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A review by serukis
The Sons of Thestian by M.E. Vaughan
4.0
Full Disclosure: I know the author, but I bought the book myself. I intend to provide an honest review. :)
Prince Jionathan flees Harmatia in fear of his life, and is shadowed by the magi Rufus Merle. Together, they must travel to safety through the dangerous faerie wood, in the company of a sidhe named Fae, and must discover the truth behind a dark conspiracy if Jionathan is going to take his rightful place on the throne.
^ My summary does not do the plot justice, I'm sorry.
Anyway, you know when you read a novel and you immediately want to read the next one? The Sons of Thestian did that for me. The book's ending (saying much more about it would be major spoiler territory) set up for a sequel, and the sequel felt inevitable. Unlike some books where sequel set-up feels hurriedly tacked on, looking back across the novel as a whole, everything was leading up to it.
Whilst reading through the book, the protagonists seemed to go from one scrape to the next - bandits, a gancanagh, korrigans - something that reminded me of fantasy novels of old, that often went for that faintly episodic feel. If you recall from my review of Three Hearts and Three Lions, I am not a huge fan of this structure. However, these events were all necessary for the over-arching plot: we learnt specific things about the characters, the world, or the story, that were needed for the end to come together as it did. I think, in the hands of a more experienced author, it could have been masterful, as in places I did find the exposition a little clumsy, but from a debut author it is highly commendable. As well as that, unlike in the previous example, I often found myself fearing for the lives of the protagonists.
Speaking of the protagonists, if you've been following my reviews for a while, you'll know that characters are the singular most important component for me in a book. And I loved these characters (and, what's more, you can tell that Vaughan really loves them too). They are three-dimensional, crafted with care, and each one of them has their own separate and distinctive personalities. And they have flaws, too. Jionathan is kind and noble, but he is prideful and reckless too, and entirely blind to the people who care about him. Rufus is fiercely loyal, but he is (in some circumstances) cowardly and an alcoholic. Fae is strong and fierce, but deeply suspicious and judgemental. I loved all of them.
And then there are characters like Arlen Zachary. Though a clear villain from the beginning, I could not help but warm to him on several occasions, and then also question to myself why I was warming to him. He is a character that leaves me conflicted and unsure what to feel, and that often is my favourite kind of character of all.
I also very much enjoyed the little touches of LGBT running through this book, and not just in the main characters. The nature of the relationship between Emeric Fold and his mentor, Marcel, for instance, was a nice little touch, and humanised them even though they took part in some dreadful things.I choked up a little when Emeric threw himself at Marcel to protect him at one point . One of my favourite scenes was Jionathan and Rufus witnessing two women getting married, and Jionathan is horrified:
"But then anybody could marry anybody!" Jionathan protested. "A man might marry his dog."
"... Jionat, I hardly think that a dog is capable of making a vow of eternal love."
Brilliant. Considering that that was an argument a lot of people in the real world brought up when same-sex marriage was being debated, it made me grin to see it here.
Another thing I really liked about The Sons of Thestian was the faeries. I don't know much about faerie lore, or how much Vaughan drew from legends or made up herself, but the lore was obviously rich and layered. The bean nighe, for example, was fascinating.
Also, Vaughan knows how to rip out your heart and trample all over it. Just saying. ;____;
The writing was poetic, occasionally overly so, but for the most part I enjoyed it. It could have done with more rigorous editing - there were no spelling errors, but in a few places the wrong version of a homonym was used ('bare' instead of 'bear', for example). I did notice them when I came across them, but they did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. There were also a few weird typesetting errors. Again, these did not detract from my enjoyment, but did obviously jolt me out of the story for a moment or two. Vaughan obviously knows what she's doing when it comes to word-smithing, however, and I think she has a lot of potential to grow in future instalments. (Also, if you ever need a proofreader, Madeleine, I'm pretty good at it (if I do say so myself)! *winkwink*)
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and am very excited for the next in the series! This is a great debut novel and I have every confidence that Madeleine will only grow as an author, and I'm excited to see how she develops! :)
Prince Jionathan flees Harmatia in fear of his life, and is shadowed by the magi Rufus Merle. Together, they must travel to safety through the dangerous faerie wood, in the company of a sidhe named Fae, and must discover the truth behind a dark conspiracy if Jionathan is going to take his rightful place on the throne.
^ My summary does not do the plot justice, I'm sorry.
Anyway, you know when you read a novel and you immediately want to read the next one? The Sons of Thestian did that for me. The book's ending (saying much more about it would be major spoiler territory) set up for a sequel, and the sequel felt inevitable. Unlike some books where sequel set-up feels hurriedly tacked on, looking back across the novel as a whole, everything was leading up to it.
Whilst reading through the book, the protagonists seemed to go from one scrape to the next - bandits, a gancanagh, korrigans - something that reminded me of fantasy novels of old, that often went for that faintly episodic feel. If you recall from my review of Three Hearts and Three Lions, I am not a huge fan of this structure. However, these events were all necessary for the over-arching plot: we learnt specific things about the characters, the world, or the story, that were needed for the end to come together as it did. I think, in the hands of a more experienced author, it could have been masterful, as in places I did find the exposition a little clumsy, but from a debut author it is highly commendable. As well as that, unlike in the previous example, I often found myself fearing for the lives of the protagonists.
Speaking of the protagonists, if you've been following my reviews for a while, you'll know that characters are the singular most important component for me in a book. And I loved these characters (and, what's more, you can tell that Vaughan really loves them too). They are three-dimensional, crafted with care, and each one of them has their own separate and distinctive personalities. And they have flaws, too. Jionathan is kind and noble, but he is prideful and reckless too, and entirely blind to the people who care about him. Rufus is fiercely loyal, but he is (in some circumstances) cowardly and an alcoholic. Fae is strong and fierce, but deeply suspicious and judgemental. I loved all of them.
And then there are characters like Arlen Zachary. Though a clear villain from the beginning, I could not help but warm to him on several occasions, and then also question to myself why I was warming to him. He is a character that leaves me conflicted and unsure what to feel, and that often is my favourite kind of character of all.
I also very much enjoyed the little touches of LGBT running through this book, and not just in the main characters. The nature of the relationship between Emeric Fold and his mentor, Marcel, for instance, was a nice little touch, and humanised them even though they took part in some dreadful things.
"But then anybody could marry anybody!" Jionathan protested. "A man might marry his dog."
"... Jionat, I hardly think that a dog is capable of making a vow of eternal love."
Brilliant. Considering that that was an argument a lot of people in the real world brought up when same-sex marriage was being debated, it made me grin to see it here.
Another thing I really liked about The Sons of Thestian was the faeries. I don't know much about faerie lore, or how much Vaughan drew from legends or made up herself, but the lore was obviously rich and layered. The bean nighe, for example, was fascinating.
Also, Vaughan knows how to rip out your heart and trample all over it. Just saying. ;____;
The writing was poetic, occasionally overly so, but for the most part I enjoyed it. It could have done with more rigorous editing - there were no spelling errors, but in a few places the wrong version of a homonym was used ('bare' instead of 'bear', for example). I did notice them when I came across them, but they did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. There were also a few weird typesetting errors. Again, these did not detract from my enjoyment, but did obviously jolt me out of the story for a moment or two. Vaughan obviously knows what she's doing when it comes to word-smithing, however, and I think she has a lot of potential to grow in future instalments. (Also, if you ever need a proofreader, Madeleine, I'm pretty good at it (if I do say so myself)! *winkwink*)
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and am very excited for the next in the series! This is a great debut novel and I have every confidence that Madeleine will only grow as an author, and I'm excited to see how she develops! :)