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A review by ergative
Time of Daughters I by Sherwood Smith
2.5
I loved loved loved the Inda quartet, and quite enjoyed the Banner of the Damned. The world-building in those was rich and complex, and the interplay of history and politics and culture and language were so complex and skillfully manipulated that I was very happy to return to the world in this book. However, those were conventionally published, and so had had the benefit of professional editing. This books was, I think, self-published, and it showed. The plot was meandering and lacked any driving force; the characters spend a lot of time talking about the events and consequences of events of the previous books; and events are introduced and then dropped and never picked up again, as if the author were publishing each chapter serially, without the benefit of going back to rejigger and reconsider earlier things that turned out not to be relevant to later developments. There were, to be sure, some very skillfully done bits, especially the build-up to the Night of Four Kings, in which hints and set-ups came to fruition very satisfactorally. Indeed, I think if the book had ended after that, it would have been quite a successful novella set in this world. But things then keep on happening, and there doesn't seem to be any swell or primary conflict in sight. What happened to Wolf's daughter from his first marriage? Is Lavais actually going to cause trouble? She sure was set up as if she wanted to cause trouble, but then she just goes away again, having thought the better of it. Even Connar's grooming as the 'true king' never really goes anywhere, and that's the most constant thread through the second half of the book.
Yet the depth of world-building and the richness of the politics and intrigue--even if they never really go anywhere--have a certain verisimilitude. I can easily imagine someone who deeply loves this world and these people revelling in pages and pages and pages of just life. Not everything has to be a world-threatening epic. Sometimes you just want to hang out with the king and queen and Academy and runners and live in a fantasy realm for a while. Things happen, plots are conceived but never executed, shenanigans take place, people grow and learn and talk and live their lives, and talk about the events of the previous books that you've already read and loved. If that's what you want, then this book does it beautifully. This desire is exactly what motivates so many billions of words of fanfiction. Indeed, this book feels like a very long work of fanfiction of the author's previous books.
I myself am left just a bit unsatisfied, though. I find myself wanting to go back and re-read the Inda quartet, because that offers all the world-building richness and depth of this book, but it also has a plot that goes places.
But maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe the second book will pick up all the threads that feel dropped and incomplete, and weave them into something astonishing. Given what Smith did with the Inda quartet, I know she has the ability. I will read book 2, for sure. I'm just a little bit doubtful going into it.
Yet the depth of world-building and the richness of the politics and intrigue--even if they never really go anywhere--have a certain verisimilitude. I can easily imagine someone who deeply loves this world and these people revelling in pages and pages and pages of just life. Not everything has to be a world-threatening epic. Sometimes you just want to hang out with the king and queen and Academy and runners and live in a fantasy realm for a while. Things happen, plots are conceived but never executed, shenanigans take place, people grow and learn and talk and live their lives, and talk about the events of the previous books that you've already read and loved. If that's what you want, then this book does it beautifully. This desire is exactly what motivates so many billions of words of fanfiction. Indeed, this book feels like a very long work of fanfiction of the author's previous books.
I myself am left just a bit unsatisfied, though. I find myself wanting to go back and re-read the Inda quartet, because that offers all the world-building richness and depth of this book, but it also has a plot that goes places.
But maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe the second book will pick up all the threads that feel dropped and incomplete, and weave them into something astonishing. Given what Smith did with the Inda quartet, I know she has the ability. I will read book 2, for sure. I'm just a little bit doubtful going into it.