I Read What?!

Ugh, things are a bit hectic again, so the next review will be delayed for a day or two. Sorry!

Slight delay on the next review. Sorry. Should be up tomorrow-ish.

So, you all know how annoyed I was by Cast of Corbies, right? That was a bad book. Obviously not the worst thing I've read, but it was disappointing. Especially considering that it's part of a series that's generally decent, and by decent authors.

It'd be easy to blame Ms. Lackey's co-writer, but the thing is, I remember reading books by this collaboration of authors before and enjoying them. So I decided that I was annoyed enough by that book to want to prove to myself and any readers who care that this collaboration of authors is capable of better.

And I remembered that, when I was about twelve years old, I really enjoyed this book. It's not particularly complicated or deep. It is, in fact, a tie-in novel to a 1985 Computer Game: The Bard's Tale. It's also NOT representative of that game's plot. It's merely, apparently, set in the universe.

At the time, I knew nothing about that universe. And to be honest, I STILL know nothing about that universe. So yeah.

I do vaguely remember that this book has a renegade dark elf in it, sorry for the spoiler, but one that's a different style than Drizzt. It'll be interesting to see how he compares.

I also remember a crossdressing scene at one point. I know there's a lot of discussion about crossdressing and transphobia and while I guess, as someone who identifies as a "female-adjacent non-binary person", I theoretically could have an opinion about that, I really don't.

I remember finding it entertaining when I was twelve. And at the time, transgender issues and transphobia wasn't really part of everyday discussion. So we'll see how it looks with adult eyes. I'll try to remember to warn.

So without further nonsense, let's get started:

( What WAS it with child me and Bards?! )

So last time, my least favorite character got a promotion while Cadderly had an...interesting solution to a moral dilemma.

( I mean at least he didn't kill her, but... )

Shit, we made it to the last chapter. And I don't actually know what book I want to start next. But that's a debate for later. For now, let's see how it ends!

( with violence I presume! )

Yeah, we don't need to talk about how late these tables of contents are...

( Table of Contents )

Slight delay on the next review, sorry!

Edited to clarify: by delay, I mean, probably the weekend. Sorry!

So we're getting into the home stretch. The characters have figured out who's been scheming against them. But what will they do about it?

( Talk a lot, first, I'd bet... )

So last time, Rufo came clean, Cadderly took the amulet, and they found their ritual location!

( Is it weird that I'm proud of Rufo? )

This is one of those books where I doubt that my verdict will surprise anyone who sat through my incredibly repetitive reviews.

But yeah, this failed totally. This failed so much that it makes me want to dig out a different Mercedes Lackey/Josepha Sherman collaboration that I remember more fondly, just to see if it can acquit this team up from how bad this book is.

Let's talk about the issues. Starting with the big red flag: Racism.

I've said often in my reviews of both the Lark and the Wren and Robin and the Kestrel that I'm too white and American to really weigh in on the portrayal of Roma people in this series. I am not knowledgeable enough nor do I have the personal experience that can put the portrayal in context and perspective. I like those books and I like the Roma characters in those books, but that's not the same thing.

Here, I'm a little more comfortable in my assertion that yes, the portrayal, in THIS book is racist. Enough so that even I can't equivocate about it.

It's not that Raven isn't a good character. On his own, he's very likable. But the book has no real interest in developing him beyond the cavalier everyman who reacts to everything he sees. Being Roma gives him an excuse for having an outside perspective, but we don't get much of any idea of what this means for him as a person.

The book has this strange approach of having Raven both be constantly targeted by racist commentary, through the limited third party perspective of the other characters, but never actually touched by it. It's all in the thoughts of the people around him, but because it's just thoughts, Raven never gets to respond, be hurt, or defend himself.

It's probably realistic that the white people around Raven have these moments of racism, we all have shit to unlearn, but there's no point where any of these character ever consciously address the poor way they've perceived this guy.

Raven is the leader of the group agreeing to help Jaysen out, and all Jaysen can do is mentally bitch about his reluctance to settle in a city. There's no scene later where Jaysen expresses any sort of gratitude or appreciation for what Raven (or Crow, or Nightjar) have given up to be here. Hell, given how much Jaysen falls out of the narrative, he might as well not be there at all.

Magpie's the worst offender, of course, which might be fine, but she's the love interest. And, unlike the others, she actually does externalize her prejudice against Raven. The hypersexualized man of color stereotype is prevalent and harmful in the real world, so seeing it used here without any kind of challenge or acknowledgment is not great. Raven gets to weakly defend himself at times, especially with regard to Regina, but it's undercut by the way even Regina tells him that he has to bend over backward to accept Magpie's behavior. Even when she actually meets Ardis, there's no apology or anything.

--

Okay, so since I started there, let's go into the romance. Because that's a key element of all of these books in the series.

I've joked about how this book would be better if it were a threesome with Raven/Arden/Regina. But I think there might be some merit to the idea I brought up in my last review: that maybe the original story was supposed to be a love triangle between the three.

It makes some sense. Raven and Regina have a far more developed dynamic than Raven and Magpie do. There are points where Raven and Arden are juxtaposed. Regina very clearly loves Arden, but her class and profession makes marriage out of the question. He wants to treat her as an equal, but he can't. Raven, on the other hand, is a fellow performer. He's attractive. They get along well and they could get married and be equals. But she doesn't love him like she does Arden.

I genuinely think that might have been the initial plan, but for whatever reason, they drifted away from it and decided to give Raven a different love interest instead. It'd explain why Magpie suddenly goes from being the too-young person trying to hold together an irresponsible acting troupe family to being a helpless runaway constantly in fear for her life. Because that's REGINA's story and that referential beat was supposed to be Regina's - it just got shifted over to the new character.

It's also explain why Magpie never really seems to be concretely anchored in the narrative. She arrives on the scene with Crow in the first chapter. But there's no real indication afterwards that the two even know each other, let alone have had any kind of pre-existing acquaintance. Her friendship with Regina is inconsistent at best - seeming only to pop up for Regina to speak up on her behalf. Or to give Regina the amulet because it wouldn't be appropriate for Raven to do it himself.

It'd explain why Magpie doesn't seem to have any real emotional tie to anyone at the theatre besides Regina and why she utterly disappears during most of the climax - while minor character Nightjar gets quite a lot of speaking lines.

But regardless of what the original plan was, Magpie's the character that we have now and the romantic interest that we have now. And well, it's terrible.

I'm not opposed to rival romances. I'm not opposed to cranky antagonists become lovers romance plots. I've read my share and enjoyed them. But this doesn't work. On some level, in the rival or cantankerous romantic plots, we see what pulls the characters together even while they won't acknowledge it. We see the mutual respect, the secret admiration, the "we're not that different deep down" connection, the "oh, wait, you're actually a decent person" realization...something like that.

There's none of that here. There's no point where Magpie realizes she actually likes Raven's sense of humor, admires his talent and wit, or appreciates the hardships he'd have had to go through to get here. She just thinks he's hot. Which she thought from the very beginning, while mentally accusing him of having an affair with Nightingale.

Raven's barely any better. He thinks she's pretty. But he clearly doesn't appreciate the insults that she directs his way. We never see him respond in kind, which might help the idea that this is a way both of them are comfortable communicating. There's nothing to work with here. She's pretty and has a sad backstory. Okay, and?

And it's not like the series hasn't addressed the issue of trauma and the way responses to trauma can complicate a relationship. That was the entirety of the Robin and the Kestrel. But a key point there is that both Robin and Kestrel had issues that needed to be addressed. That both of them were behaving in a way that negatively impacted their relationship. That BOTH eventually realized this and starting making sincere efforts to be more of a team.

But that doesn't happen here. We have Magpie's backstory, Magpie's trauma and issues just shoved into the story. And that's it. It's mentioned, constantly, but it's not addressed. There's no point where Magpie truly acknowledges how her coping mechanisms for her terrible backstory have negatively affected her and her relationships. No attempt to do better.

And well, Raven might as well not have a backstory at all.

I think about how Robin and the Kestrel played with names. Jonny and Gwyna. Robin and the Kestrel. This should have, and could have been the story of Reshan and Jessamyn. But it wasn't. (And if there IS something interesting in the fact that Raven never addresses his own original name, and Magpie has very profoundly rejected hers, it's left to the reader to play with on their own.)

So yeah, I think that hits the major elements of both romance and character. Let's not pretend that anyone else really got enough focus to be anything more than a mildly entertaining bit part.

--

As for the plot, it's not terrible, but it's paced very poorly. And unfortunately, there's a bit of a bait and switch. The idea of Talaysen's successor trying to figure out what it means to lead an organization like the Free Bards is a really great one. But it pretty much washes away in favor of the theatre and Kingsford.

And that's a bit of a shame. Especially because Raven's still, in theory, Talaysen's successor, so we're never going to get that original story. (Possibly that's why this book was meant to be the first in its own subseries, but well, let's put it this way. It's not surprising that there was never a "Bardic Choices 2").

The theater and the issues in Kingsford were fine. The climax was fine, except for the fact that the characters suddenly forgot how their magic is supposed to work. But aside from that, I was carried along with the action.

But this series is character-driven and relationship-driven more than it's plot-driven, and thus, this particular book is dead in the water.

Too bad.