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72 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Still Mean What I Said, July 29, 2007
This review is from: The Princess and the Hound (Hardcover)
Perhaps it's redundant for me to add a positive comment about a book that I read in advance of publication, so that there's already a positive quote from me on the cover.
But since the review by Ms. Drew, already posted here, takes me to task for my "error" in praising an "inexperienced" writer, I took the liberty of replying at length in a comment attached to her review.
Let me say here, too, that after thirty years as a writer, critic, reviewer, editor, and writing teacher, I have seen few writers as creative and innovative as Mette Ivie Harrison. Instead of fitting her stories into a pre-existing template, she confronts the challenges of the tale she wants to tell and finds ingenious and surprising solutions.
The result, though, is nontraditional structure that, as Ms. Drew demonstrates, will displease some readers. That simply can't be helped. If every writer had to meet Ms. Drew's expectations, I would be bitterly disappointed; so let's admit the world of literature is large enough to include books for her and books for me.
The essence of speculative fiction is to give readers experiences they haven't had a thousand times before. Mette Ivie Harrison does this with emotionally effective, intellectually fascinating, and aesthetically pleasing stories. She is already one of the best, and I can't wait to see what she writes next.
- Orson Scott Card
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fine book that shouldn't be missed or ignored, May 29, 2007
This review is from: The Princess and the Hound (Hardcover)
Mette Ivie Harrison's new book has a deceptive title and cover. They certainly represent the book, but they work to narrow alienate half of its potential audience, namely male readers. The main protagonist is George, a prince and heir to a throne. George has animal magic, a dangerous magic since anyone determined to have it will be summarily put to death. He is also expected to marry Beatrice, a princess from another kingdom. His journey of discovery, especially in his relationships with his mother, father and Beatrice make a fine book with a fantasy setting. Harrison incorporates her world with a folklore that feels real and sometimes threatening while fully portraying the dangerous and lonely lives of both George and Beatrice.
Harrison's writing style is most evocative of Robin McKinley but still all her own. Readers of fantasy, animal stories and subtle romances will enjoy this novel and hope for more from this skilled author. Fans of Robin McKinley, Patricia McKillip, Franny Billingsley, Cornelia Funke and Sherwood Smith should add this to their "must" be read list.
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28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Princess and the Hound; a dog, really..., November 27, 2007
This review is from: The Princess and the Hound (Hardcover)
At the fearful risk of earning a verbal lashing by the author of one of the greatest spec-fic novels ever, I feel compelled to say that I ended my reading of The Princess and the Hound with deep dissatisfaction. Like Ms. Drew, I was baffled by Mr. Card's endorsement on the cover. I kept flipping the book shut every so often as I read, to check that I hadn't imagined those fulsome words of praise and their byline.
The Princess and the Hound is a story of unexplained magic, tentative first love, and family relationships gone awry. It also seems to be somewhat confusedly trying to say something about human/animal politics.
George, crown prince of the kingdom of Kendel, is possessed of the illegal and vilified animal magic. He struggles to balance the demands of secret magic with his duties as royalty, while living a life empty of loving relationships after the tragic death of his mother. When he becomes betrothed to Beatrice, the princess of a rival kingdom, George discovers in her an unexpected opportunity for love, if he can overcome her desperate defensiveness. Within this novel's pages there are: a vengeful scheme to poison a king, magical transformations, the threat of death by burning, cross-species... ummmm...relations, a bear that wanders the forests seeking relief from a terrible magical revenge, and family dysfunction enough to fill a waiting room. Should be enough elements of conflict for a landslide of a plot. Should be.
I was expecting an original, subtle, and thought-provoking tale to unfold as I read the first quarter of this story. The writing felt solid. The characters full-breathed with promise of better to come. The conflict, as it had been developed to that point, original and subtle.
Then it just degenerated into a confused muddle. The subtlety became vagueness, and the vagueness was not dispelled when the author began telling me what to think at every step of the way. Chapter thirty five, in particular, was excruciating. It absolutely squelches with mushy dialogue and soppy reactions. I held out reading right to the novel's end only because of the promise in those early pages. I kept hoping that the author would regain her footing and prove that there was actually a point to all that aimless wandering.
Instead, I kept being told in the most blatantly contrived manner why the characters were doing what they were doing. They felt more like sock puppets than people. There were exchanges on nearly every page that, according to the author involved great pathos, but somehow I just couldn't buy it. In fact, the emotional pitch of most of the latter three-quarters of the story approached hysteria without making me feel anything.
Is the premise original? It certainly seems to be. A premise does not a story make, however.
The encouraging aspect of this novel is that it comes very close to being a well-written story. It is so close, in fact, that perhaps that is why its failures are so aggravating.
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