Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Apr. 14th, 2008 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyI have been a big fan of Sharon Shinn since I read The Shape-Changer's Wife shortly after moving to Boston. I read her books almost as fast as she churns them out, but somehow I had missed this one. Well, I picked it up at the used bookstore a few months ago, thinking, "I've been meaning to get around to this!" And I decided to read it this week because the books I had started my vacation with (Changing Planes and Stumbling on Happiness) were proving rather depressing. Summers at Castle Auburn is one of Shinn's stand-alone books, which in my opinion are mixed in quality. I loved The Shape-Changer's Wife and Wrapped in Crystal, but Jenna Starborn and Heart of Gold left me cold.
"Bryan's eyes were huge. 'What happens if they touch you?'
Jaxon turned slowly to look at him. 'You don't know? You came hunting aliora, and you don't know the dangers? If an aliora touches you with the least little tip of her finger, you will be enchanted. You will rise to her call, you will answer to the sound of her voice, you will follow her across the river though you drown, though you never return to your family and your loved ones. If she lays her hand across your cheek...' He put his palm upon my face and, against my will, I leaned toward him, hypnotized. 'If she feels the bone of your face with the flat of her hand, you will be dazzled -- you will think of nothing else but her. She will put a fever in your blood that nothing can cure. You will splash across the river to Alora and never be heard from again.'" p 14
Summers at Castle Auburn feels a lot like a less sophisticated version of General Winston's Daughter with more magic, even though the plots are not terribly similar beyond a young woman growing up. I wish I had read it first, but that's not how it worked out. I found Corie to be a likeable protagonist, and I enjoyed most of the book. However, some of the plot towards the end seemed a bit implausible to me, though I won't spoil it here, and at least one anachronism got through (a guardsman saying, "If you take a man's dollar, you ought to respect him." This is a magical kingdom that has nothing to do with the United States, and the currency seems to be gold, silver, and copper coinage anyway, so what gives?). Overall, I'd give it three stars.
"Bryan's eyes were huge. 'What happens if they touch you?'
Jaxon turned slowly to look at him. 'You don't know? You came hunting aliora, and you don't know the dangers? If an aliora touches you with the least little tip of her finger, you will be enchanted. You will rise to her call, you will answer to the sound of her voice, you will follow her across the river though you drown, though you never return to your family and your loved ones. If she lays her hand across your cheek...' He put his palm upon my face and, against my will, I leaned toward him, hypnotized. 'If she feels the bone of your face with the flat of her hand, you will be dazzled -- you will think of nothing else but her. She will put a fever in your blood that nothing can cure. You will splash across the river to Alora and never be heard from again.'" p 14
Summers at Castle Auburn feels a lot like a less sophisticated version of General Winston's Daughter with more magic, even though the plots are not terribly similar beyond a young woman growing up. I wish I had read it first, but that's not how it worked out. I found Corie to be a likeable protagonist, and I enjoyed most of the book. However, some of the plot towards the end seemed a bit implausible to me, though I won't spoil it here, and at least one anachronism got through (a guardsman saying, "If you take a man's dollar, you ought to respect him." This is a magical kingdom that has nothing to do with the United States, and the currency seems to be gold, silver, and copper coinage anyway, so what gives?). Overall, I'd give it three stars.