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x_librarian's review against another edition
2.0
Teen chick lit. Light on character development and emotional depth. What I would expect from Shinn.
whatsmacksaid's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this story. I loved how light and airy General Winston's Daughter was, and I loved that it maintained that easy-reading, anti-angst tone while it dealt with such devastating themes: colonialism, imperialism, and the racism born from those ventures.
To be honest, however, the first chapter put me off the main character. She's flighty and giggly and *annoying.* She's young and immature.
But even by chapter two, she'd begun to mature. I was more than happy to follow her through the story's journey, even when she misstepped.
Furthermore--and this is one of my favorite aspects--the climax and resolution were SO satisfying. The sense of unease that's been building explodes, and all the encroaching invaders are forced to see just how much they're not wanted. Throughout the story, there are polite attempts to bring to the imperialists' attention that perhaps their presence isn't wanted despite any good they can do. Those attempts are, of course, condescended to and brushed aside. In the story's climax, there are no parleys or rational negotiation, and the imperialists' violence is matched and exceeded in ferocity.
Also (lastly), nobody rushed into ill-advised romantic entanglements, either. I LOVED that--the main character and her love interest treat each other as equals and come to a compromise regarding the speed of their relationship. The relationship was real and would never have worked without the main character's maturation throughout the course of the story, and the romance gained strength rather like the incoming tide--inexorably, but so slowly it was almost difficult to see.
Overall: beautiful, deceptively deep, and WELL worth whatever you paid for it. (Mine was a Christmas gift. :) )
To be honest, however, the first chapter put me off the main character. She's flighty and giggly and *annoying.* She's young and immature.
But even by chapter two, she'd begun to mature. I was more than happy to follow her through the story's journey, even when she misstepped.
Furthermore--and this is one of my favorite aspects--the climax and resolution were SO satisfying. The sense of unease that's been building explodes, and all the encroaching invaders are forced to see just how much they're not wanted. Throughout the story, there are polite attempts to bring to the imperialists' attention that perhaps their presence isn't wanted despite any good they can do. Those attempts are, of course, condescended to and brushed aside. In the story's climax, there are no parleys or rational negotiation, and the imperialists' violence is matched and exceeded in ferocity.
Also (lastly), nobody rushed into ill-advised romantic entanglements, either. I LOVED that--the main character and her love interest treat each other as equals and come to a compromise regarding the speed of their relationship. The relationship was real and would never have worked without the main character's maturation throughout the course of the story, and the romance gained strength rather like the incoming tide--inexorably, but so slowly it was almost difficult to see.
Overall: beautiful, deceptively deep, and WELL worth whatever you paid for it. (Mine was a Christmas gift. :) )
blueshadow's review against another edition
3.0
The same beautiful writing I have previously enjoyed from Shinn. I didn't feel particularly strongly about the characters. The moral about the dangers of imperialism was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. A pretty big shift in the plot towards the end - half of which seemed very obvious to me, the other half of which was not at all obvious, even after explanation.
So.
Enjoyable, but definitely mixed feelings on this one.
So.
Enjoyable, but definitely mixed feelings on this one.
ashreads10k's review against another edition
4.0
Swoon is a dark and twisted tale about a girl with powers that she can’t quite control. These powers get her, and the rest of the town, into quite a bit of trouble when she gives life to a ghost who was determined to get revenge on those who wronged him centuries ago. In the chaos and insanity that ensues, Dice finds herself dangerously drawn to her all-too handsome accidental creation.
This was one of those books that will only have two extremes of reactions: total love, or utter hate. With a book dealing with the kind of things that Swoon deals with, there really is no in-between. I personally loved it. It was breathtakingly, extraordinarily amazing. Much different that other paranormal books out there, Swoon will have you swooning.
Nina Malkin wrote in an interesting and lyrical way while still managing to capture the mindset of teenage girl. Dice’s voice flowed, creating a vivid and realistic narrative movie in my mind as I read. Even with the more mature elements, Nina handled them nicely by glossing over them and wording them in a, erm, gentler way.
As always, characters make or break a novel. And there is much controversy over Sin. Is he a jaded man whose pain and loss have spurred him to do these things? Or is truly off his rocker insane? How could anyone love, or even like a psycho like that? Well, that’s the beauty of this novel. It’s up to your own interpretation how you handle Sin. I will say that I personally loved him. Even though he had did have moments of frightening craziness, he also had all-too seductive moments, as well as heart-wrenchingly sad ones. Dice was strong and level-headed most of the time, trying to do damage control. But even she was lost to the seductive charms of Sin. Somehow, though, she managed to keep it all together. She was an endearing heroine, multi-faceted, and relatable.
I recommend Swoon to anyone looking for a thrilling and exhilarating, yet dark and alluring paranormal romance. I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars.
This was one of those books that will only have two extremes of reactions: total love, or utter hate. With a book dealing with the kind of things that Swoon deals with, there really is no in-between. I personally loved it. It was breathtakingly, extraordinarily amazing. Much different that other paranormal books out there, Swoon will have you swooning.
Nina Malkin wrote in an interesting and lyrical way while still managing to capture the mindset of teenage girl. Dice’s voice flowed, creating a vivid and realistic narrative movie in my mind as I read. Even with the more mature elements, Nina handled them nicely by glossing over them and wording them in a, erm, gentler way.
As always, characters make or break a novel. And there is much controversy over Sin. Is he a jaded man whose pain and loss have spurred him to do these things? Or is truly off his rocker insane? How could anyone love, or even like a psycho like that? Well, that’s the beauty of this novel. It’s up to your own interpretation how you handle Sin. I will say that I personally loved him. Even though he had did have moments of frightening craziness, he also had all-too seductive moments, as well as heart-wrenchingly sad ones. Dice was strong and level-headed most of the time, trying to do damage control. But even she was lost to the seductive charms of Sin. Somehow, though, she managed to keep it all together. She was an endearing heroine, multi-faceted, and relatable.
I recommend Swoon to anyone looking for a thrilling and exhilarating, yet dark and alluring paranormal romance. I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars.
elenajohansen's review against another edition
2.0
Original 2015 rating: 3 stars, no review. (I didn't start reviewing every book I read until 2016.)
I've lowered this to two upon rereading. Whatever charm I saw it in the first time around has mostly vanished under the weight of the Imperialism for Dummies layout of the story. Sheltered and wealthy girl travels to a foreign country occupied by her nation's army, learns that colonizing places is bad and of course the natives don't want them there, falls out of love with her pro-empire army officer fiance and then in love with another officer who's only in the military because he's a foreigner from another subjugated nation and it's basically the only decent career path open to him. Think England and India, because I sure did, though this is all fantasy; you could make a compelling argument that Aeberelle is a hybrid of Victorian England and 1940's wartime USA, which I got a strong vibe of from the constant parties thrown for young women to flirt with all those handsome officers. Xan'tai isn't culturally like India (in fact very little is said about its culture to draw any sort of real-world parallel with) but fits the pattern of older colony whose people become somewhat accepted into the home society, though never regarded as anything but second-class citizens.
The nation where the story actually takes place, Chiarrin, doesn't closely resemble any culture I know about at all, but that doesn't detract from the story.
So, as a work of fantasy, this feels thin, probably because it spends most of its runtime inside Averie's head dealing with her teenage flights of emotional fancy and the growing pains of realizing her country is a racist bully. As a romance, it's even thinner, because she has to spend half the book falling out of love with her fiance before she can "realize" she's in love with other man, and he's just not well-developed enough for me to believe that. Do I like Ket personally and would I want to get to know him better? Sure, the few personality traits he has are ones that appeal to my tastes. But most of his actual screen time is being politely stoic about all the racism around him, including the unintentional stuff from the heroine, and then saving her occasionally from scrapes she gets into.
If you feel like I've been writing a one-star review for this book so far, I can't blame you. Centering a YA fantasy-romance on a white girl starting to unlearn her racist ideas and fall for the "exotic" hero who rescues her from danger...it's pretty bad. (And yes, the text does call him "exotic and appealing" once.)
But there are a few good points as well, mostly in isolated plot moments that stand out as unusual compared to my other reading. The breakup scene between the heroine and her fiance was actually kind of brilliant for being a mutual decision portrayed as sad and full of regret for what could have been; even if the fiance is a pro-colonizing moral trashfire, it's clear that he's emotionally invested and really heart-broken--he would have been a good husband who cared about the heroine. There's a serious plot twist late in the book that I won't spoil, but knowing about it for this reread, I was looking for the foreshadowing I missed originally and I'm impressed with how it's present, but it can all be adequately explained in context, so the surprise really is surprising. And the heroine's characterization carries her right through to her happy ending; she's compassionate and impulsive through and through, and that informs how she decides to move forward with her life at the end, when events have freed her from what would have been her life if she had married as originally planned, and she pursues her foreign lover. It's clear she's changed over the course of the story, but the axis of that change is intellectual, not emotional--she hasn't had her personality beaten out of her by the events of the book. She's just trying to be a better person now.
(I could write probably another five hundred words on whether or not her choices in the ending qualify her as a white savior or not, but at this point, does it matter? It's clear I'm not recommending this book to anyone, despite my general love for Sharon Shinn. This one's not even close to her best work, and though I haven't read everything of hers--yet--I'd say it's probably in the running for worst.)
I've lowered this to two upon rereading. Whatever charm I saw it in the first time around has mostly vanished under the weight of the Imperialism for Dummies layout of the story. Sheltered and wealthy girl travels to a foreign country occupied by her nation's army, learns that colonizing places is bad and of course the natives don't want them there, falls out of love with her pro-empire army officer fiance and then in love with another officer who's only in the military because he's a foreigner from another subjugated nation and it's basically the only decent career path open to him. Think England and India, because I sure did, though this is all fantasy; you could make a compelling argument that Aeberelle is a hybrid of Victorian England and 1940's wartime USA, which I got a strong vibe of from the constant parties thrown for young women to flirt with all those handsome officers. Xan'tai isn't culturally like India (in fact very little is said about its culture to draw any sort of real-world parallel with) but fits the pattern of older colony whose people become somewhat accepted into the home society, though never regarded as anything but second-class citizens.
The nation where the story actually takes place, Chiarrin, doesn't closely resemble any culture I know about at all, but that doesn't detract from the story.
So, as a work of fantasy, this feels thin, probably because it spends most of its runtime inside Averie's head dealing with her teenage flights of emotional fancy and the growing pains of realizing her country is a racist bully. As a romance, it's even thinner, because she has to spend half the book falling out of love with her fiance before she can "realize" she's in love with other man, and he's just not well-developed enough for me to believe that. Do I like Ket personally and would I want to get to know him better? Sure, the few personality traits he has are ones that appeal to my tastes. But most of his actual screen time is being politely stoic about all the racism around him, including the unintentional stuff from the heroine, and then saving her occasionally from scrapes she gets into.
If you feel like I've been writing a one-star review for this book so far, I can't blame you. Centering a YA fantasy-romance on a white girl starting to unlearn her racist ideas and fall for the "exotic" hero who rescues her from danger...it's pretty bad. (And yes, the text does call him "exotic and appealing" once.)
But there are a few good points as well, mostly in isolated plot moments that stand out as unusual compared to my other reading. The breakup scene between the heroine and her fiance was actually kind of brilliant for being a mutual decision portrayed as sad and full of regret for what could have been; even if the fiance is a pro-colonizing moral trashfire, it's clear that he's emotionally invested and really heart-broken--he would have been a good husband who cared about the heroine. There's a serious plot twist late in the book that I won't spoil, but knowing about it for this reread, I was looking for the foreshadowing I missed originally and I'm impressed with how it's present, but it can all be adequately explained in context, so the surprise really is surprising. And the heroine's characterization carries her right through to her happy ending; she's compassionate and impulsive through and through, and that informs how she decides to move forward with her life at the end, when events have freed her from what would have been her life if she had married as originally planned, and she pursues her foreign lover. It's clear she's changed over the course of the story, but the axis of that change is intellectual, not emotional--she hasn't had her personality beaten out of her by the events of the book. She's just trying to be a better person now.
(I could write probably another five hundred words on whether or not her choices in the ending qualify her as a white savior or not, but at this point, does it matter? It's clear I'm not recommending this book to anyone, despite my general love for Sharon Shinn. This one's not even close to her best work, and though I haven't read everything of hers--yet--I'd say it's probably in the running for worst.)
aphelia88's review against another edition
5.0
"'You have to be the person you become, no matter what events change you,' she said. 'The heart grows and stretches, just as the body does, and you cannot stop either of them. But you have some choice, with the heart. You can hold on to some things - you can throw others away. But it is very hard. Very hard to be who you wish you were instead of who you are.'" (271-272), Jalessa to Averie
(For anyone wondering about the unusual garb on the cover art, it is an accurate representation of clothes the characters wear! Always a lovely bonus.)
Although officially YA, this is a book for every age! It's hard to say much about this story without giving too much away - but it has a clever and important twist that reveals hidden depths running under what seems at first to be a light, charming romance.
Set in a fantasy world, the tone deliberately mimics that of a Regency Romance (complete with the phrases "she dimpled", and "a galleon under full sail", two of my favourites!). The heroine's home country of Aeberelle is roughly analogous to "civilized" England and far away Chiarrin to early post-colonization India.
Lovely and lively blonde Averie Winston is the title General's daughter. At 18, she is soon to marry her longtime sweetheart, Morgan - an ambitious career soldier who serves under her father.
Averie is incurably curious and stubborn, so she insists on visiting her father and fiancé during their six-month deployment to quell civil unrest in Chiarrin.
Accompanied by her sharp-tongued, primly proper and easily scandalized Chaperone, Lady Selkirk, the two join a small company of other army relatives, living a sheltered ex-pat lifestyle in the hot and colourful foreign country.
But Averie is not content to stay in the circle and journeys farther afield, "going native" - adopting local dress, language, customs, and eventually a native housemaid (Jalessa) who quickly becomes her confidant and friend.
Averie's new-found happiness and feeling of belonging in Chiarrin is severely shaken as she discovers some unpleasant truths about colonization and the role of the army. She begins to question everything she's known, including her relationship with Morgan.
Thought-provoking and moving, this is an excellent read and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of Shinn's other excellent YA book [b:Gateway|6080136|Gateway|Sharon Shinn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304545342l/6080136._SY75_.jpg|6256823]!
One minor quibble:
(Thanks very much to the lovely friend who gave me this as a birthday gift!)
(For anyone wondering about the unusual garb on the cover art, it is an accurate representation of clothes the characters wear! Always a lovely bonus.)
Although officially YA, this is a book for every age! It's hard to say much about this story without giving too much away - but it has a clever and important twist that reveals hidden depths running under what seems at first to be a light, charming romance.
Set in a fantasy world, the tone deliberately mimics that of a Regency Romance (complete with the phrases "she dimpled", and "a galleon under full sail", two of my favourites!). The heroine's home country of Aeberelle is roughly analogous to "civilized" England and far away Chiarrin to early post-colonization India.
Lovely and lively blonde Averie Winston is the title General's daughter. At 18, she is soon to marry her longtime sweetheart, Morgan - an ambitious career soldier who serves under her father.
Averie is incurably curious and stubborn, so she insists on visiting her father and fiancé during their six-month deployment to quell civil unrest in Chiarrin.
Accompanied by her sharp-tongued, primly proper and easily scandalized Chaperone, Lady Selkirk, the two join a small company of other army relatives, living a sheltered ex-pat lifestyle in the hot and colourful foreign country.
But Averie is not content to stay in the circle and journeys farther afield, "going native" - adopting local dress, language, customs, and eventually a native housemaid (Jalessa) who quickly becomes her confidant and friend.
Averie's new-found happiness and feeling of belonging in Chiarrin is severely shaken as she discovers some unpleasant truths about colonization and the role of the army. She begins to question everything she's known, including her relationship with Morgan.
Thought-provoking and moving, this is an excellent read and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of Shinn's other excellent YA book [b:Gateway|6080136|Gateway|Sharon Shinn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304545342l/6080136._SY75_.jpg|6256823]!
One minor quibble:
Spoiler
I did think the death of Averie's father was a little too convenient. It allows her to avoid direct confrontation with him about his role in the army and it also gives her the funding and freedom to choose her own path in the future. However, the story is wonderful and the ending is amazing, so this is easily forgiven!(Thanks very much to the lovely friend who gave me this as a birthday gift!)
ancientdebra's review against another edition
2.0
Averie, a feisty General's daughter, travels to the foreign land of Chiarrin to join her father and her fiancé as they command the invasion country. As Averie learns more about the country, the reason her father's army is there, and her own beliefs, she realizes that there are no easy questions when it comes to war or love...
I've enjoyed other novels by Sharon Shinn, but this wasn't my favorite. It definitely had elements of politics and romance and some twists at the end...but it felt too forced to me and I almost gave it up. I was sucked in by the romance, however, and stayed to the end.
I've enjoyed other novels by Sharon Shinn, but this wasn't my favorite. It definitely had elements of politics and romance and some twists at the end...but it felt too forced to me and I almost gave it up. I was sucked in by the romance, however, and stayed to the end.
fujerica's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. An easy read, not particularly intriguing, seems to follow a pattern for Shinn-romances. Still, good enough to read once.
_hex_libris's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0