The Element of Fire by Martha Wells
*ahem*
WHY HAS ONLY ONE PERSON EVER MENTIONED THIS AUTHOR TO ME?
1. Politically driven fantasy.
2. No wussy female characters, not even the "weak" girly queen.
3. Interesting characters.
4. Massive amounts of swashbuckling.
5. It starts with a catburglar style rescue mission.
6. The powerful people are the women.
7. Did I mention swashbuckling and the lack of wussy female characters?
Ile-Rein is in a bit of a tough spot. The new king, Roland, is, frankly, a wuss and easily manipulated, especially by his cousin and lover, Denzil. His wife, Falaise, believed to be a brainless twit, a fact various courtiers do their best to exploit, and the Dowager Queen, Ravenna, just barely manages to keep her weak son under her iron thumb. Meanwhile, Roland's half-fae older half-sister, Kade, The Fayre Queen of Air and Darkness, has decided to claim her brirthright as the former king's firstborn. Stuck right smack in the middle is Thomas Boniface, the cavalier, swashbuckling commander of the Queen's Guard, a man more than tired of court life, but utterly and unquestionably loyal to his queen.
For better or for worst, Things Happen and a political coupe at court forces Thomas and Kade to work together to save Ile-Rein from Evil Politicians and the Unseelie court, not to mention make the rest of the royal family(including Kade) deal with their issues. The book has it's share of first book flaws, notably the authors thinking we know what's going on as well as she does and throwing things out at us, and some relationships not being fully explained, but that's normal first book stuff. There's also the horribly stereotyped homosexual relationship between Denzil and Roland, where one is evil and manipulative and the other weak easily manipulated and there's no middle ground, but I'm passing that off as publishing in general, as I suspect it's more a 90's publishing thing than Wells herself. Despite that, though, it was very good, and I'm definately getting more of her books.
Besides, if you've been here longer than a week or two, or maybe even just that long, then you know there's no way I can resist an author who gives me lovers prone to saying things like this:
Him: "Fine. But if he wins, I want you to hurt him very badly before you kill him."
Her: "I will. Very Badly."
After a discussion about how it would be much easier if he'd just ignore manners and propriety and let her kill the other guy already.
I am easily manipulated by some things.