Dark Moon Defender
I finally finished Sharon Shinn's Dark Moon Defender, after reading about 1/4 of it and listening to the rest on audiobook. Some thoughts, in no particular order:
YKINMK and all that. One thing that's specifically not my kink, as it turns out: frequent reminders of the difference in physical size and/or prowess between lovers. Justin's big and burly and manly, and Ellynor's tiny and delicate and waifish, I get it, now please can we let it go? No matter which of them is talking, it doesn't sit well with me. They're different sizes; physically opposite, even, and that's fine. I prefer not to dwell on it, though. Not to say I need my romance stories to be completely egalitarian, because I do love me some authority!kink now and then, but the fetishization of physical difference is a low-level squick. Apparently.
Between that, and the narrator's voice not quite working for me when he voices female characters, I actually cracked up laughing in the middle of Justin and Ellynor's big love scene. I kept thinking it was about to fade to black, and it kept going, and I couldn't help myself. The epic romance: IT IS EPIC.
OTOH, one thing that is my kink: family chosen, made, unofficially adopted. So I flailed a lot over Kirra naming Justin as her brother, Senneth giving him a keepsake because her own son had died, and of course Tayse and Justin being absolutely-though-not-technically father and son. The stories that appeal to me the most often involve ensemble casts of friends who might as well be family, so no surprise that I adore this one so much. And though the Epic Romance was a bit much in places, I loved every single scene involving Senneth, Tayse, Cammon, Kirra or Donnal.
I really enjoyed Ellynor's development over the course of the book; the way she comes into her power, and the way her character and her history are slowly revealed. The epic rescues were epic, of course, and I continue to be fascinated by the way Shinn writes shape changing.
I don't know if the plot to this book was really obvious or if it's easier to catch things in audio form -- or if my brain's just been racing around -- but I guessed almost every plot twist before it actually took place. That doesn't diminish my enjoyment of fiction at all; I'm just wondering which it is.
I found the last bit, Justin and Ellynor's journey to see her family, to be incredibly sweet. Likewise Tayse asking Senneth's brothers for permission to marry her (and their wedding, for that matter). I suppose "family approval for an unconventional match" is another kink of mine; gods know I've written enough fem/slash that goes that route.
I am starting to find "Noble Lady/Rough and Tumble Dude" to be a little repetitive in this series, and want desperately to slash it or at least find an excuse to invert it. Which perhaps means I should go read something else instead of going straight on to the next book, but OTOH, I want to know how the war turns out (assuming there is one) before I start to forget all those houses and marlords.
And finally, I want to set Shinn writing 100-word-exactly drabbles for a while to break her of the tendency to over-describe. Again, this might be something that jumps out at me more in audio form where one can't skim past the superfluous description, but holy batman, that's a lot of verbose prose!
I want to know what comes next. That outweighs any annoyance over specific bits, so yes, I'm going right on to the next book.
YKINMK and all that. One thing that's specifically not my kink, as it turns out: frequent reminders of the difference in physical size and/or prowess between lovers. Justin's big and burly and manly, and Ellynor's tiny and delicate and waifish, I get it, now please can we let it go? No matter which of them is talking, it doesn't sit well with me. They're different sizes; physically opposite, even, and that's fine. I prefer not to dwell on it, though. Not to say I need my romance stories to be completely egalitarian, because I do love me some authority!kink now and then, but the fetishization of physical difference is a low-level squick. Apparently.
Between that, and the narrator's voice not quite working for me when he voices female characters, I actually cracked up laughing in the middle of Justin and Ellynor's big love scene. I kept thinking it was about to fade to black, and it kept going, and I couldn't help myself. The epic romance: IT IS EPIC.
OTOH, one thing that is my kink: family chosen, made, unofficially adopted. So I flailed a lot over Kirra naming Justin as her brother, Senneth giving him a keepsake because her own son had died, and of course Tayse and Justin being absolutely-though-not-technically father and son. The stories that appeal to me the most often involve ensemble casts of friends who might as well be family, so no surprise that I adore this one so much. And though the Epic Romance was a bit much in places, I loved every single scene involving Senneth, Tayse, Cammon, Kirra or Donnal.
I really enjoyed Ellynor's development over the course of the book; the way she comes into her power, and the way her character and her history are slowly revealed. The epic rescues were epic, of course, and I continue to be fascinated by the way Shinn writes shape changing.
I don't know if the plot to this book was really obvious or if it's easier to catch things in audio form -- or if my brain's just been racing around -- but I guessed almost every plot twist before it actually took place. That doesn't diminish my enjoyment of fiction at all; I'm just wondering which it is.
I found the last bit, Justin and Ellynor's journey to see her family, to be incredibly sweet. Likewise Tayse asking Senneth's brothers for permission to marry her (and their wedding, for that matter). I suppose "family approval for an unconventional match" is another kink of mine; gods know I've written enough fem/slash that goes that route.
I am starting to find "Noble Lady/Rough and Tumble Dude" to be a little repetitive in this series, and want desperately to slash it or at least find an excuse to invert it. Which perhaps means I should go read something else instead of going straight on to the next book, but OTOH, I want to know how the war turns out (assuming there is one) before I start to forget all those houses and marlords.
And finally, I want to set Shinn writing 100-word-exactly drabbles for a while to break her of the tendency to over-describe. Again, this might be something that jumps out at me more in audio form where one can't skim past the superfluous description, but holy batman, that's a lot of verbose prose!
I want to know what comes next. That outweighs any annoyance over specific bits, so yes, I'm going right on to the next book.