Moontangled (Stephanie Burgis); Edge of Glory (Rachel Spangler)

[el_staplador]

I gulped the Harwood Spellbook series down last week. This is a light fantasy set in an alternate universe nineteenth century Britain, one in which Boudicca successfully repelled the Roman invaders. Getting on for two millennia later, society is modelled after her marriage: women are the leaders, and men, magicians, play a supporting role. There's also an uneasy relationship with Elfland. I found the whole series delightful, just the thing for a chilly January.

I'm only talking about Moontangled here, but I'd recommend reading the other books in the series alongside it. The f/f relationship which is central to this book also appears in all but one of the others.

This follows on from the events of Thornbound, which left Miss Fennell's political career in jeopardy but saw Miss Banks embark on her magical education. This book addresses the inevitable challenge to their longstanding secret relationship.

I came to this straight from Thornbound, so found the rehashing of the action of that book rather tedious (and possibly unnecessary), but it was good to see how Miss Banks and Miss Fennell work out a future together. As with other books in the series, I'd have liked to see more of the world: this was a glimpse of a magical version of What Katy Did At School, and I'd happily have read an entire novel's worth.



I've been watching a lot of winter sports lately (biathlon and Alpine skiing, mostly) and went off to buy Edge of Glory (Rachel Spangler) very soon after learning about its existence and its premise. Which is: Alpine skier returning from a serious injury is convinced to lighten up by a snowboarder approaching the end of her career. Both have their eyes on the upcoming Winter Olympics...

I appreciated the focus that both Elise (skier) and Corey (snowboarder) had on their respective sports. Both take them extremely seriously, and both were convincing as (existing or potential) champions. At the same time, the focus on athletic excellence provided a natural source of tension around their developing relationship without any need for manufactured conflict.

One thing that didn't ring quite true for me was Elise's lack of interest in her rivals, given her determination to make the Olympic team. The portrait of a withdrawn, defensive, athlete was convincing, but it seemed implausible that she wouldn't at least have been keeping an eye on the competition, if only to know what sort of time she had to beat.

My other nitpick was the final misunderstanding and resolution. While this was set up very plausibly, and the dialogue was OK, I didn't quite buy it on an emotional level.

But overall I very much enjoyed this book. Elise and Corey are both engaging characters in their very different ways, and the supporting cast is great too. I really enjoyed the camaraderie around the snowboard team, and the way that Corey took a younger snowboarder under her wing rather than resenting a rising star was a very pleasant surprise, setting the tone for the rest of the book.

Comments

[dhampyresa]

an alternate universe nineteenth century Britain, one in which Boudicca successfully repelled the Roman invaders
Ooooooooooooooooh that sounds very rtmi