones. Lin is a young woman trained for nothing but courtliness and a good marriage. Sima is her lapidary, daughter of the king's lapidary but unskilled, only able to manipulate the most basic gems. When treason strikes and these two are the only members of the court left alive, Lin and Sima must find a way to thwart the invading nation's plans to conquer the valley.
This is a story of death and despair. We see the valley only after it has fallen, alternating between Sima and Lin's viewpoints and the epigraphs taken from a travel guide set far in the future. As these snippets imply from the very beginning, Sima and Lin are doomed to fail. There are only small victories available to them, and to achieve them they must sacrifice everything.
I've been meaning to read this one since it came out and I heard a lot of good buzz about the queer f/f romance. Having finally got around to it, I sort of wish I hadn't. Altogether too much wallowing in exquisite grief for my taste, and not enough actually doing anything at all. There is one triumphant action in this novella, and it happens right at the end, and it is thoroughly paid for—and I still don't understand why it had to be Sima to do that, and not Lin.
I'm just not super onboard with stories where the servant has to die so the noble can live—even if they're in love. Maybe especially if they're in love. Your mileage may vary.
This is a story of death and despair. We see the valley only after it has fallen, alternating between Sima and Lin's viewpoints and the epigraphs taken from a travel guide set far in the future. As these snippets imply from the very beginning, Sima and Lin are doomed to fail. There are only small victories available to them, and to achieve them they must sacrifice everything.
I've been meaning to read this one since it came out and I heard a lot of good buzz about the queer f/f romance. Having finally got around to it, I sort of wish I hadn't. Altogether too much wallowing in exquisite grief for my taste, and not enough actually doing anything at all. There is one triumphant action in this novella, and it happens right at the end, and it is thoroughly paid for—and I still don't understand why it had to be Sima to do that, and not Lin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
There is a lot of murder in this, therefore a lot of corpses, and also description of people getting dissolved by strong acid, which then happens at the end of the book .
Fran Wilde won last year's Andre Norton Award with her first novel "Updraft", a book I enjoyed, but I felt the coming of age story had been done before (with dragons and Companions). This time around, her novelette has a truly original world, but the story is an old one...of madness, betrayal, murder, and self-sacrifice. I found the subservience/slavery of the Lapidaries to their Jewels disturbing, although I think Wilde meant it as interdependence. I read this as part of my 2017 Hugo Reading and it fulfills my 2017 Reading Challenge "read a book where one of the main characters is royalty" (Read 52).
sad
tense
fast-paced
I remember when I first heard of this novella, I was led to believe that it contained a F/F relationship. Not an explicit one, since they were teenagers, but something that would be obviously read as a romantic one. I WAS DECEIVED!!!! Or maybe I remembered wrong and deceived myself... ANYWAY the relationship of the 2 girls in this story does not read to me as a romantic one, and honestly one that is more of 2 best friends that care deeply for each other. Almost an asexual one? I'm not sure I'm not asexual.
It WAS fun to read though!! Since it was so short though it did feel quite rushed and a bit disjointed at times, but I really like the concept of the jewels having different powers over the population, and the idea that there would be specific people with abilities to harness these jewels, but were not allowed to rule and simply were 'translators' of sorts for the rulers of the kingdom and their 'weapons'. I also kinda... really liked... the villain.... I uh... I'd date her. OOPS.
I digress, long story short, it's a fun little novella that won't take much time with an interesting concept that was new to me. Definitely read as a YA story, but also could have benefited from being a bit longer! Also has a sad ending. Sorry.
https://hercommonplaceblog.wordpress.com/
It WAS fun to read though!! Since it was so short though it did feel quite rushed and a bit disjointed at times, but I really like the concept of the jewels having different powers over the population, and the idea that there would be specific people with abilities to harness these jewels, but were not allowed to rule and simply were 'translators' of sorts for the rulers of the kingdom and their 'weapons'. I also kinda... really liked... the villain.... I uh... I'd date her. OOPS.
I digress, long story short, it's a fun little novella that won't take much time with an interesting concept that was new to me. Definitely read as a YA story, but also could have benefited from being a bit longer! Also has a sad ending. Sorry.
https://hercommonplaceblog.wordpress.com/
Fran Wilde's novelette "The Jewel and Her Lapidary" is a seductive piece of worldbuilding that tells an otherwise straightforward (though inspiring) story about betrayal, loyalty and resistance. What marks the story as something different is the setting. Ironically, just as an intricate and captivating setting can heighten the beauty of a relatively ordinary gem, the world that Wilde creates - one of rulers known as Jewels bound to, sustained and protected by Lapidaries, people with the gift of manipulating the magical energies of gems - enhances the narrative of two courageous young women, one of whom sacrifices everything to enable the other to survive and help their people resist a conquering enemy.
Fran Wilde’s novella, The Jewel and Her Lapidary, is a fast-paced read that paints an interesting and fascinating world. The youngest scion of the royal family, the titular Jewel, must work with her Lapidary advisor and magic user to save her kingdom from destruction at the hands of an invading enemy.
The best part of this novella is the world building. Not only is there a tremendous amount of world building crammed into a small package, but its all unique and interesting in concept. A small kingdom mines special jewels that certain individuals can hear. Once in a proper setting, the jewels can be commanded to accomplish certain things (e.g., bringing courage and calm, making a gate nearly unbreakable). The downside is that, outside a proper setting, those jewels can drive a Lapidary mad. Lapidary’s also take oaths which bind them. These oaths are an analog for the settings of jewels—as long as a Lapidary stays within the bounds of their oaths they are fine, but if they break an oath madness begins to set in. It’s a unique magic system that makes for some very interesting plot tension in this novella.
While I loved the setting, the characters did not work as well for me. Perhaps because the book begins right in the middle of the action with little or no setup, or perhaps because the characters simply fell flat for me, I never particularly connected with the two viewpoint characters. This meant that moments that should have had an emotional impact didn’t. Instead of feeling engaged with these characters, I wanted to learn more about the world while the individual characters seemed almost superfluous to the story or—perhaps more accurately—what I ended up being interested in as regards the story. I wish I would have felt more connection to the characters and, more importantly, that the emotional beats had hit for me.
Wonderful world building and a unique magic system make this an enjoyable read, but the lack of character depth and emotional connection keep this one from exceling.
6/10
3/5 stars.
5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing
The best part of this novella is the world building. Not only is there a tremendous amount of world building crammed into a small package, but its all unique and interesting in concept. A small kingdom mines special jewels that certain individuals can hear. Once in a proper setting, the jewels can be commanded to accomplish certain things (e.g., bringing courage and calm, making a gate nearly unbreakable). The downside is that, outside a proper setting, those jewels can drive a Lapidary mad. Lapidary’s also take oaths which bind them. These oaths are an analog for the settings of jewels—as long as a Lapidary stays within the bounds of their oaths they are fine, but if they break an oath madness begins to set in. It’s a unique magic system that makes for some very interesting plot tension in this novella.
While I loved the setting, the characters did not work as well for me. Perhaps because the book begins right in the middle of the action with little or no setup, or perhaps because the characters simply fell flat for me, I never particularly connected with the two viewpoint characters. This meant that moments that should have had an emotional impact didn’t. Instead of feeling engaged with these characters, I wanted to learn more about the world while the individual characters seemed almost superfluous to the story or—perhaps more accurately—what I ended up being interested in as regards the story. I wish I would have felt more connection to the characters and, more importantly, that the emotional beats had hit for me.
Wonderful world building and a unique magic system make this an enjoyable read, but the lack of character depth and emotional connection keep this one from exceling.
6/10
3/5 stars.
5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing
Update - read the text, don't know what happened with my audio playback. With the text read enjoyed this much more. An interesting premise and a perfect length.
I was really intrigued with the premise, and I think the overall structure should have worked. However, I'm not rating it yet. I listened to the audio version, and I'm planning to go back and get the text because there were weird repeats of lines and partial lines, as well as odd gaps and rushed spots that made it hard to follow, and I don't know if those are things that would make more sense to me in print or if there were issues in my audio playback. I don't want to rate the story until I've figured out if my issues are with the format or the actual story.
I was really intrigued with the premise, and I think the overall structure should have worked. However, I'm not rating it yet. I listened to the audio version, and I'm planning to go back and get the text because there were weird repeats of lines and partial lines, as well as odd gaps and rushed spots that made it hard to follow, and I don't know if those are things that would make more sense to me in print or if there were issues in my audio playback. I don't want to rate the story until I've figured out if my issues are with the format or the actual story.