Customer Reviews

Coronets and Steel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up Coronets and Steel at Barnes and Noble the other day, since I had a B&N gift card I'd been saving, and a desperate urge for a new book.

I finished it last night at 1 am, and the only reason I didn't finish it the night before (really, earlier that day) at 5 am was that I had had a really long day and my eyes were fuzzing out on me. As I paged toward the end I glared in horror at the meager five pages awaiting my greedy eyes. What do you mean there were only a few pages left? The story couldn't be over, could it? Luckily, there will be a sequel, which I am eagerly awaiting.

Coronets and Steel begins with a Kim, a new college graduate, searching through Europe for traces of her family history*. A vague memory of her mother's and a couple theater tickets have brought her to Vienna, where she resumes her quest in a genealogy office. Leaving the office, she sees her first ghost, though she doesn't know it at the time, who leads her into an encounter with a man who swears he knows her. But she's never met him in her life.

He's handsome though, and polite, so she gets a drink with him...and ends up waking up on a train. And promptly escapes out the window.

A zigzag chase ensues with the handsome Alec finally apologizing and explaining his mistake. Turns out she looks just like someone named Ruli, who also happens to be Kim's cousin. A bit of Kim's family history is explained and she ends up traveling to Dobrenica, a small country in the Carpathian Mountains, where her grandmother was born. Where her grandmother was a princess.

I admit to being pleasantly surprised with much of this plotline. You're not going to get Princess Diaries here. There were one or two turns that felt predictable, but some of that predictability, I think, comes from reading similar stories by Sherwood Smith. There are echoes of Once a Princess and Twice a Prince in the plotline, as well as Crown Duel, but Kim is a different character than either of those two heroines. She's more serious than Sasha and more experienced and laid back than Mel. Echoes of Sasha resounded in her speaking style, at least at first, but both of the characters are from LA, so I was able to write it off as nothing more than dialect; as the story progresses and you learn more about Kim, the echoes of Sasha disappear.

I was frustrated at a few points with Kim's apparent denseness with the situation. She often assumes the best of people, which gets her into trouble in a few situations, but her escapes from those situations are clever and exciting to read. Also, her saving grace, Kim admits to her denseness when shown the real motivations behind such situations. That helps make Kim's denseness a character trait, not a plot device.

At one point I remember thinking "if she gets kidnapped here I will be disappointed, because I can so see it coming" and she did get kidnapped. Almost. My irritation with being right was swept away by her ingenious escape and the resulting piece of good luck it brings.

At no point was the story so predicable that I could see the ending. A few scenes were expected, but once the story got into full flow I couldn't figure out any of the turns. The few guesses I had turned out to be wrong.

I like Kim. She's practical, funny, serious, and learns how to think on her feet.

The ending leaves quite a few hanging threads and questions to be answered. Not to mention my panicked reading of the last chapter while thinking "there'sgottabemorethere'sgottabemore" and the shriek of "Nooooooooo!" when I got to the last page. But did I mention there's going to be a sequel? I can't wait.



*If you're wondering, this is not a Sartorias-deles story. I wouldn't quite place it in Urban Fantasy either, though technically it fits the qualifications. Magic isn't so in-your-face as most UF I know. I'd put it in Modern Fantasy, with a subplot of romance. On her website Sherwood calls it a Ruritarian romantic adventure.

I really enjoyed this book. It is (for the most part) fast paced and action filled. I found only a few spots where it seemed to drag a bit. With her believable, 21st century characters struggling to adjust their conventional, scientific view of the world, Sherwood Smith does an excellent job of combining real life history with some adventurous fantasy. The worst part of this book is it's very incomplete ending. The author says she has the sequel 3/4 of the way finished; I would wait til that is finished to read this. In typical Sherwood Smith fashion, this book and its sequel appear to make one volume split into two. So unless you want to be left hanging for a year like I am, I might wait until the release date of the sequel is a bit nearer. Overall though, it's a great book that I would recommend.

Only Sherwood Smith consistently writes YA books that I, being over 40, enjoy reading.

Again, here, a good intelligent story, cleverly plotted and creative good fast paced fun.

Additonally, and this is hard to do: The sense of place and history never missed, I live in Vienna and travel Europe a lot, also reading about history and economics. Here, all this is in the background, while an exciting, good story happens, and you read and read just for the plot and people, and yet - this book has a great sense of place and time, without ever boring and preaching, even a little, Ms Smith gives you a perfect view of the tensions and long reaches of a complicated history right in the middle of Europe, of Germans, Russians, Austrians, and centuries of powergames and wars - all that makes the choices of modern young people difficult. But Sherwood Smith never bores you, or tells you. She shows: Seeing how Kim learns and understands this was very good storytelling, wow! ( Like others, I found Kim very dense occasionally, but never unbearably so. )

Pantastic book - thank you!!!

I regret that I am left with half a story. The ending here is no ending at all, just a hiatus, at best.

While being willing - very willing - to spend money on Sherwood Smith, I feel slightly cheated when I get half a book. Long book, good book, but I want some closure when I will have to wait a while. This is my only complaint, and I have not taken away stars for it, as I do not know who makes decisions on book size, cutting of sequels etc.

Buy, read, enjoy this lovely book, just be aware that this has no real ending, you will want to know desperately what happens next.

Aurelia Kim Murray does genealogical research in Paris and Vienna, trying to discover her grandmother's mysterious past, and finds more than she bargains for, a la Prisoner of Zenda (the plot resemblances are lampshaded here). The story clearly needs a sequel, but I don't find it as incomplete as some other reviewers do; it's not like Once a Princess/Twice a Prince, which really is one story. I think the difference is that here, the story arc of this adventure is indeed complete; what we're missing is the resolution of the romance.

Coronets and Steel was a tremendous pleasure. It's a book to be read in one nail-biting gulp--which makes it even more remarkable that it was able to have me and hold me even though I couldn't give it concentrated reading time. It's a story that asks to be read in one or two sittings, and yet it can withstand the sort of reading I had to give it--going away for long periods of time and then returning.

It's a Ruritanian romance set largely in a fictional Eastern European country. American Kim Murray, in Europe searching for answers about her grandmother's mysterious past, discovers that she's a dead ringer for the fiancée of a prince of a small Eastern European country--discovers it when the prince himself appears and kidnaps her. (Why? Well, you'll have to read the story and find out!)

Adventure and romance ensue, and the romance is lovely, and the adventure is adventuresome, but what I liked especially were the details about the fictional country of Dobrenica and its history: the "jellygraph" (printing using gelatin as the reproductive medium) that children used to print comic-book versions of stories about beloved characters from folktales during the years of Soviet sway), the relationship of the people to those folktales (or are they? Ghosts and magical creatures hover around the edges of the story), the complicated dynastic politics--all of these make the story heart-racingly real.

The end of the story doesn't resolve the romantic dilemma, but a sequel is coming. I can't wait.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ms. Smith has quite a way with words and creating characters that stay with you forever. I was originally introduced to her writing by stumbling across Crown Duel at my local book store and I could not put that book down either. Kim and Alec (main characters of Coronets and Steel) reminded me quite a bit of Meliara and Vilanric from Crown Duel, but this story was so masterfully woven and original that I didn't mind the similarities in characters.

The plot of this book is both simple and complex, and thoroughly entertaining. Aurelia Kim is a free spirit college student who travels to Europe from California determined to find any traces of her maternal grandmother's family. All she has is a last name, possible locations in Vienna and Paris, a picture of her grandfather, and determination to do something as her grandmother recently fell ill and now refuses to speak. But this decidedly hopeless and thoroughly impulsive trip soon turns into a peril filled journey that will lead Kim to the mysterious origins of her family and change her life forever.

Kim is one of the most likable female protagonists I've ever read. I truly dislike when authors try to add depth to their characters by either making them unattractive or adding some horrors in their past. Kim is both beautiful and has a loving family, and her depth is evident from refreshing outlook on life and interesting upbringing. The most amazing thing is how well Ms. Smith constructed Dobrenica. Everything from the Russian and German occupation to superstitions within the population fit this imaginary country from the Eastern European region beautifully. I could easily imagine myself walking the streets of those ancient towns and seeing the untouched beauty of their forests and hills.

Don't pass this amazing book by.

I enjoyed this new Sherwood Smith story. I could empathize with Kim who was on a quest to find out about her family history. I liked her close relationship with her grandmother. She was certainly intrepid - heading off to Europe alone to try to track down her ancestry.

I also liked Alec. He was a rather mysterious character who was certain that Kim was actually his runaway fiancée Aurelia. He was well-educated, handsome, and very concerned with his duty to the country that he would rule.

What I thought was a bit confusing was the complicated political situation in Dobrenica, a small, mythical country in the Carpathians. There are apparently five important families who have traded off leadership of the country over the centuries which has been complicated by German and Russian occupations of the country. Currently, Alec's family is in charge. His fiancée's brother Tony is also fomenting revolt because he feels his family should be in charge.

Kim learns that her grandmother is a runaway princess and she is thrust into the political situation. The fantasy elements include the fact that Kim sees ghosts including that of some of her ancestors. Another fantasy element is that there is a magic in the country that allows the country to disappear if certain conditions are meant. Alec wishes to invoke this magic but needs his errant fiancée to accomplish his goal. Complications ensue when he falls in love with Kim and has to choose between love and duty. This echoes the decision that Kim's grandmother made two generations earlier.

I enjoyed the book. The action and romance were compelling. I recommend this book to lovers of romantic fantasy. I am eager to see the rest of the series to find out what happens next.

But I was very disappointed by this book. In my experience, Smith's characters are so accessible; I usually breathlessly read through her story, desperately waiting for characters to realize their true love. I love her style and love reading her novels.

However, this one lacked so much. I respect her as an author, so I will only list the basic problems I found to give another view for avid Smith fans:

-The slang that Kim uses can be grating. I'm embarrassed when she talks at points, and I'm surprised when people fall for her. I could feel Smith trying to bring Kim to life with her language, but it throws you off more than makes you like her.

-My personal biggest problem was with the conversation between Kim, the heroine, and the prospective love interest. I expected to feel so much tension when Kim and this individual interacted - I wanted to believe they cared for each other, but except for spending a lot of time together, I sensed a familiarity with each other, no sparks.

-The characters: Many of the characters seemed to lack depth. I found Alec to be a little lifeless; I know he hides his emotions, but compared to Shevrath from Crown/Court Duel he is just...boring. I also felt like I barley know Kim. Hopefully Ruli makes a better show for herself in the next book, because the little I know about her wasn't great. Similar in personality to Eleandra from The Trouble with Kings, but flatter. Tony wasn't as bad, but he seemed to be to nice and mellow to be held to such a villainous regard.

I have an affinity for strong characters, and maybe that's where things fell out for me. The idea of the plot wasn't bad, but I just didn't find any heart in the character relations. Take what you will from my review and others, and give the book a shot. However, it's no Crown Duel in my book.

Detractors of Tam Lin by Pamela Dean will recognize the slow, sinking, realization that--despite all of the hints of a trip into the fantastic (with the accompanying swashing of buckles)--nothing remotely interesting is going to happen.

The few fantastic elements could be removed with no impact to the plot and their absence would probably improve the narrative.

<Spoilers>

The remainder of this book is a romantic love letter to Mary Sue by way of the princess diaries. Perfect heroine must choose between two princes (lets call them Darcy and Wickham--to choose two names completely at random) one of them seems mean but REALLY is very nice (but might not be so very nice if he weren't so very rich) and the other is SO CUTE! but turns out to be a cad.

Apart from the tired romance, the central mystery of the book seems to be "Are magic/ghosts real?" and the final, disappointing answer is (respectively) "No" and "A couple, but they aren't useful for anything."

I have read many books but ever since I read this book last year no other books even come cose to Coronets and Steel! I have re-read it around 17 tomes and I love it more and more. The plot is beautifully, Kim and Alec are mesmerising!