Customer Reviews

The Fox: Book Two of Inda

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I almost put 4 stars because I would give Inda 5 stars and found it to be a slightly better book, but then I had to remind myself how much better BOTH books are than most books being published in the genre, so 5 stars it is. I was completely captivated by reading Inda last year and have been waiting impatiently for The Fox to come out--I found the only copy in a nearby bookstore on Monday and was so thrilled that the store clerk thought I was a little weird!

At any rate, I've finished reading and will now wait just as impatiently for the third book. As in Inda, injustice continues to ride Inda's heels in The Fox, making you root for him every step of the way. The irony, of course, is that Inda is so very just and is working for the greater good on almost every page. The Fox, which starts with Inda as a new prisoner on a pirate ship, goes on to show him engineering a mutiny and becoming a pirate to pirates. The world-building is wonderful, as is the plotting, but for me, the most fascinating thing about these books is the characters--their various motivations and interactions. The characters read as being so very real that, as in my experience of the first book, it is easy to care for them and to feel like they are about to walk off the pages. (I have gotten to be a picky enough reader that not many authors can do this to me anymore, so Smith's books are a happy find!) For those who've been scoffing about Inda's heroic perfections, his imperfections show a bit more in The Fox--but the strength of his integrity and of his desire to make the world a better place keep coming to the forefront.

Both books are also a curious commentary on the nature of true leadership, as we consider characters who WANT to be great leaders and don't understand why they aren't, then contrast them with Inda, who has a natural gift for leadership (and what does this mean?). Inda's friend Fox makes a particularly edgy foil for him. Smith also riffs on the meaning of great beauty and the uses and abuses of sexuality, though there must be a universe somewhere where Joret and Tau hook up!

Plot-wise, the main thrust of The Fox is Inda's efforts to break the hold of a pirate community over the sea lanes, with a segue to the beginning of his work to stop the Venn invaders, possessors of a large and magically supported navy. Another player, the ominously powerful magical kingdom of Norsunder, threatens to take center stage at a later point. Meanwhile, back in Inda's home kingdom, plots and counterplots continue to swirl, with certain key villains getting some comeuppance, but not without casualties. Inda also meets up with a new breed of villain, causing considerable angst for readers until he is rescued. In the sense that The Fox is a middle book in a trilogy or series, it feels somewhat incomplete, but it does end with a great setup for the next book, leaving Sherwood Smith with rich material to develop--I hope for next summer, if not sooner!

I will add that Smith's take on pirates reminds me of the reason my mother refuses to go see the popular pirate movies--she says she's too familiar with the vicious reality of pirates in history to want to see them made into heroes on screen. Fortunately, Sherwood Smith is wise enough to make Inda's pirate experience sufficiently questionable and difficult in The Fox.

[Note: I generally review children's books, so I'll end by pointing out that Inda and The Fox are shelved in the grown-up fantasy aisle, and rightly so, as they are best suited for adults and older teens. However, Sherwood Smith has also written books for younger readers: the excellent Wren books and Court Duel/Crown Duel for about 4th-10th graders, though adult fantasy fans would probably enjoy them, as well. The latter two books, an adventure story and a court intrigue story--both tinged with romance--are very well done and will have particular appeal for girls.]

I am far too invested in these characters, even moreso in the 40 years of other stories Sherwood Smith has also written on this world of hers, called Sartorias-deles, to give an unbiased review of this book. On this world, societal standards may differ from ours, but they are no less moral. In a way, I feel lucky to be able to read The Fox (and its prequel, Inda) from the perspective of the future, as I have already read Senrid and Crown Duel which takes place several hundred years later. I was checking "facts" against the stories I already knew. In this sense, it is impossible for me to be "spoiled" unlike the Harry Potter books where one quarantines oneself to avoid accidentally discovering who dies. Much like history, we know what happens, we know what the results are. What we want to know is how. And why.

The Fox tells us how, and better, we get a taste of what history would really be like if only our textbook authors weren't so dry and nonconfrontational. But this isn't our history. This is the story of Inda, a military prodigy exiled by his own Marlovan people in a set-up; of Fox, who suffers a similar-but-different exile; of Barend, from the family responsible for both these exiles; of Tau, whose beautiful face aids his skill in understanding how people think and act; of Jeje, the seeds of her legendary life beginning when she replaces her lust for Tau for his friendship instead (and when he finally might like her back). And they are together, taken by pirates, at least in the at the onset. By the end, they are a fleet--maybe even a navy--taking ON pirates, and winning.

Things aren't quite so happy-go-lucky, and though there is swashbuckling and comedy abound, tensions increase both aboard ship and on land. Fox, who shares Inda's exile and excellent fighting skills, does not share his military mind nor his goals, and whether or not that is dangerous remains to be decided. On land, the Venn and Marlovans prepare for war, separated by the sea between them. This would be simpler if the Marlovans themselves--warriors born and bred, trained commanders, with all cultural things military--had their eye on the Venn, instead of the crown.

There is a memorable quote near the beginning of the book, where Inda recalls an old text he once read, saying "Civilization is not made by single great events... civilization is a net, made up of moral choices. Bad ones tear the net." In Inda's homeland, the seed of poison once planted by the two tearers who contrived Inda's disgrace (the king's heir and the Royal Shield Arm) is growing, with word leaking out of even more treachery against the Algara-vayir family. How one family can stand such injustice is beyond me (Fox Montredavan-An would certainly have something to say).

The Fox answers some of the questions posed in Inda, but like any good book, raises tougher questions that might not have any answers. We explore loyalty, civilization, governance, love, sex, what it really means to be a pirate. Due to the possibility that I may have been a copy-editor in my parallel life, I noticed some typos, but they took nothing away from the book. They would vanish if this book got the attention, distribution and press it truly deserves. The Fox has a more natural resolution than Inda did (with that jolting cliffhanger), but like Lord of the Rings, we have to wait until all three books come out to tie all those loose ends. All I can really say is, The Fox was so epic that I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I ached, I shouted out and declared the supreme awesomeness of what I was reading, and went home completely beatific. I wish more books were written like this. Well, at least one more is--The King's Shield is the third and final Inda book.

Sherwood Smith certainly knows how to deliver a well-done tale that all lovers of pirates, fantasy, or intrigue ought to be snatching up. THE FOX lives up to its predecessor in this grand sequel of pirates, governing, courts and princes.

In INDA we were introduced to the world of a little boy striving to survive military training, and later on, life on the high seas. By the time THE FOX rolls around Inda has already established a foothold in seafaring - he's now the commander of ships that bear a dangerous resemblance to the pirates they fight.

Smith has the marvelous ability to create fully-believable characters that clash not necessarily through their ideals or views of "good" and "evil" but through circumstance, ambition, and motives. A definite plus is the amazing world she sets these characters in: there is SO much to know about this world that you're always left feeling that what you've been getting are only tidbits. It leaves you craving more.

Behind all this excitement are characters with lives full of romance and painful memories and hidden plans. It's heartwrenching to watch Inda deal with his exile. I also find the character of Fox fascinating, and all the blossoming relationships in the novel intriguing. Most of all, it's satisfying to see Inda outwit his opponents, employing military strategy and his own innate ability to earn the loyalty of others.

I've been a fan of Sherwood Smith's work for years and years, and she never, ever disappoints. She is just a great author. Her storylines are exciting, her writing intelligent and fraught with a delicious amount of intrigue... I especially love THE FOX and have no doubt the final installment will be just as good. I can't wait!

I love many things about this book; the world-building is awesome, the characters are interesting and complex, the writing flows and is never overwrought, and the details of life (whether at sea or in a stable) seem genuine. In all these ways the book is much like Inda, the prequel. However, "The Fox" covers a much greater physical area, as Inda and his crew sail around the main continent more than once, spend years prepping for the future, etc, and the storyline splits to follow not only Inda's experiences, but the events back at home and eventually various groups of Inda's crew as they pursue their individual goals.

This complexity is not necessarily a problem, although there are a few times when it seems like Sherwood might have spent a bit more time pondering her plot. There's one chapter in which, paragraph by paragraph the action switches between Inda in a sea battle and Evred at his station in the north... it works, but it struck me as odd and a little forced.

We finally learn a great deal about the mysterious and menacing Venn, a culture that seems to be somewhat modelled on the Vikings, complete with the concept of a final day of judgement. The more we learn about the Venn the more interesting they become, but unfortunately a lot of the Venn material is an overload of unfamiliar Venn jargon and brief conversations that seem obscure.

I did indeed enjoy this read, lest there be doubt, but I found myself more and more satisfied by the segments taking place in Iasca Leror and focusing on the culture and conflicts that we learned about in the first book, and less so by the adventures of Inda's pirates, as their sections seemed not quite as grounded in the detail of daily life.

This story is amazing I love the richness and depth, and especially the complexity of Sherwood Smith's characters. Inda and The Fox are two of my favorite books ever, and for someone who reads as much as I do that says alot. If you are looking for a great book I highly recommend this series!

As besotted as I was once I'd finished Inda, I was even worse after reading The Fox. Virtually every major character's fate is up in the air, but not contrivedly so. I never had the feeling that Smith was creating difficulties just to string the story along: okay, got through that, now what emotional crises and physical perils can we inflict upon so-and-so in this chapter? Each event was solidly based upon and absolutely consistent with those that came before.
It's going to be a loooong several months until the third and final book in the series comes out this summer. It's likely that characters I've come to care about to a ridiculous degree will suffer and die, and hearts will be broken (mine included); I can't wait!

Simply and purely, Sherwood Smith writes excellent books.

The storyline of "The Fox" began with "Inda", and here Smith gives us more of the same: a deeply and thoroughly built world, rousing action, and characters that are real, human and humane, people that you can care deeply about. Despite the complexity of the world, the quick pace, it is easy to keep up, and I don't find myself preferring any story line over the other - a rarity for me. Excellently done, and I can't wait for the last in the series.

Exiled unfairly from home, Indevan makes a life for himself at sea eventually becoming the leader of a mercenary company that guards ships with valuable cargo from pirates. One day his luck runs out and he is captured by the pirate Gaffer Walic. He pretends to be Stupid until the time is right for him to lead a mutiny. He is a natural born leader and commander and most of pirates in Gaffer's mini armada agree to follow him although he trusts only the people who were captured with him.

He decides to be a pirate who hunts other pirates something his former clients are thrilled to hear. He goes after the most brutal pirate leaders and then takes on the Brotherhood as a whole. His homeland is at war with the Venn who want their land to feed their ever growing population so he goes hunting Venn and eventually goes into the Venn empire as a spy to learn what their invasion plans are. Back at home, his older brother is murdered and he is the next heir to the principality of Choread Elgaer. The royals and his friends from home find it impossible to find him as Inde doesn't have a clue about all the changes that have happened and the different players in power since he left the kingdom.

THE FOX takes up exactly where INDA left off and readers will be thoroughly transfixed by Inda's adventures. Although young he leads a group of sailors into fighting using military strategies people decades older than him would not think to employ. Sherwood Smith is a great world builder who makes the kingdom, the Venn Empire and the other places Inda travels seem very real. There is plenty of action but not at the expense of creating believable characters who make for stirring high seas adventures.

Harriet Klausner

I LOVED The Fox as much as I loved Inda! The story continued flawlessly and makes you hold your breath as the plot takes a new dip here and there. Smith has a way with words that is hard to come by, so don't be scared by the size of this book! You will find yourself reading it for hours on end. This story has many pirate fights, betrayals, deals, adventures and surprise for not only Inda and his crew, but Sponge and other characters on land and in the water. Anyone who liked Inda, loves a good complex fantasy and isn't afraid to give up sunlight for a few days to finish it will love this book.

I am not very good at writing reviews, and the other reviews seem to have pretty much said everything that needs to be said. On the other hand, one can never sing too few praises for Sherwood Smith. =)
If you thought her YA (Crown Duel) was good - just wait till you get your hands on Inda and The Fox! I would like to reiterate the fact that despite what Amazon claims, this book is ADULT. It is classified as ADULT by EVERYONE, even the AUTHOR HERSELF, except for Amazon. I'm not exactly sure how to fix that, but I am very worried that some unsuspecting, overprotective parent will buy this book for their younger teen then write a scathing book review all because Amazon is too dumb to label their products correctly.
This book DOES have some sex but keep in mind it's all tastefully implied - never described. Parents can feel safe letting their teens read this.
However, you must understand that sex does not an adult novel make. This book is much too complicated and multi-levelled for the average younger teen to comprehend, and as such should be labelled as adult so that people will realize this is a serious book - it's not meant for little kids. It's not graphic or anything, but most kids would get confused.

Amazon's mistakes aside, this is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to older teens and adults who enjoy fantasy - and even those who don't. It's the type of book you can't put down until you're finished. I know I didn't!!