I have at long labor finished the ceaseless epic of the irrepressable Comtesse Phedre no Delaunay de Montreve. All 901 pages. Characteristics of fantasy novels that I have gleaned toiling over this bountiful manuscript:
- Characters must have names that you can only read in your head and not easily say when describing the book in passing. -- "I finally saw who entered under the banner of the Ioval D' Isioual green and white. Non other than the Cruinthe Spilarqueal D' Agnioth no Veruiel"
- Characters may have at first a subtle hint of their specialty, but regardless eventually present themselves as divine, ultimate masters of their art. -- "Joscelin looked the stoic priest, but he effortlessly dispatched the 35 Pictic warriors in a whirlwind and quickly replaced his pen-knife in its pleather casing, then restored the single strand of missplaced hair with a short puff from his narrowly parted lips."
- All of the interesting naughty details will be skipped, while all of the pointless intricacies of the flavor and color of a particular wine at a particular meal of absolutely no consequence will be embellished when dwelled upon. -- "...the wine produced by pressing only the most late-ripening violet grapes under the priest-cleansed feet of the nude virgins most newly indoctrinated into the order of Naamah from the purest D' Angeline blood in their ancient Ciovalese ceremony whilst their consorts looked on in frothing pleasure. Of the ravaging passion that followed, I will not speak."
- Courtly intrigues just suck compared to a good butt-whooping. -- "Queen Ysadril de Corsel feigned interest in the viscount's tale at first, then yawned openly, seeking comfort in the deep pillows of her evening throne and goblet of virgin-pressed wine. Sensing her interests drifitng, the count impaled her on his deftly drawn sword and departed presence of her corpse on the turn of a heel."
Anyway, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the book. As with most novels, I felt this one could have told its tale in many fewer pages, perhaps not as vividly in some places. There was a point about halfway through the book when I became thoroughly invested in the story, but I’m sad to say that it didn’t come until I was halfway through. Had I not perservered, I would not have discovered the rest of the book became much more interesting.
I have an interst in the second book, if only to see what happened to Melisande, the bad guy who gets away at the end. Oh, drat, I just ruined it for you, didn’t I? Crap. Anyway, I hope that the second book picks up a little more quickly than the first.
Thanks, Jen, for the birthday gift- In spite of what seem like harsh comments above, I haven’t been able to talk of too much else over the past week I’ve been suffering through this courtly fantasy.
