General Winston's Daughter
68. Sharon Shinn, General Winston’s Daughter
Lady Averie Winston has led a fairly sheltered life in her native country of Aeberelle, so she is ecstatic to travel to its new colony of Chiarrin. She looks forward to avoiding her uptight chaperone and experiencing many adventures in a strange new land. Enthralled by the exotic sights and sounds around her, she commences a carefree life of socializing, flirting, and learning a little bit about the native culture. However, Averie soon realizes that some Chiarizzi aren’t thrilled to be living under the rule of Aeberelle, and violence becomes a constant threat. Meanwhile, Averie’s relationship with her fiancé becomes strained as they disagree on the best way for Aeberelle to deal with the “rebels,” and she turns more and more to the handsome Xantish soldier Ket Du’Kai.
This is a young adult book, and its writing style is definitely geared toward young teens. However, I still enjoyed this book very much. Averie is a rather typical YA heroine - rebellious and unconventional, but still attractive to men - and her reactions to the plight of Chiarrin are very predictable. Yet Shinn does try to show the political situation from many different points of view, avoiding a black-and-white resolution. The same is true of the romantic triangle: although one man is obviously going to win Averie’s heart, the other is still portrayed as a good person. I also really liked the mythology of Chiarrin - its capital is called “city of broken gods” - and I only wish it had been developed more. I’d definitely recommend this book to teenage girls or fans of YA.