Tuesday, April 23, 2013

An Ebook Gem (Well, Semiprecious Stone)

If I thought I was behind before... These books are now a light fading in the distance, but needs must, and I need to review these books so I can get on with my reading life (or at least have one less thing on my todo list).  Next up - I don't quite recall the exact sequence by which I stumbled upon this one, but I assume it was something like this: check up to see if Court Duel is on Kindle, and notice that for $1 (or something like that) I could pick up a Regency romance by none other than Sherwood Smith.  My favorite genre by a writer proven to have some chops in the historical (ok, fantasy historical) romance department? All for $.99? I had found my next title :)

Now Danse de la Folie (that's the title, by the way :)) appears to be a toss-off work of fun for Ms Smith, so I wasn't expecting the most polished piece.  And I'm not sure whether I was expecting that it would be something more of a swashbuckler than the typical Regency rom., but I should have been, since most of Sherwood Smith's books aren't even romances, just straight fantasy adventures.  Both those things proved true. The book felt a little jittery at times and the characters at turns annoying or silly, and there was some time taken (though really not that much, almost exclusively in the beginning) with action and all that.  But you know, minor quibbles :) Well not the first one so much, but even with the lack of polish in plot, dialogue, and characters, the book was a good read.  Solid Regency romance, with lords, ladies, and London.  Okay romance, though nothing to swoon over (just not written that way).  But good fun, good fun.  I'm sure SS had fun writing it and I had certainly did reading it.

Verdict: 3/5