Dragonfly by Julia Golding

Dragonfly

by Julia Golding

Rating: 5 stars, PG-13

Summary: Princess Taoshira, or Tashi, and Prince Ramil, or Ram, are complete opposites. Taoshira, the Fourth Princess of the Blue Crescent Islands lives her life according to rules, rituals, and religions. She has been taught to guard her emotions and never let her own wants and needs overpower the good of her country. Ramil, the crown prince of Gerfal is a wild spirit who lives life to the fullest. These two are brought together when the powers-that-be in their respective countries decide that a marital union between the two lands is in order. Neither are pleased, but after much complaining, they decide to at least try to make the best of it. It all goes downhill from there: kidnapping, war, heresy, slavery, the list goes on and on. Along the way, through all of these trials, the two begin to see more in each other than just cultural differences. And by that, I mean they start to fall in love. The book has a happy ending, but also a lot of suspense to keep the reader wondering how it could be a good ending.

Opinions: One of the first things I noticed about Dragonfly was that it avoided a classic fantasy pitfall: basing invented cultures on real ones. I felt like all the different nations in this book had elements pulled from all sorts of real-life cultures, from European, to Asian, to African, but no one culture was more prominently used than another. Likewise, no culture in the book was overly influenced by one real-world country. Speaking from experience, this is harder than it seems, but Julia Golding did an excellent job. She also did an excellent job at crafting both a detailed religion and a very religious culture that, again, had no resemblance to current religions and religion-based cultures. I did get confused on the location of the different countries in relation to where the characters were a couple of times, but there is a map in the front of the book.

The romance in Dragonfly was really subtle and slow to come on, considering it was mentioned in the book jacket, but it did seem really natural. Tashi and Ram squabbled through much of the book, and there was no sudden shift from animosity to love; it was all pretty gradual.

I felt like the book was a really subtle social commentary, especially in the realm of religious tolerance. Tashi grew up in an extremely religious culture (though I still hesitate to call it a theocracy, at least by modern terms), and her beliefs become a pretty significant sub-plot. The book also says quite a bit about giving people chances, as well as what can come of misunderstanding between different cultures.

I gave the book 5 stars because I absolutely loved it! I didn't inhale it like I do a lot of books that I really enjoy, but I think I enjoyed it all the more for not reading it hours on end. I predict that this will be the Graceling of this summer (I read Graceling early last summer, and it ended up being my top book for the year), if not this year. I actually noticed quite a few similarities between the two books, but nothing negative and, in retrospect, they are probably simply a result of genre conventions. I gave the book a PG-13 rating for violence, as the end of the book was really quite violent (though not unnecessarily so), and for very mild sexuality, almost all of which was passing comments and conversation rather than actions. The book is rather long, and it took awhile for the book to grow on me, but I did read the last hundred pages in one sitting.

A warning to those who read fantasy for the magic: this is fantasy only by virtue of taking place in an entirely made-up world. In that way, it's similar to General Winston's Daughter, which I also reviewed. Still, it's a very enjoyable world with a well-developed world and characters, and enough plot variety to capture both the action and the romance fans.

General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn

General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn

Rating: PG; 3 1/2 stars

Summary: Averie Winston is a rebellious, reluctant heiress in the manner of all rebellious ladies of privilege in the literary world (only one that comes to mind at the moment is Gemma Doyle and co.). She may live in an invented world, but her character and customs calls to mind the past when girls had to have a waist as big around as their age in years and (God forbid!) if they showed the world an ankle whilst crossing the street, they were ruined.

Averie's country is an imperial giant, and the beginning of the book sees her travelling overseas to the colony where her father and fiance are stationed. When she arrives in the new land, Averie is eager to see it from the citizen's perspective, if only her father and chaperone would let her! Not to worry though, for they soon relent. On Averie's travels through the city, she meets a merchant girl named Jalessa. When a rebel bomb goes off and Jalessa's wares are ruined, Averie generously offers for the woman to be her maid.

Opinions: I thought the idea behind this book was wonderful. It shows imperialism in a non-blaming point of view (after all, the countries present are fictitious). Through the different characters, the readers get ideas from both sides of imperialism (those that benefit, those that are overcome). I thought that idea, as well as Averie's gradual realization that imperialism isn't a one-sided, all-benefit situation was really well presented to the reader. I enjoy studying history, and I appreciate how a book like this can maybe make those who aren't history buffs aware of a critical issue from world history.

On another note, the book was marketed as a romance (at least in the jacket flap), but I really didn't see that as much. I didn't even mention it in my summary. I enjoyed the romance, but I thought it was much more of a subplot that the jacket blurb made it out to be. To me it was far more of a social commentary than a romance. That being said, the romance aspect was well-written and not at all forced, even if it did take a back seat to the action.

Now, as to why I gave this book 3 1/2 stars, the ending was a bit disappointing to me, particularly where a certain character was concerned (you'll have to read it to see what I mean). It was a very enjoyable book, but I have read better. I have a habit of over-rating things, so when I read a book that's really a 5 and I see how much better it is than those I rated 4 1/2, I'm kind of stuck. So, I figured 3 1/2 was a safe rating. It probably would have been a 4 if it had ended the way I wanted (where certain characters are concerned), but then again it may have been disappointing for that very reason. Like I said before, this is a very enjoyable book. If you enjoy fantasy that is heavier on culture than magic or historical fiction, I think you would enjoy this book, as it is essentially (IMO) a delightful fusion of the two genres.