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15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
(DNF) Beautiful writing, but needs more narrative drive, March 3, 2010
This review is from: Except the Queen (Hardcover)
In _Except the Queen_, two faerie sisters, Serana and Meteora, accidentally learn a scandalous secret about the faerie queen and let it slip. For their transgression, the two women are separated and banished to mortal Earth to live among humans. They are completely adrift in this new world, and if that weren't bad enough, their new human bodies are old and overweight.
I think _Except the Queen_ is meant - at least in part - as an exploration of aging. Most of us don't get magically zapped into older bodies overnight, true. But I think most of us feel sometimes like our aging bodies, with their aches, pains, and gray hairs, aren't really our "true" bodies. We still feel like the same person we were at 16, 18, 20, so who is this stranger in the mirror with the crow's feet? And I think we all feel disconnected, sometimes, from the new generation of young people: their slang, their fashions, etc.
Unfortunately, in _Except the Queen_, this alienation sometimes seems to tip over the line into "Kids These Days"/"Get Off My Lawn." Kids these days use the F-word and the S-word. Kids these days party too much. Kids these days get tattoos! I'm not sure, at 32, whether I'm supposed to side with the older women against the young hooligans or whether I'm supposed to feel like a hooligan myself.
I'm also disappointed that the Latino character's Spanish is wrong. I don't mean slang. I mean using "ustedes" to refer to a singular person, that kind of thing. It's strange, because this would have been pretty easy to research and get right.
Most problematically, the plot just doesn't have a lot of forward momentum, at least for me. The prose is beautifully crafted, but the story is not keeping me turning pages.
This is really a "DNF-for-now" rather than a "DNF-forever." I've greatly admired both Jane Yolen's and Midori Snyder's work in the past, and on the strength of that work and of the lovely writing in _Except the Queen_, I think I'll probably give it another shot someday. Maybe the second time will be the charm.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Modern Day Fairy Tale, March 11, 2010
This review is from: Except the Queen (Hardcover)
Except the Queen is a beautifully written tale with a myriad of viewpoints, a twisted and engaging plot and a satisfying conclusion.
I've read several sidhe/Fae tales and I'm pretty familiar with the basics most authors employ when describing the realm(s) of the Fae and the remarkable creatures that inhabit them. Sometimes this familiarity leads to boredom and much rolling of the eyes, but the ink spilled from the agile pens of Ms. Yolen and Ms. Midori managed to keep the lore of the Seelie and the UnSeelie fresh.
There are many disparate voices offered in this book and all sorts of POV formatting [switching from 1st person to 3rd person omniscient to straight up 3rd person and so on] so the plot takes a little time to get into... however, it's well worth wait.
Initially chapters read like misshapen puzzle pieces but eventually the pieces snap together and a clear picture of all players' intentions and their significance is unveiled.
Our heroines are definitely of the "unlikely" variety - a pair of Seelie sisters who are gossipy and concerned only with fun. They are flawed, biased, selfish, frightened and heartwarmingly real. One of my favorite aspects of the novel is how the authors manage to reveal the foundation of unshakeable loyalty and love between the sisters despite all their hardships.
Naturally, with "real" heroines, the villains are "real" bast- jerks and made out of the parts of nightmares.
And finally, even the character(s) in need of saving aren't always loveable either. IMHO, this just adds another special dimension to the overall tale.
I'd call *Except the Queen* an exceptional literary work. If I were a professor [alas, I'm not] and I had a class [of course I don't] - I'd assign this book because there are a lot of intelligent themes and artistic strands to admire and analyze. Guess I could always start a book club...
Bottom line... I had a really hard time putting Except the Queen down. The novel is a serious page turner that still managed to leave me feeling completely satisfied [when I read books too quickly I sometimes feel like I've overeaten, you know?]. Even though I'm happy with the ending as everything was neatly wrapped up, I definitely wouldn't mind if the authors collaborate to publish another installment. I'd love an occasion to revisit the Yolen/Midori Fae world once more.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing work, February 25, 2010
This review is from: Except the Queen (Hardcover)
The other reviewers have given you the plot basics so I'd just like to say that this a powerful, and yet very sweet, work. The characters and their relationships to one another sing! I am amazingly happy that these two wonderous authors have collaborated. They make me think of Charles de Lint's urban fantasy but with their own unique voices. A must-have for fairytale lovers.
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