This is a fun quick read of fantasy romance full of princesses, princes, and lukewarm politics. The characters are all amusing, each with distinct personalities and cute in their own ways. Flian's introduction and relationships with the other characters begins with an unexpected start but develop...
I had fun reading this book, and I plan to continue the series, but there were a few things that kept it from being totally awesome for me. The references to history and music and art and literature seemed obscure. I haven't read The Prisoner of Zenda. Was that my problem?Dobrenica felt like a re...
This was the last book of the Inda series. I didn't write up any comments for the previous books so I'm going to dump it all here. I really liked books 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 were much slower and felt more bloated. This last book didn't have much action until the end and even that was not a lot. ...
This is a Sherwood Smith book that really works for me, despite the suggestive book cover, which in no way reflects the tone or message of the book, except for the silly "Got Books?" t-shirt, which does (ignoring again the tight fit in the picture). The tone of this book is playful and even sill...
This book is a fun adventure story for tweens along the lines of Tamora Pierce and Shannon Hale. The plot is interesting and shows some parallels to American, French and Russian revolutions. (A character borrows phrases from the Declaration of Independence). The moral of the story is woven throug...
Oh Sherwood Smith, you tease me with the good ones (Once a Princess/Twice a Prince and Posse of Princesses, for example), and then turn out something like this. You are too inconsistent a writer. But this is promising--I really want it to be better; it just needs more work. This book definitel...
This book, Inda by Sherwood Smith, is set in an incredibly interesting and complex world, and I will say that I thought the world building was one of the highlights of the book. But that does make it rather difficult to write a concise plot summary. Basically in this world the first born son is e...
Attending the King's Military Academy had been Inda's greatest dream. But Academy reality is far from what he'd imagined-for by defending the second son of the king, Inda becomes embroiled in a vicious political struggle among the nobility that he has no hope of winning. But these petty squabble...
The final battle for the Thousand Suns is at hand. Brandon hai-Arkad has been crowned Emperor, but his throne remains in the hands of his enemy, Jerrod Eusabian of Dol'jhar. The fleet has been gathered, the order of battle drawn. Brandon will reclaim his father's empire, or die!
Brandon Arkad, now undisputed but uncrowned Emperor of the Thousand Suns, must reclaim his stolen throne from the usurper. But he must fight more than the enemy. Within his own court and military are those who doubt the legitimacy of his rule. And even closer to him may be a traitor who will brea...
Brandon vlith-Arkad, heir to the Phoenix Throne, along with the Rifter pirate crew of the Telvarna, seeks a means of rescuing Brandon's father, Gelasaar, who is fighting his own battle with his former fosterling, Anaris.
The first in a SF/adventure series that glitters with intrigue. As a 20-year-long plot for revenge comes to fruition, the sons of the ruler of the Thousand Suns are murdered, and he is taken prisoner. But the usurper's vengeance is incomplete. For one son was missing at the ceremony where the fat...
In the sequel to The Phoenix in Flight, Brandon vlith-Arkad, the rightful heir to the Emerald Throne of the Thousand Suns, is the only hope for the restoration of the Phoenix empire. Original.
Young Countess Meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to wha...
Sheriff Crow and the bounty hunter ran easily along the sentry walk, sending water splashing. A few steps ahead of her, Ross was breathing hard; he’d only been out of the infirmary for one day, after spending the last four flat on his back. The sheriff called over her shou...
No sooner had she scrambled up to the second level, to the big platform joining the lower part of the mainmast, than the parson’s wife let out a faint shriek, pointing. Alarm telegraphed from officers to sailors, and a sailor’s huge, hairy arm wound round Aurélie’s skinny waist and plucked her of...
vs. the A.U.N.T.I.E.S.! To celebrate being back, we played a big game of hide and seek the next day, after our practice, only Faline wrecked it by laughing at Puddlenose, who was wearing that plumed hat when he was It. He found her, and since we were playing a team game, that meant her team lost....
Tau stuck his head inside the king’s tent. When the king was present, one or more of his Runners stood guard outside. But no one was on guard, and inside Vedrid and a couple of his staff were busy brushing the king’s gray riding coat and readying his bedroll. Tau noticed t...
More correctly, the dust from the road was spotted by the guards on the walls just about the same time two outriders appeared on foam-flecked horses. By the time Jehan and his honor guard trotted tiredly through the outer gates and up the streets to the castle, the brown and silver banner indicat...
Lord Chadwick’s voice echoed up the stairwell. “No one told me that. By God, we’re off to London on the day after, then. We’ll not be tied up with them before September, when there is no help for it. At least then I’ll be up north, safe out of reach.” The news was welcomed with general relief by ...
Mr. Leuven said. “Put him in his cot. He must be kept in darkness, and as quiet as can be, with as little movement as can be.” Numb with shock, Anna said, “I will tend him.” Mr. Leuven glanced from her to Perkins, saying, “You must keep him as still as ever you can. Violent movement, a sudden jar...
It was a cardboard carousel of flying horses, with little animals—teddy bears, bunnies, cats—riding on their backs. One of my parents would set the mobile in motion, then they’d shut me in and leave me alone. But that was okay because the mobile would stay in motion until I was asleep. Babies don...
. . now that the wind’s dropped, as it usually does when the sun sets.” Wren woke out of a soggy sleep. The gray, choppy, nervous sea reminded her somehow of a horse that smells trouble. The sky was a uniform gray that hid the sun. The others were all awake, looking tousle...
Joe tightened his arm, put his whole body into his parry and bind—and Tarsen’s sword flew out of his hand to land on the hard-packed dirt of the hideout’s main room. “Hey!” Tarsen’s protest was midway between a laugh and a yell. Joe dropped his point and grinned. “Nice one.” Blackeye whacked her ...
Honk!” The damage alarm was louder than the pings and klonks of the meteorite shower our scout ship had accidentally encountered on our emergence from hyperspace. “A puncture! We’re losing energy,” Kikinee shrilled. “Teer! Noot! Take evasive action,” the Vmmm’s voice hummed over the intercom. “I ...
Ought she to wipe it down her gown? Except that would look so, well, grubby. Iardith would never do such a thing! And anyway the musicians were now playing the introduction to a waltos. So she just lightly touched his fingers, and when he clasped her hand to hold it, she discovered that his hand ...
The lack of street noise was so profound that for the first time I could hear the distant cathedral bells faintly ringing the hours. That sound was reassuring during the day, but at night they only rang once, at midnight. Otherwise there was the howling wind, and a spectacular series of nightmare...
She listened to as much of their stories as they wished to tell. She was polite, attentive, and courteous, but not forthcoming. “She’s angry with us for not letting her search for her friend,” Hinder said to his cousin as they stood in line for pan bread one morning. “So what?” Sinder responded w...
What I am doing here is telling my own history: how I, Meliara Astiar, who grew up running wild with the village girls and scarcely knew how to read, managed to find myself swept up in the affairs of kings. Who will read my history? I try to imagine my great-great-great-gr...
BREAKFAST?” JENNIE’S FATHER greeted her. “No thanks, Pa. I’m not hungry.” “Hurting?” he asked in sympathy. Jennie sighed. “You’ve been there.” Her pa tucked his dreadlocks behind his ears and handed he...
Ugly, slow, annoying with their unwanted opinions. It seemed impossible that I’d ever be one. The first proof that the universe has a sense of humor? I’m half of one. Since the stroke that wiped out my livelihood, I’d taken to tooling my electric scooter along the Venice boardwalk, or out to the ...