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Book: Cassiel's Servant
Aug. 24th, 2023 03:22 pmNote: quotes are not actually quotes, as I do not have my book in hand while typing this, but are paraphrasing what I recall.
Is my most favorite book, retold from the perspective of my most adored character. I knew going in that the probability of it meeting what I hoped were very very low. I bought it on release day and proceeded to sit on it for a week, to maintain the hopeful illusion of it being glorious.
It was, as expected, disappointing. But probably because my wishes were so very, very high.
The first third or so, of Joscelin's time in the Brotherhood, were very very good. Though good LORD the descriptions/scenes with Selwyn. CAREY YOU ARE BAITING THE FANFIC WRITERS ON PURPOSE. "His sly fox grin peering at me through the fringe of his auburn hair while we dueled in the attic of the mill" and the like. But, well, it goes with the story.
I did VERY much appreciate the small nods to the wider history - like in the classroom discussion on the Spartans and whether their supposed love partners made them better warriors, the teacher mentions Rolande as an example of why that could be a problem. Which makes sense! It is only a few years in the past, here, and Teacher is old enough to remember the battle and history etc. And Joscelin lacking in context doesn't necessarily make any connections, but I as reader do. I also hoped that the bit about "a Second Cohort expelled for carnal relations with a village girl" was Guy, but they said later that Guy was before his time.
The book then became very dull once it merged with the storyline of Dart. It felt like Carey was so constrained by replicating the dialogue/story of Dart that she didn't make any room for contributing new perspectives/insights. It was often just pages and pages of verbatim conversations, without Phedre's interpretations/explanations. It almost seemed a relief to both me and Carey when we got to the wodges that happen in other languages so that we can go back to hearing J's perspective - thinking in particular about the kennel and imprisonment scenes in Skaldia.
The "how I developed feelings for Phedre" was sometimes cringingly overdone, for a guy who was previously adamantly opposed to the notion of romance. "The sun lit the room in a golden blessing when she entered, but then I realized it was all in my head." Etc.
What I was really looking forward to was the scene where J makes Cassiel's Choice. This was a Big Deal. This called for introspection and possibly a bit of the divine direction alluded to in other scenes. Instead, we were once again mired in regurgitating the text from Dart and no additional insight to be had.
There were also irritations of reducing fairly major characters to names with no personality and limited impact on the storyline beyond the absolute minimum necessary to conform to Dart. In particular, Ysandre and Melisande. You can see why this might be a problem
Towards the end, I reconciled with the reading. The thing is, as I was reminded when I struggled with the Imri books, that Carey is very, very good at taking on the voices of her characters. Where Phedre is exceedingly descriptive and poetic, Imri is suspicious and a bit whiny. And what Joscelin is to her is a big sword swinging galoot. He doesn't HAVE introspection, or observations, or insights. And... That can be her interpretation, I suppose. MY Joscelin though, is sensitive and loving and chaste and deeply conflicted. Very talented with his weapons and very regretful of the need. And NOT someone who uses the phrase "she's just a woman". So thank you, but I'll keep my Joscelin, and the parts of the story that fit.
It did get better, towards the end. I appreciated in particular the implied comparison between Chevalier Verriuel (gah I don't remember how to spell their last name) and Comte Montreve, regarding sons making choices in love that they don't approve of. And I think (but am not sure) I loved the scene at the end where he declared Phedre "his", because that is very sweet but no actually she is Herselfs. But I can appreciate the sentiment.
In all, there is no way I could NOT read this. But I'm not sure I'll buy future ones, because it goes considerably downhill from here for him and I'm not sure I WANT to hear Joscelin's side of things, especially if it's not actually adding much to the story. Though the next book it would mean getting to skip all the pirate parts. Carey seems to do best when she wasn't having to parrot the other book. Hmmm maybe I'll get it after all.
Is my most favorite book, retold from the perspective of my most adored character. I knew going in that the probability of it meeting what I hoped were very very low. I bought it on release day and proceeded to sit on it for a week, to maintain the hopeful illusion of it being glorious.
It was, as expected, disappointing. But probably because my wishes were so very, very high.
The first third or so, of Joscelin's time in the Brotherhood, were very very good. Though good LORD the descriptions/scenes with Selwyn. CAREY YOU ARE BAITING THE FANFIC WRITERS ON PURPOSE. "His sly fox grin peering at me through the fringe of his auburn hair while we dueled in the attic of the mill" and the like. But, well, it goes with the story.
I did VERY much appreciate the small nods to the wider history - like in the classroom discussion on the Spartans and whether their supposed love partners made them better warriors, the teacher mentions Rolande as an example of why that could be a problem. Which makes sense! It is only a few years in the past, here, and Teacher is old enough to remember the battle and history etc. And Joscelin lacking in context doesn't necessarily make any connections, but I as reader do. I also hoped that the bit about "a Second Cohort expelled for carnal relations with a village girl" was Guy, but they said later that Guy was before his time.
The book then became very dull once it merged with the storyline of Dart. It felt like Carey was so constrained by replicating the dialogue/story of Dart that she didn't make any room for contributing new perspectives/insights. It was often just pages and pages of verbatim conversations, without Phedre's interpretations/explanations. It almost seemed a relief to both me and Carey when we got to the wodges that happen in other languages so that we can go back to hearing J's perspective - thinking in particular about the kennel and imprisonment scenes in Skaldia.
The "how I developed feelings for Phedre" was sometimes cringingly overdone, for a guy who was previously adamantly opposed to the notion of romance. "The sun lit the room in a golden blessing when she entered, but then I realized it was all in my head." Etc.
What I was really looking forward to was the scene where J makes Cassiel's Choice. This was a Big Deal. This called for introspection and possibly a bit of the divine direction alluded to in other scenes. Instead, we were once again mired in regurgitating the text from Dart and no additional insight to be had.
There were also irritations of reducing fairly major characters to names with no personality and limited impact on the storyline beyond the absolute minimum necessary to conform to Dart. In particular, Ysandre and Melisande. You can see why this might be a problem
Towards the end, I reconciled with the reading. The thing is, as I was reminded when I struggled with the Imri books, that Carey is very, very good at taking on the voices of her characters. Where Phedre is exceedingly descriptive and poetic, Imri is suspicious and a bit whiny. And what Joscelin is to her is a big sword swinging galoot. He doesn't HAVE introspection, or observations, or insights. And... That can be her interpretation, I suppose. MY Joscelin though, is sensitive and loving and chaste and deeply conflicted. Very talented with his weapons and very regretful of the need. And NOT someone who uses the phrase "she's just a woman". So thank you, but I'll keep my Joscelin, and the parts of the story that fit.
It did get better, towards the end. I appreciated in particular the implied comparison between Chevalier Verriuel (gah I don't remember how to spell their last name) and Comte Montreve, regarding sons making choices in love that they don't approve of. And I think (but am not sure) I loved the scene at the end where he declared Phedre "his", because that is very sweet but no actually she is Herselfs. But I can appreciate the sentiment.
In all, there is no way I could NOT read this. But I'm not sure I'll buy future ones, because it goes considerably downhill from here for him and I'm not sure I WANT to hear Joscelin's side of things, especially if it's not actually adding much to the story. Though the next book it would mean getting to skip all the pirate parts. Carey seems to do best when she wasn't having to parrot the other book. Hmmm maybe I'll get it after all.