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A review by gruezelda_reads
The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow
3.0
Not sure if this is a story of intrigue that wants to be a romance, or a story of romance that wants to be intrigue. As a romance, it is very clumsy and contrived - all the hand-wringing heroine and foolishly chivalrous hero that seems to pass for relationship in this type of book, spelled out in enough excruciating detail to pad the page count to the author's desire. And as intrigue, it's a little dissatisfying: the plot doesn't twist very far, or very unexpectedly (especially not when you tack on a "bonus" preview of book 2). The questions I would most like to have explored don't get as much ink as i would like.
Still, our heroine, while being very stupid about love, does have something of a backbone, which is nicely expressed without treading into tired feminist or mother-goddess tropes. In fact, I quite liked the tender depictions of her relationship with her princess - very sweet and very real. And (as you might expect from book 1) there are a number of unanswered questions of loyalty and intrigue that I would much like to know the answer to.
Among the drawbacks: some clumsiness of language - too much liberty taken, in my opinion, with the romance languages, and entirely too much tis and twas. Very distracting. The male characters seem to be insufferably stupid toward the end - chivalry taken to an extreme that seems meant only to drive the plot as there is nothing sensible about it. In fact, the latter half of the book in particular seems designed more for emotional manipulation - to drive the reader into book 2 - than strictly necessary for plot development.
But as reasonably interesting escapist reading, it is light and entertaining. I resent the emotional manipulation, so I am not yet convinced to read the second book. (The first review I wrote of this book was much more ranty. You may thank me for sparing you.)
Still, our heroine, while being very stupid about love, does have something of a backbone, which is nicely expressed without treading into tired feminist or mother-goddess tropes. In fact, I quite liked the tender depictions of her relationship with her princess - very sweet and very real. And (as you might expect from book 1) there are a number of unanswered questions of loyalty and intrigue that I would much like to know the answer to.
Among the drawbacks: some clumsiness of language - too much liberty taken, in my opinion, with the romance languages, and entirely too much tis and twas. Very distracting. The male characters seem to be insufferably stupid toward the end - chivalry taken to an extreme that seems meant only to drive the plot as there is nothing sensible about it. In fact, the latter half of the book in particular seems designed more for emotional manipulation - to drive the reader into book 2 - than strictly necessary for plot development.
But as reasonably interesting escapist reading, it is light and entertaining. I resent the emotional manipulation, so I am not yet convinced to read the second book. (The first review I wrote of this book was much more ranty. You may thank me for sparing you.)