Customer Reviews

Duainfey

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I am a huge fan of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller-- I have read all of their other books at least four times each.

This book, however, is different than the rest. To state it briefly, the innocent but willful main female character is tricked into being a sex slave of the main male character (and later, is used and abused by his acquaintances to further his political goals).

I wasn't expecting this book to be so sexually focused. Normally their books focus more on character development in a sci-fi/fantasy way, where two people are drawn to each other gradually, and resist falling in love, while the reader sees it coming. This is a much darker and much more sexual novel, although not actually explicit in its descriptions.

Still a very good book, but not what I was expecting, nor does it follow their usual "boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl are independently strong characters in their own right" pattern.

What if you were shown the power to change your life? What if it were within your grasp? Would you take it, no matter the cost? These questions are posed by Duainfey, the first half of a dark fantasy duology by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

This book starts out like a typical Regency with a bit of a fantasy twist. If you're expecting a fantasy Regency with a few elves and sparkles and maybe a panpipe or two, this isn't the book for you. Rather than thinking of Regency romances, think of Faerie Ballads.

Duainfey is about the use and abuse of power. Rebecca Beauvelley is nearly powerless to prevent an unwanted marriage. She's nearly powerless in her father's house, and her husband-to-be has shown that he intends to keep her powerless.

But Altimere, an elder fey from across the border, shows her that she has the power to accept his invitation to go with him. And so she puts her trust in him, and goes across the border.

Across the border in the court of the Queen of Fey, Meripen Vanglelauf is awakened betime from his healing sleep, and is bitterly aware that his love was killed in the land of men, by people intent on power over the fey. He is then sent on a quest to find out why the land and the wood are falling ill. He has come to hate men, and thinks much on their powers.

Although Rebecca and Meripen Vanglelauf do not meet in this book, their stories, and their horrors, parallel one another. And make no mistake. This is a horror story. And it's the most hair-raising kind of horror --not things that go bump in the night, or bloody corpses, although both of those do exist in this book. Rather, it's the horror of the decision made hastily, the question not asked, the price too high, and the courage that might not be enough. And the horror creeps up, written as it is in Lee and Miller's clear, lovely prose.

The horror has enough of a sexual content that I don't feel comfortable recommending this book to younger readers, unlike many Lee and Miller books. In the same way, I don't feel comfortable recommending A Clockwork Orange to younger readers. Both are very fine books, but they are books that should be read with eyes open. It's not really appropriate for younger teens. Older teens? I would tell them that it's a cautionary tale that pulls no punches.

There is the potential that the second book in this pair, Longeye, may not be as much of a horror story as Duainfey. But there's also the potential for deeper horror. I do hope for a happy continuation for both Becca and Meripen, but I don't yet count on it.

I read the sample chapters for Duainfey at the Baen website months ago, and enjoyed them enough that this went on my list of "to be read when it comes out." I saw it in the bookstore, but fortunately shied away from paying the hardcover price for it and got it in the September Webscription from Baen instead. I don't want to think about how mad I'd be if I'd paid hardcover price for this book.

The book gets two stars [revised to 3 stars, see below] because I did care about the characters and keep reading to see what happened to them. It only gets two stars because I didn't get to see anything very interesting happen to them. "THE END" comes at an arbitrary point where nothing much has changed, nothing has been resolved, and no questions have been answered. The two main characters, who are followed in alternating chapters, don't even meet by the end of the book!

Duainfey, unfortunately, isn't a full book. It's an introduction to the next book, and it doesn't even end on a cliffhanger, it just cuts off.

As other reviews have mentioned, Rebecca dodges a horrible marriage by going off with a fey gentleman. Then the story takes a steep dive into gratuitous sexual degradation, which starts out relatively mild and escalates into gang-rape by the end of the book. Rebecca is a supposedly "willful" woman whose willfulness seems to be simple impulsiveness with no actual self-determination. I kept hoping to see her start to develop some sort of goals or desires of her own, but she didn't. Instead of plotting escape when she's unhappy, she begs, and any resistance she offers seems more like a haphazard impulse than actual defiance.

Regarding the other main character: through flashbacks, the reader is shown that Meripen is horribly traumatized by the torture and degradation he and his (now dead) lover suffered at the hands of humans eager to steal their magic. That's basically the only role he plays in this book, except to give a little background to Sian, who in the last page or two helps Rebecca win free from her (partially self-imposed) sexual slavery. (I'm not really sure why Sian gets involved, she just does.) He hates humans for what they did, until he finds out that there are humans living on his cousin's lands, and gains an inkling that they may actually be decent people. This doesn't seem like too much of a struggle, since the trees are willing to vouch for them. I suppose it might be counted as a small change, but one that I would anticipate at an early chapter-end, rather than at the end of the book. He doesn't get the chance to do anything with his inkling, or even turn it into a full change of opinion.

In retrospect, it seems blatantly obvious that the only purpose of this book is to subject Rebecca to enough abuse at fey hands to make her damage and trauma equal to Meripen's, while letting the reader know how damaged and traumatized (at human hands) he is already. Once she's been sufficiently abused, the book ends, presumably leaving any actual plot to occur in the second book.

It is possible to write duologies, trilogies and series where each book has a plot that wraps up enough questions to satisfy the reader while leaving enough loose ends to entice them into reading the next book. Just look at the books of Mercedes Lackey, Patricia Briggs or Holly Lisle for excellent examples of this.

Or, as the authors have chosen to do with Duainfey and Longeye, you can take one long book, hack it in half and sell each half as "part of a duology" to make more money, with no care for whether the first book leaves the reader with the literary equivalent of blue balls.

[Edit: I've learned a lot about the market in the past couple of years, enough to have a lot more sympathy for the authors and how little control they may have once a book goes into the publisher's hands. I haven't read Longeye, and I wouldn't suggest reading Duainfey without the sequel close to hand, but I'll reiterate here that I did care about what happened to the characters, and if you don't mind the sexual abuse in the content, you may well enjoy the two books together. If the book was simply bad or boring, I wouldn't have been disappointed enough by the ending to write this review.]

Let me start out by saying I am a huge Lee / Miller fan. Yet I had put off reading DUAINFEY because of the negative early buzz, and if I were rating it *as a Liaden-type story*, I would have given it only a single star.

But this is not a Liaden book. (Heckopete, the absence of cats and rugs should be enough of a clue there!) And the unease I felt starting the book was probably, in the end, a boost to the book.

I shan't bother to recap the plot, since so many other reviewers seemed to have done nothing but (and exhaustively). And I agree, if unpleasant and graphic sexual descriptions bother you, this isn't the book for you. I won't give it to my teenage daughter, who loves all things Korval. I *WILL*, however, discuss with her many of the ideas this book brings up.

This isn't a story about sex, folks. Anyone who found the many sex scenes to be "erotica" has, err, issues. This is a story about *power* -- how it is generated, how it is used, how it is abused, and how (one hopes, eventually) it strengthens and heals -- and about human relationships, which are the context for all of the above.

Sex is a big part of these relationships, humans being what they are. But am I the only one who found other elements (names and naming, for example) to be at least as important? Look at other recurrent motifs: leadership as opposed to coercion, partnership as opposed to exploitation, nature as opposed to artifice -- all of these are clearly important themes in all of the authors' works, even though they may be subsumed beneath the adventure and exuberance.

This kind of very dark fantasy isn't usually to my taste, and I can't honestly say I "liked" or "enjoyed" the story. But I give this book four stars, for courageously and thought-provokingly exploring these issues in a way that their other genre novels could not. I can't give it five stars because it is indeed only half a story -- although I do believe that Rebecca's climactic action was a satisfying culmination of this particular arc, one that would have been robbed of significance without the slow set up, as well as the contrasting glimpses of Meri's abuse and healing.

I am grateful that my trust for Lee and Miller led me beyond my easy comfort zone for reading, and I am bracing myself to find out what more I can learn in LONGEYE. I doubt I will "like" or "enjoy" it either, and it may well grieve me. But I don't think it will disappoint me -- and I shall be wiser for having read and thought about it.

The book consists of two stories, textually interspersed, but with almost no points of intersection other than fantasy world and a coincidentally shared minor character.

Becca, the lead of the first plotline, is "rescued" by a Fey and places his life in his hands to avoid a a forced marriage, which he shows her is fated to leave her cold, unloved and dead. She has no choices in her home world after an innocent but scandalous and crippling accident. But, after winning her trust, her rescuer makes her a magically enslaved whore and murderess, who steals souls with sex, obliterating those too weak. Straight and lesbian sex and rape (and gang rape) scenes follow.

The other plotline, present apparently only for exposition, concerns a Fey hero awakened still wounded despite centuries of healing sleep, trying to live with himself after humans sexually torture his lover, who sacrifices herself to allow him to escape his own torture and imprisonment.

The many sex and rape scenes are inartfully written. The fantasy devices are ill motivated and irrelevant to the plot. A pall of boredom hangs over the text (especially in the expository plotline). Also, both stories are incomplete (the "official" caption plot summary above isn't actually even finished in this novel); instead, the book is merely a first half or third of a novel that ends abruptly without resolution.

I have nothing against erotica in general, but I wish I'd discarded this book before finishing it.

I was so pleased to see a new Lee-Miller book coming out, since their Liaden universe novels, chapbooks, and online books have been so engrossing and well-plotted.

I was not expecting rape fantasies or sordid sex. I'm not sure why they wrote this, but I'm glad I only got it from the library and didn't pay for it. It's one I won't be adding to my shelf.

I think it was very brave of Lee and Miller to explore new genres of writing....
although I don't think the themes are that different from their other books as some seem to think....
there were several reviewer complaints about s/m content being new and different...
actually, both Pricilla and Aelliana (from the Liaden series) were emotionally and physically abused, including being raped... and if you are looking for really creepy evil, how about the department of the interior and what they did to Val Con....
The book does start slowly... to be savored rather than rushed through... and actually, Rebecca seems more hapless than many of their hero(ine)s.
The main problem is that it is only half a book... which they say!
I am eagerly awaiting part two.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, best known for their Liaden Universe novels, venture into the pure fantasy realm with "Duainfey."

Rebecca Beauvelley is the elder daughter of an earl. Unfortunately, a youthful indiscretion involving a carriage accident has left her unmarriageable with a badly-injured arm. She takes refuge in her solitude and extraordinary gift for gardening. Her father has found an elderly suitor to marry her, in order to clear the path for her (of course) spoiled, difficult and unpleasant younger sister. Unfortunately, her suitor (of course again) turns out to be an abusive, hectoring and unpleasant man. When offered the chance of elopement with a mysterious elven lord, Becca takes it. Unfortunately again (the girl just can't catch a break!), her rescuer turns out to be an unmitigated cad - worse, really - who gradually seduces her out of her innocence, power, self-actualization and will. Much unpleasant and gratuitous sex and violence follow.

Meanwhile, across the border, Meripen, an Elven Ranger, is recovering from the loss of his lover and from wounds inflicted on him by humans.

First the good points (there are a few): good world-building, intriguing concept of Elves in Regency quasi-England, and gardens. Wonderful gardens. They were the best part of the novel.

Now, onto the bad points:

- BEYOND a cliffhanger ending. That was just annoying.

- Altimere is a scene-chewing, stock villain. We're not children (given the graphic sexual content of this book, let's hope we're not children!). Can we have some nuance please? Also, has he ever heard of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? It would have been much more interesting if he's kept Becca in relative comfort and security, only occasionally crossing the line. It felt as though he should be wearing a sign that said "THIS GUY IS VERY EVIL."

- Becca is waaaaaayyyy too passive. Lee and Miller write great women characters - Aelliana, Priscilla, Natesa, not to mention Miri! Becca's one independent action - acquiesing to Altimere - ends badly, but then she implodes into a total victim, begging and pleading at the requisite intervals, but, ending up as Altimere's sexual plaything and assassin. She doesn't even rescue herself, but is dependent on another person for survival - who, in turn, captures her to use her for her own purposes. It's really hard to care about a character who is an object rather than a person. The only time I liked her was when she was talking with her brother or in the garden, which was sadly too brief.

- Meripen's existence and presence in the novel seems solely dedicated to 1) reminding the reader that bad humans are Just As Bad as elves, 2) providing context for the elven court and 3) foreshadowing Becca's love interest in the second volume of the series.

- The repeated rapes and gang rapes are pointless and, candidly, do little to move the plot forward. They only demonstrate that Becca is powerless and in thrall (we knew this already) and Altimere is cruel and inhuman (we knew this too). I can put up with violence, sexual or otherwise, in my reading if it results in growth or an epiphany. This didn't.

- Too many cliches - wounded, feisty heroine; elderly caddish suitor; evil "rescuer" who debauches wounded, feisty heroine; equally evil and unpleasant associates of evil "rescuer," stock lords and ladies; spoiled, beautiful younger sister; authoritarian, overbearing father; wounded hero waiting in the wings.... and so on. Stock stories can be fun if written and presented intelligently, but this just didn't do it for me.

This is my first exposure to these authors. Why would I want to read about someone with a "strong will" who's turned into a slave and a very detailed account of her rape is written over and over again and for no point. There was no need to continue on and on with it. Then the whole point of reading the book was to see her escape which takes the whole book and doesn't have a meaning.

The first part of the book was so great, I didn't foresee it turning into a horrible X rated exploit of sexual fantasy.

When I saw this book's description I thought it was an interesting mix of two genres I enjoy - Regency and fantasy. And it is - sort of! I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so suffice it to say that there is a twist which you could easily miss at first.

It was so good I immediately went online and ordered the sequel even though it was a pre-order for a hard cover. I HAD to know what happened. The characters and story are fascinating and the whole premise behind it quite intriguing. I couldn't put either of them down.

One cautionary note: If you do not like some fairly graphic sex content, or are buying this for a teenager, there are parts of this book which are, ahem, well, graphic! Frankly, I skipped a lot of them as unnecessary. While the sexual content was needed story wise, it didn't need to be quite so - detailed. It was here that one could see that the book is written by two people, these parts were very different.

BUT - this is a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone liking both these genres - or even just fantasy. The whole Regency thing really doesn't play into it after the first few chapters.

I liked both books well enough to want to read more by these two authors, especially any related stories.