From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jan 17 18:36:11 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: "Aaron M. Renn" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: The Winter Queen by Devin Cary Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 13 Jan 2000 10:29:37 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Lines: 35 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 947777378 22496 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2563 The Winter Queen by Devin Cary Review Copyright (c) 2000 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Marginal I believe this is the first book by Cary, and unfortunately it's not a particularly strong effort. It's got all the cliched elements I don't like in fantasy novels: the depressing, pseudo-medieval setting; the strong female character struggling to find her place in a male dominated world; the coutiers more interested in their own power than the well-being of the kingdom; and so on. On the other hand, the book is very short, and could possible be valuable as light entertainment filler. King Ethelred of Albor dies, leaving a wife and an heir far too young to rule. On his death bed, he names his queen as his preferred regent, touching off a mad scramble among the court nobles, most of whom have ambitions to be regent themsevles and see Queen Elissa - and any other woman for that matter - as unfit to rule. Elissa must prove herself worthy to be regent, overcoming everything the nobles can throw at her, as well as her own inexperience. This book is self-contained, but clearly a sequel has been set up. %A Cary, Devin %T The Winter Queen %I Ace %D 1999-12 %G ISBN 0-441-00681-7 %P 282 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$5.99 Reviewed on 2000-01-10 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/