A While She Knits/Surfs Post...

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

     I hope it's okay for me to post one of these. I don't recall anyone saying it wasn't, so guess I will go ahead.

     Now that most of us have trekked many a mile and crossed the seven seas to obtain our copies of A Conspiracy of Kings, how do we keep our minds politically sharp during the long wait for the fifth book?

My proposal...

     If you have ever read and enjoyed any novels or graphic novels that that show a particular tendency towards awesome political intrigue, devil-horned cleverness, or just plain whoa-I-didn't-see-that-one-coming, please inform the community about this extraordinary read.

     I'm sure all of us wish to study up on the games of political intrigue as we await the penultimate Queen's Thief book and prepare ourselves to watch our made-of-awesome heroes face the Mede Empire...

     *cue dramatic music*
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Comments

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

Hi.

*basks in dramatic music*

*waits impatiently for elephants*

This kinda goes in the "devil horned cleverness" slot AND the "whoa I didn't see that one coming" one. But mostly, it's what I'm reading right now.

So ~ books by Kamila Shamie. They don't have much in common with QT, as they couldn't ever be considered (accurately or not) fantasy, and take place for the most part in modern day, for the most part in Pakistan. But there is a MULTITUDE OF GENIUS DIALOGUE AND WONDERFUL AND OFTEN VERY FUNNY NARRATIVES. And twists. And they deal with very deep topics.

So, Agh, um, can you give us any titles?

Of course. Her books that I've read are Kartography, Salt and Saffron, and Broken Verses. She also has two others, Burnt Shadows and In the City by the Sea (which I can't find ANYWHERE).

The three I just mentioned all have first-person narration with a female (adult) main character. They also all have romance (but for me, as for QT, it isn't that specifically which makes me love the books. It doesn't take over the story; it always figures in with the story and turns out to be part of the larger theme. And the larger stories, to me, are VERY INTERESTING and good!), and Broken Verses is rather depressing and intense. But hey, no appendages are lost!

That's all. :)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Ohh... Sound COOL!

Are these historical at all? I know you said they take place in modern times but being set in the place like Pakistan... Is there history of the country involved and do you have a summary of one of them?

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Freedom & Necessity by Steven Brust and Emma Bull. It's an epistolary novel set in 1849-1850 England. It has intrigue up the wazoo and early Victorian politics and Hegelian philosophy and a guest appearance by Friedrich Engels! Thomas Cavanaugh, too, if you're into painters. And two -- count them, TWO -- awesome female characters that are individually wonderful and write to each other about things other than boys in an intelligent manner, while still being amusing and clever. The male characters are also pretty splendid, but they pale in comparison to Kitty and Susan for me.

I think I was about 15 or 16 the first time I read this, and I think that's probably a good age to read it. It's a lot more challenging a read stylistically than the MWT books, and there are a couple scenes that are more explicit than anything in the Thief books. Adults and high schoolers, you are cool. Middle schoolers might want to wait a few years.

Join the epic adventure! Part 1

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

A series I have particular enjoyed is a Japanese best-seller that has also had it's first four volumes adapted into an anime.

Twelve Kingdoms by Fumyumi Ono is an extraordinary series full of complex political intrigue and government, superb world-building, and fully-fleshed characters. Plus, it presents excellent standards of responsibility and self-sacrifice. Sometimes, I think of it as a Japanese QT.

Four volumes have been released in the U.S. with more of the seven volume series being released each year. Each book is stand-alone and focuses on a different character. Although, characters from the previous books do make many important appearances throughout.

This series can be read out of order, but I would recommend starting with the first on. It serves to explain this very complex world based on Chinese government and mythology. From there, you can read them in whichever order you would like.

One usually finds them in the graphic novel section. Don't ask me why they are there. Blame the bookstores for being inept.

Twelve Kingdoms: Volume 1, Sea of Shadow

"You are the king of Kei."

For high-schooler Yoko Nakajima, life has been fairly ordinary--that is until Keiki, a young man with golden hair, tells Yoko they must return to their kingdom. Once confronted by this mysterious being and whisked away to an unearthly realm, Yoko is left with only a magical sword; a gem; and a million questions about her destiny, the world she's trapped in, and the world she desperately wants to return to.

And NO! It's not one of those a badly done Tolkien tradition types, where the CHOSEN ONE battles the DARKNESS. Yoko is very human, has to work for her survival, and doesn't whine about her lot in life. Her struggles are truly engaging and EPIC!

Twelve Kingdoms: Volume 2, Sea of Wind

"I'm sorry, you are not the one."

Born in Japan and raised as a human, Taiki is overwhelmed when he's brought back to the kingdom of Tai, where he's told he's a kirin. With little knowledge or guidance, he must trust his latent instincts to choose a king for the Kingdom of Tai from among dozens of men and women who seek the position. Will the frustrated Taiki, who can't even figure out how to transform into animal form, make the right choice? And more important, will he discover the kirin that lives within?

Taiki is a kirin, the magical beings that choose the kings in the Twelve Kingdoms by divine revelation. He's a shy boy who struggles with the responsibility of choosing the fate of his nation. It's very believable and a little heart-wrenching.

Re: Join the epic adventure! Part 2

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Twelve Kingdoms: Volume Three, Vast Spread of Seas

"Your Majesty, what did we say about the spying?"

"You've gotta let me have some fun."

This is the third volume in the international bestseller - now in paperback! When an eggfruit, the kirin of the En Kingdom, Enki, was transported to Japan for his own protection. But he was abandoned soon after birth by his surrogate parents, left to fend for himself in the mountains. It just so happened that at the same time, a young boy in the En Kingdom named Koya was also abandoned by his own parents, after which he was raised by demon beasts. Their similar circumstances aren't the only thing to bind these two boys, though. Twenty years after their abandonment, their destinies intersect, with potentially disastrous consequences for the En Kingdom.

The most human kirin in the series, Enki directly blames his abandonment on the kings of his land and is tortured that he is the one who must subject En to a king. The man Enki chooses is lazy, seems inept, and is found to frequently wander through the the cities taverns. When a rebellion rises up, it may be the kings chance to prove himself as the master-manipulator he truly is and convince his kirin that kings can help a kingdom and not just harm it.

Twelve Kingdoms: Volume four, Skies of Dawn

Perhaps I should outlaw sighing as my first edict."

(Sorry, can't find a summary for this one.)

Following three girls who each have a very different lesson to learn, this volume returns us to Kei to check up on Yoko. Disguised, she journeys through her kingdom and finds herself joining forces with a rebel group, a fellow Japanese girl, and the former princess of Hou in order to fight the corruption and lies that are growing in Kei.

I give each volume five stars out of five!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Victorian! Excellent!

*is taking notes*

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

I've got more!

Crown Duel by Sherwoord Smith is in intelligent fantasy novel chocked full of political intrigue with an awesome, kick-butt heroine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Duel

Poison Study by Maria V. Synder is an dark novel focused on a young woman who simple wants to survive in a world that seem determined to kill her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_Study

Warning: I would not recommend this book for those under the age of 15, being that it addresses some pretty harsh QT type issues (torture, imprisonment, murder) in a more graphic manner than QT. It is still considered a young adult book, but heed the warning if you are faint of heart.

[kitsune-rains.livejournal.com]

Among the Hidden and all of the other books in the series. They're short and a very quick read (usually shelved in the children's section, so they're safe for all ages.)

Also, Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, whom no one I know has ever heard of. It's set in a very mythical China and is full of riddles, adventures, and surprises.

[elsa12790.livejournal.com]

In addition to Court/Crown Duel, Sherwood Smith also has an excellent quartet of books starting with Inda. They are much more dense and politically complex---just bigger in scope---than either CD or QT, but are similar to MWT in their layers of intrigue and brilliance of world-building.

Dorothy Dunnett's series of historical novels called the Lymond Chronicles, starting with The Game of Kings, has been mentioned in the comm before. It happens to be right next to me at the moment so I'll quote from the back cover: "...Francis Crawford of Lymond, a scapegrace nobleman of crooked felicities and murderous talents, possessed of a scholar's erudition and a tongue as wicked as a rapier." Hmmmm...

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

I always recommend Scaramouche, which is a novel set during the French Revolution, just because the main character reminds me (or I should say, Gen reminds me of the character) of Gen so much, physically and personality-wise:

Andre-Louis, on his side, had made the most of his opportunities. You behold him at the age of four-and-twenty stuffed with learning enough to produce an intellectual indigestion in an ordinary mind. Out of his zestful study of Man, from Thucydides to the Encyclopaedists, from Seneca to Rousseau, he had confirmed into an unassailable conviction his earliest conscious impressions of the general insanity of his own species. Nor can I discover that anything in his eventful life ever afterwards caused him to waver in that opinion.

In body he was a slight wisp of a fellow, scarcely above middle height, with a lean, astute countenance, prominent of nose and cheek-bones, and with lank, black hair that reached almost to his shoulders. His mouth was long, thin-lipped, and humorous. He was only just redeemed from ugliness by the splendour of a pair of ever-questing, luminous eyes, so dark as to be almost black. Of the whimsical quality of his mind and his rare gift of graceful expression, his writings—unfortunately but too scanty—and particularly his Confessions, afford us very ample evidence.


You can read it at gutenberg.org

Also, the Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequel.

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Wein's Mark of Solomon novels (first one is "The Winter Prince" & second is "A Coalition of Lions") are tales of intrigue and spies and kingdoms set in Arthurian-era Ethiopia! So cool, and they remind me a lot of the Queen's Thief.

Joan Aiken's Wolves series is political and madcap, set in a vaguely alternate regency England. They typically include crazy plots against the king, mysteries, and occasionally the really bizarre. And usually wolves, at some point. The first novel proper is Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which is only loosely connected to the rest, but the real politicking and adventures start with Black Hearts in Battersea, and continue in *takes breath* Nightbirds on Nantucket, Dangerous Games, The Stolen Lake, The Cuckoo Tree, Dido and Pa, Is Underground, Cold Shoulder Road, Midwinter Nightengale, and Witch of Clatteringshaws.

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

Oh, I *loved* this book. It was my Best-Book-of-the-Year read.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Bridge of Birds! Yes yes yes! And yeah, no one I know has heard of it either (besides, of course, all the people I have forced to read it, and my husband, who when we were dating forced ME to read it).

Addendum: some classical reccs I've been wanting to make here for ages

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

We recently learned that Megan Whalen Turner was influenced by Thucydides; for politics, intrigue, and general plot of "stopping the Mede", however, Herodotus is more relevant. Also: more fun. Where else can you learn about giant ants that mine gold? Or about sheep whose tails are so long and delicate that the shepherds need to fasten carts around their necks to support them? Or read about the awesome and sneaky queen of Halicarnassus, Artemisia? Or watch people deal with oracles (or not deal with them: Croesus sends a "what the hell, Apollo" message to Delphi, and Aristodicus of Cyme picks a fight with the god, who wins anyway, because that's what gods do.) There are tyrants and politicking between city states and crazy ethnography, and astoundingly evil kings. The Oxford translation is good, as is the Landmark Histories edition.

Shakespeare's "romances" remind me very much of MWT's world: a vaguely classical setting populated by kings and queens and pirates. Pericles has all of these things, also evil kings, evil queens, tournaments, missing daughters, and lots of traveling around. There's a brilliant BBC version of it that's very pretty. Cymbeline is set in Roman Britain, features wicked stepmothers, separated lovers, missing heirs, falsely-accused loyal councilors, and honorable enemies.

And speaking of romances, Euripides has some more obscure plays that are happy ending and somewhat weird: Ion is about a woman trying to recover her son by Apollo whom she abandoned at birth, without letting her new husband, who just wants a child, any child, know about that unfortunate part of her past. Of course, things get more complicated when everyone is carrying around dragon poison... Helen is a sort of AU to the Trojan war: Helen actually spent the whole war in Egypt, where the new king is just getting around to threatening her chastity when Menelaus gets shipwrecked. Hijinks ensue. Something similar happens in Iphigenia at Taurus, where Iphigenia, whisked away to become a priestess among the Taurians, encounters Orestes, whom she's supposed to make a human sacrifice out of. More hijinks ensue.

For the political, I will probably not ever stop recommending Tacitus. Bitter, witty, and full of pointy cynicism, he is, not to put to fine a point on it, the best thing that happened to historiography ever. A.J. Woodman's translation of the Annals preserves a lot of the weirdness of his style:

The City of Rome from its inception was held by kings; freedom and the consulship were established by L. Brutus. Dictatorships were taken up only on occasion, and neither did decemviral power remain in effect beyond two years, nor the military tribunes' consular perogative for long. Not for Cinna nor for Sulla was there lengthy domination, and the powerfulness of Pompeius and Crassus passed quickly to Caesar, the armies of Lepidus and Antonius to Augustus, who with the name of princeps took everything, exhausted as it now was by civil dissensions, under his command.

The Roman people of old, however, had their successes and adversities recalled by brilliant writers; and to tell of Augustus' times there was no dearth of deserving talents, until they were deterred by swelling sycophancy. The affairs of Tiberius and Gaius, as of Claudius and Nero, were falsified through dread while the man themselves flourished, and composed with hatred fresh after their fall. Hence my plan is the transmission of a mere few things about Augustus and of his final period, then of Tiberius' principate and the remainder -- without anger and partiality, any reasons for which I keep at a distance.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels yet. To me they are the grown-up SF version of the YA-ish MWT books. (Um. Is it okay in this community to say that I actually love them more than MWT's books? I love hers too of course!) Politics, twisty lovely plots, a crazy genius hero, and lots of humor. They are definitely adult books, though, not because they are particularly explicit, which they are not, but I think the themes can be adult (on the other hand, I kind of think the MWT books starting with QoA have very adult themes too, what with the torture and maiming and assassinations and political marriages and so on).

On a much more YA note, Diana Wynne Jones. I just finished rereading her Dalemark Quartet, and I can see a lot of similarities to MWT's writing (I think MWT said somewhere that she actually cribbed some of the stuff for her gods from DWJ's Undying).

Re: Addendum: some classical reccs I've been wanting to make here for ages

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

This is awesome! *takes notes*

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I also quite like Brust's Vlad books (beginning with Jhereg), which fulfill the twisty plots condition, although I find them more enjoyable book candy than either MWT or F&N (both of which are more meaty).

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I just looked this up - do you mean Kamila Shamsie?

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

And Bujold's fantasy series, which starts with The Curse of Chalion is also really good. No trickster, but a lot of honest politics and people trying to live with the interventions of their gods while doing right by their kings and queens and somehow preserving personal honor.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

It was the meatiness of F&N which really reminded me of MWT. MWT has more Classical and Renaissance philosophers and learned men, though not as explicitly as F&N has 18th and 19th century philosophers and philosophical thought. It's not like Aristotle has a cameo in MWT. Though I suppose there's Galen, but I don't think he's supposed to be that Galen.

Re: Join the epic adventure! Part 2

[amolegere.livejournal.com]

These sound good! Thanks, I need more books to read!!!

[amolegere.livejournal.com]

Elephants!!! So impatient.

I love your dust motes picture!!!

[(Anonymous)]

My own suggestion seems humble by comparison... but I figured I'd toss my two cents in...

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - If you have the patience for a VERY BIG BOOK and an appetite for a sort-of historical fantasy which skips around between about 3 or 4 different time periods, then you might like to give this book a shot. It's about.... well, its really hard to describe, but it's kind of about the real Dracula (aka Vlad the Impaler), and his legend, and how that legend pertains to the life of our main characters (about three generations of a family), and is the vampire part of the legend "true" or not??

That little summary doesn't really do it justice, but if you've got some time on your hands, I'd encourage anyone to check it out. And NO, it's not just another "vampire novel".

~toastisyummy

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Poison Study a lot, and liked that it wasn't the usual fantasy style with everyone being royalty: she lived in a military dictatorship. I liked the two sequels, but I don't think they had the punch of this one.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes! I second 'Lies of Locke Lamora' and the sequel 'Red Seas Under Red Skies'. I look forward to the next one. Wow, I just saw there are five more books planned.