Shinn, Sharon - The Safe-Keeper's Secret
I probably would like Sharon Shinn's The Shapechanger's Wife if I remembered it. I like some of her stand-alones; they're not great, but they're pleasant to read and very easy on the mind. I get extremely sporky at her Samaria books, largely because while her stand-alone fantasies or sci-fi books can get away with shallow worldbuilding in favor of fun romance, it really doesn't work for me with Samaria.
So I was rather curious to see how I'd like her foray into the YA world.
In the dead of the night, someone from the capitol arrives at the door of the local Safe-Keeper (all Safe-Keepers are sworn to keep secrets), leaving behind a baby. The Safe-Keeper decides to raise the boy, Reed, with her own daughter, Fiona. It's a fairly slow book -- while the main mystery is who Reed's father really is, we're also introduced to Thomas the Truth-Teller, Isadora the Dream-Maker and assorted other village characters. I don't know. There were no real emotional highs or lows in the book for me, and while the final secret revelation at the end did surprise me a little, all the ends felt a little too tied up. And there was nothing really driving the book, and I never quite connected with the characters. I don't think there was anything wrong, per se, just... it's not a book with many depths.
The world-building is a fairly standard medieval-esque kingdom, complete with herb-growers and etc. And while the idea of Truth-Tellers and Safe-Keepers and Dream-Makers could be interesting, they act more as plot devices than as actual roles in the world. In the end, it is a book about Fiona growing up and coming to terms with herself, only, I could tell where she was going anyway and didn't particularly feel very strongly about her either.
Oh well.
So I was rather curious to see how I'd like her foray into the YA world.
In the dead of the night, someone from the capitol arrives at the door of the local Safe-Keeper (all Safe-Keepers are sworn to keep secrets), leaving behind a baby. The Safe-Keeper decides to raise the boy, Reed, with her own daughter, Fiona. It's a fairly slow book -- while the main mystery is who Reed's father really is, we're also introduced to Thomas the Truth-Teller, Isadora the Dream-Maker and assorted other village characters. I don't know. There were no real emotional highs or lows in the book for me, and while the final secret revelation at the end did surprise me a little, all the ends felt a little too tied up. And there was nothing really driving the book, and I never quite connected with the characters. I don't think there was anything wrong, per se, just... it's not a book with many depths.
The world-building is a fairly standard medieval-esque kingdom, complete with herb-growers and etc. And while the idea of Truth-Tellers and Safe-Keepers and Dream-Makers could be interesting, they act more as plot devices than as actual roles in the world. In the end, it is a book about Fiona growing up and coming to terms with herself, only, I could tell where she was going anyway and didn't particularly feel very strongly about her either.
Oh well.