Quatrain, by Sharon Shinn
Title: Quatrain
Series: Samaria prequel; Twelve Houses prequel
Author: Sharon Shinn
Publisher: Ace
Format: Hardcover
Year: 2009
Pages: 369
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fantasy
Subgenres: Fantasy Romance
Challenge Information: Fantasy Challenge category "Read a collection of short stories by an author known for his/her novels"
Full Disclosure: --
Jacket Description
National bestselling author Sharon Shinn's "outstanding" Twelve Houses novels have fascinated readers and critics alike with their irresistible blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure. Now, in Quatrain, Shinn returns with four original novellas, each set in one of her distinctive worlds.
My Review
This was a deeply disappointing collection for me. It doesn't work for two reasons. The first is that, to borrow Jo Walton's phrasing, the first book in any of Shinn's series always blows me away, then each successive volume is only half as good as the one before. Two of the four novellas in this volume are set in the worlds of Shinn's two longest series, and those two novellas have reached only homeopathically good territory. The second reason is that I just don't think Shinn is capable of writing stories with the sort of thematic freight she attempted here -- the two non-series novellas are drawn from two of her more message-heavy novels, and the two series novellas attempt to address some of the seriously thorny issues inherent but not really addressed in her previous world-building.
Still, it's the sort of volume that if you are a Sharon Shinn completist, you simply have to read it. And since her prose is always pleasant and easy to read it goes very, very quickly.
Flight (set in Samaria, just before Archangel)
Description: To be chosen as the lover of an angel is the highest honor in Samaria, but Salome knows the hidden dangers of such a life. After years spent atoning for her mistakes, an unexpected trip forces Salome to face the love that she betrayed and the life she tried to forget. . .
Review: This was by far the worst story in the bunch. It features the return of Raphael as the Biggest of all Big Bads, doing evil just because he can; a really, really, really clunky and histrionic speech about the evils of a system where women are only valued because they can produce angel babies; and a completely forced romance. I rather wish I could erase my memory of it.
Blood (set in the world of Heart of Gold)
Description: As a gulden man, nothing is more important to Kerk than race and pride, except the prospect of finding his long-lost mother. His search leads him tot he Lost City, where his steadfast beliefs are shaken when an eccentric indigo girl becomes the only one he can turn to for help. . .
Review: The novel this is based on is one of the few by Shinn that I have never re-read; though I don't remember disliking it nothing about it ever stood out enough in my memory that I wanted to revisit it. So this was the one case where I could not tell what information was new for the novella and what was a reference to the novel, which probably made it feel fresher than it would have otherwise. It too features some clunky speachifying on the evils of a patriarchal system, but there is a greater focus on the budding friendship between Kerk and Jalci, a very Hollywood but still somewhat heartwarming set of scenes at a sort of shelter for abused women and their children, and an actual honest-to-goodness moment of heartbreak and moral ambiguity. That moment gets completely ruined a moment later when Jalci recasts everything as black and white, but it made the story worthwhile for me. I think this was the best of the bunch.
Gold (set in the world of Summers at Castle Auburn)
Description: On the eve of war, Crown Princess Zara is sent to the kingdom of Alora for safekeeping. But the magical realm and its people have their own seductive dangers, and the longer she stays, the more she forgets her home and the love she left behind. . .
Review: I think this novella would actually work better for people who have not read the novel. If you have not read the novel, it's a fairly straightforward story about the dangers of living in fairyland -- not a particularly memorable entry into that canon of literature, but I happen to like those stories with their depictions of dangerous beauty. If you have read the novel, as I have (though not tremendously recently), something about the story just doesn't quite seem to match what came before -- I spent the whole time trying to figure out what on earth happened in the interim to twist the recurring characters' motivations to this result. The story also featured a tremendously whiny teenage girl protagonist, and again the romance seemed forced.
Flame (set in the Twelve Houses, just before Mystic and Rider)
Description: In the world of the Twelve Houses, to be born a mystic is to receive both a gift and the curse of a solitary existence. Senneth can make fire do her bidding, but when she extinguishes a blaze, she exposes her ift in a small town where her power alone is enough to condemn her. . .
Review: Senneth is my second-favorite of all of Shinn's characters (right after Jovieve in Wrapt in Crystal) and Shinn went a fair way to ruining her for me in this story. Here she is wishy-washy and whiny or self-righteous by turns. Because of the difference in her character, I assumed that the story was set several years before Mystic and Rider; I would believe that this teenage Senneth would grow into the wonderful Senneth I so loved. Unfortunately, Shinn then made it explicit that Senneth went straight from the events of this story into the events of Mystic and Rider, so my interpretation was invalidated and I was left feeling merely annoyed. Plus the resolution was completely predictable (which is problematic because the story is set up as a pseudo-mystery rather than a romance) and again there were far too many soapbox moments. (It's bad to burn witches. I know this already.)
My Rating
Overall Satisfaction: ★★1/2
Intellectual Satisfaction: ★1/2
Emotional Satisfaction: ★★★
Read this for: The world-building*
Don't read this for: The themes
Bechdel Test: Pass
Johnson Test: Fail
Books I was reminded of: Just the ones this volume references: Archangel, Heart of Gold, Summers at Castle Auburn, and Mystic and Rider.
Will I read more by this author? I suppose.
*Not because the world-building in this volume is good, but because you've read and enjoyed the world-building in the books this volume pays homage to, and want to see a few other corners of those worlds.