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A review by latad_books
The Grass King's Concubine by Kari Sperring
4.0
3.5 stars. This was an interesting story, with a world undergoing an industrial revolution, with all the attendant problems of pollution, abuse of workers, workers agitating for some respect and rights, an oblivious upper class, a young woman (Aude) from the upper class who doesn't conform to its expectations and who has a relationship with a guardsman (Jehan), who works for the rich. There is also a magical world that intersects with this world, but in a minimal way, into which the young woman, Aude is dragged. Jehan, of course, goes on a journey to this magical realm to find her.
That's the bare bones of the story, and it doesn't really cover why I liked this book. This is not an action-packed quest story. Rather, it's a slow, quiet unfolding of events, with characters making choices that have, in some cases, very long-range consequences. I liked a number of things about this book. The author's words about the abuses of power by the factory owners (members of the upper class) could be describing corporate behaviour from our past and our present. I liked the two leads, Aude and Jehan, and the magical realm of the Grass King was fascinating and well described. There were some beautiful and some creepy aspects.
Aude, while different from other women of her class, did suffer from a mild sense of entitlement, and her questing to understand her family's origins feels believeable. And after her capture, despite how women are expected to sit around and wait for rescue, Aude doesn't. Aude constantly fights her captors and searches for a way out. Jehan is steadfast and somewhat impatient with Aude's unthinking certainty that her desires will be fulfilled, and he's just such a good guy.
Aude's kidnappers are elementals, essentially, and they range from a little odd to pretty scary.
And the ferrets! The hilarious, interfering ferret sisters ("...we bite them!") provide both some comic relief and general oddness to the story. I enjoyed seeing the other characters from the sisters' perspectives, and how well the sisters bonded with Clairet, the pony.
That's the bare bones of the story, and it doesn't really cover why I liked this book. This is not an action-packed quest story. Rather, it's a slow, quiet unfolding of events, with characters making choices that have, in some cases, very long-range consequences. I liked a number of things about this book. The author's words about the abuses of power by the factory owners (members of the upper class) could be describing corporate behaviour from our past and our present. I liked the two leads, Aude and Jehan, and the magical realm of the Grass King was fascinating and well described. There were some beautiful and some creepy aspects.
Aude, while different from other women of her class, did suffer from a mild sense of entitlement, and her questing to understand her family's origins feels believeable. And after her capture, despite how women are expected to sit around and wait for rescue, Aude doesn't. Aude constantly fights her captors and searches for a way out. Jehan is steadfast and somewhat impatient with Aude's unthinking certainty that her desires will be fulfilled, and he's just such a good guy.
Aude's kidnappers are elementals, essentially, and they range from a little odd to pretty scary.
And the ferrets! The hilarious, interfering ferret sisters ("...we bite them!") provide both some comic relief and general oddness to the story. I enjoyed seeing the other characters from the sisters' perspectives, and how well the sisters bonded with Clairet, the pony.