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A review by lezreadalot
The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan
2.5
2.5 stars. I don't know if I can explain what exactly it is about this that didn't work for me. Like, while reading this book , I contemplated DNFing the entire series, even though I'd made up my mind to continue with the rest of the prequel series. This is such an easily readable, approachable fantasy series with characters that it's so easy to like, and a plot that's always engaging even if it falls back on simple, established fantasy tropes. I could probably recommend this to most readers. But there's also something about it that... I don't know. I probably will continue the series (and for the very least, I do think I want to reread some of the books) but it's not as much of a priority.
We're following Royce and Hadrian three years after the events of the first book, after they've established a partnership, and Royce and Gwen have met. This book covers primarily covers two incidents that we've heard about several times: the fire at the royal castle that killed Arista and Alric's mother, and that time Gwen got badly hurt by a noble, and Royce got revenge/took care of the problem. We also see the set up of other little things that will became important in the future, and we meet Albert for the first time. My biggest nitpick for the book on the whole is that... idk, because this is a prequel series, most people reading it are going to have knowledge of the latter series (and that's still the order in which I would recommend they be read). I expected that there would be little nods to the events of the Riyria Revelations, but instead of little nods, it felt like hackneyed references and clumsy foreshadowing. And that was irritating to me.
- There were like example of this, but the only moment like that I bothered to make a note of was when Fanen slipped in the swamp or whatever, and Mauvin tells him to be careful, because a mistake like that in battle could cost him his life. Like... okay. It's so obviously written for no other reason than to be a little nod to Fanen's death; written for no other reason than to give readers something to say 'ohhhhh' at. And I find that obnoxious. IDK man, am I being a joyless hater again? Perhaps I'm being a joyless hater again.
- But the point stands.
- I didn't realise we would be following Hilfred, and that wasn't fun to me at all. It's not that I dislike Hilfred, but I'm just sooooo not interested in seeing his unrequited love for Arista from the beginning, especially since we know how it ends up. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a prequel series decides to give us more insight into characters and events that we already know about, but I was really more hoping for new adventures. The references to The Riyria Revelations are inevitable, but I didn't want that to be the whole book. We did learn more about Hilfred as a person, which I guess I appreciated. His little subplot with Rose (and his dead mother who was also named Rose) didn't affect me the way I think it was meant to, but whatever.
- I mentioned it in the review for The Crown Tower but man, the fact that Gwen only meets Royce and looks out for him and cares for him because of her mother's prophecy... I hate it. It cheapens everything. Is it supposed to make their love feel inevitable? It didn't, not to me! It cheapens it! There's a bit in this book where Royce is thinking about how everything in his life has been shit, his parents abandoned him, people betrayed him, but Gwen, this stranger, took care of him when nobody else would. And like... it's totally true that Gwen is a good person, but she only did all that because of the prophecy! She wouldn't have been looking out for your ass otherwise! IDK, the more of think about it, the prophecy parts of this story get more annoying to me.
- I found Albert to be generally really annoying, but whatever, I guess.
- Apparently Braga was dark-skinned? Did I know that before? Hmmm. Also Sullivan lets you know that he's going to turn out to be evil, because he uses the word 'swarthy' to describe him, which fantasy authors only use if they're describing 1) pirates or 2) evil brown people.
- "Laura, you're generalising!" It's my review; I'll do what I want.
- Hadrian having a crush on Gwen, no matter how fleeting, is SO weird, and SO out of left-field... I'm just going to forget I even read that.
- And okay, this annoyed me way more than it should have, but there's a part where Albert is staying with his gay friend and his lover, who poses as his nephew. Albert is wondering why they even bother with the secrecy, and go to so many lengths to hide it, when other nobles have "real secrets". And he muses that it's because Daref (the gay friend) doesn't want to be left out of the controversy and gossip. LMAO that annoyed me so bad. In none of the other books does the author even acknowledge the existence of queerness, far less have any queer characters. And so now, to be like "Omg who cares if you're gay, other people have REAL secrets" makes me kind of angry haha.
I probably had other thoughts about the book, but it's been several days, and most of it has flown out of my head. I didn't dislike it; I had a good time. Even though we knew what the outcome was going to be, it was still a mostly entertaining way of getting there. My favourite parts were the Royce/Hadrian banter, as always, and seeing Royce go apeshit. Listened to the audiobook as read by Tim Gerard Reynolds, as usual, and had a good time. Like I said, I'm still mostly interested in the prequel series, but I really hope that for the next book, we cover something that we, as the reader, don't already know a lot about.
We're following Royce and Hadrian three years after the events of the first book, after they've established a partnership, and Royce and Gwen have met. This book covers primarily covers two incidents that we've heard about several times: the fire at the royal castle that killed Arista and Alric's mother, and that time Gwen got badly hurt by a noble, and Royce got revenge/took care of the problem. We also see the set up of other little things that will became important in the future, and we meet Albert for the first time. My biggest nitpick for the book on the whole is that... idk, because this is a prequel series, most people reading it are going to have knowledge of the latter series (and that's still the order in which I would recommend they be read). I expected that there would be little nods to the events of the Riyria Revelations, but instead of little nods, it felt like hackneyed references and clumsy foreshadowing. And that was irritating to me.
- But the point stands.
- I didn't realise we would be following Hilfred, and that wasn't fun to me at all. It's not that I dislike Hilfred, but I'm just sooooo not interested in seeing his unrequited love for Arista from the beginning, especially since we know how it ends up. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a prequel series decides to give us more insight into characters and events that we already know about, but I was really more hoping for new adventures. The references to The Riyria Revelations are inevitable, but I didn't want that to be the whole book. We did learn more about Hilfred as a person, which I guess I appreciated. His little subplot with Rose (and his dead mother who was also named Rose) didn't affect me the way I think it was meant to, but whatever.
- I mentioned it in the review for The Crown Tower but man, the fact that Gwen only meets Royce and looks out for him and cares for him because of her mother's prophecy... I hate it. It cheapens everything. Is it supposed to make their love feel inevitable? It didn't, not to me! It cheapens it! There's a bit in this book where Royce is thinking about how everything in his life has been shit, his parents abandoned him, people betrayed him, but Gwen, this stranger, took care of him when nobody else would. And like... it's totally true that Gwen is a good person, but she only did all that because of the prophecy! She wouldn't have been looking out for your ass otherwise! IDK, the more of think about it, the prophecy parts of this story get more annoying to me.
- I found Albert to be generally really annoying, but whatever, I guess.
- Apparently Braga was dark-skinned? Did I know that before? Hmmm. Also Sullivan lets you know that he's going to turn out to be evil, because he uses the word 'swarthy' to describe him, which fantasy authors only use if they're describing 1) pirates or 2) evil brown people.
- "Laura, you're generalising!" It's my review; I'll do what I want.
- Hadrian having a crush on Gwen, no matter how fleeting, is SO weird, and SO out of left-field... I'm just going to forget I even read that.
- And okay, this annoyed me way more than it should have, but there's a part where Albert is staying with his gay friend and his lover, who poses as his nephew. Albert is wondering why they even bother with the secrecy, and go to so many lengths to hide it, when other nobles have "real secrets". And he muses that it's because Daref (the gay friend) doesn't want to be left out of the controversy and gossip. LMAO that annoyed me so bad. In none of the other books does the author even acknowledge the existence of queerness, far less have any queer characters. And so now, to be like "Omg who cares if you're gay, other people have REAL secrets" makes me kind of angry haha.
I probably had other thoughts about the book, but it's been several days, and most of it has flown out of my head. I didn't dislike it; I had a good time. Even though we knew what the outcome was going to be, it was still a mostly entertaining way of getting there. My favourite parts were the Royce/Hadrian banter, as always, and seeing Royce go apeshit. Listened to the audiobook as read by Tim Gerard Reynolds, as usual, and had a good time. Like I said, I'm still mostly interested in the prequel series, but I really hope that for the next book, we cover something that we, as the reader, don't already know a lot about.