Hello everyone!
It's back to books, and I keep picking up new ones in my Kobo library. As I've said once or twice before, what happens with major retailers is that they will sometimes offer the first one in a given series for free, maybe at the author's wish or with the author's cooperation, so that reviews can be posted and some sort of reaction given before you want (or don't want, depending) to continue reading the entire thing.
This was how I happened upon Susan Kaye Quinn's Third Daughter.
I'll admit, as much as I usually DON'T go for the covers, this one intrigued me since not that many stories even happen in an Indian setting, or if they do, they don't really say much about the culture to begin with, so you could really be anywhere at all.
I was hopeful when I picked this up - a supposed mix of a sort of medieval/Indian/steampunk romance and mystery - that it wouldn't be the case here.
The end result was sort of ... a mix and match, actually.
So, to start off: Aniri, a princess of Dharia, is the third daughter to the Queen, and as such, her position as Third Daughter (yeah, it's capitalised) is that when she reaches a certain age (I think twenty-one? I'm not entirely sure I actually caught the actual age to be honest) she will be able to choose the man she's going to marry for herself, not for her country or any political aspirations.
Which is great, because, you know, she has a lover, or soon to be lover, Devesh, who is a courtesan from the neighbouring kingdom where her sister has married, in an arranged marriage, the heir apparent (this being the Second Daughter, by and by).
But anyway, things don't go as smoothly.
There is another nation vying for attention here, and prince Ashoka, who lost his brother while attempting to get some peace going and some more trade for his nation of Jungali, seen as a far more primitive people than anyone else, is here to ask for Aniri's hand in marriage to secure his crown.
Initially, Aniri is against this - she's in love, don't you know - but her mother explains that the Jungali may be hiding a secret weapon - a skyship in fact - that could potentially and literally rain hell from above since Dharia has nothing as advanced. So, she should go to Jungali, and spend the one month betrothal period discovering the truth of the matter, then come home, sans marriage.
Aniri can't really refuse - and also, Ash is quite gallant, and promises her that their marriage need not be one of love, and she can bring her lover.
Said lover has a bit of a fit at the station, but oh well, they're off to Jungali afterwards, where Priya and Janak (her maid and bodyguard, respectively) both help/coach Aniri in what she's supposed to do to ensure they get the information back to th Queen.
Unlike some other heroines who are pretty useless, Aniri can actually fence better than a man occasionally and is a good climber, so she can do some spying on her own, but her presence in Jungali is unwelcome. The first night, her bedroom is firebombed, even if she isn't in it, but the threat is certainly real.
It seems that it's coming from one of the provinces and the general who leads it, Garesh, but there aren't that many facts which prove it so it's all a guessing game.
Not, however, when it comes to Ash and Aniri faking their relationship, although Devesh has somehow managed to get a place in Jugali court and he's here to mess with Aniri's head some more. I wouldn't trust a courtesan farther than I could throw him, but for some reason, regardless of seeing how honourable her would-be husband is, Aniri chooses to trust Devesh.
Still, this leads to one good thing - Aniri and Ash have a heart to heart about both the skyship and her mission, and Ash is surprisingly okay about it all, even taking her to see the ship in person.
What she sees, however, is a battleship, not the tradeship that Ash dreamt about, and what his brother initially wanted. This proves a problem, but it also proves that Devesh was lying to her when he told her there was no ship and she should leave, so this prompts Aniri to confront him ...
... and land herself in the hands of Garesh, because his province has aligned with Devesh's nation and they're going to overthrow Ashoka to get to Dharia.
On the actual skyship, Aniri fears the worst when she gets rescued by none other than Ashoka - who brought along the cavalry including Priya and Janak (who sprung something else on poor Aniri, as well; since she was ten, the princess had believed her father was dead and her mother had done nothing to bring his body back or punish those responsible, but Janak told her that her father actually abandoned the lot of them because he couldn't stand the stiffling environment of court, throwing Aniri's world upside down).
Anyway, our heroes battle their way out, but also have to stop the ship since Garesh is invading Dharia with it - Aniri uses her father's sword to cover the crystal which acts like when you hold a glass over grass - igniting everything underneath. Janak kills Garesh, Ash manages to negotiate with the Queen, and Aniri is confident they won't see each other again, which makes her sad.
He'd proven his worth more than Devesh, after all - but he surprises her by asking if a marriage for love might be possible anyway.
Since she's realised she's slowly been falling in love with him, Aniri says yes - and they make the shocking additional discovery that there's ANOTHER skyship somewhere.
Which means this isn't over yet!
And it's where books two and three come in, as well, but I still have to get to them. In the meantime, however, I was actually pleased with the plot and pacing of the book, if not exactly with the setting. I wasn't entirely sure whether this could have really been in India, or South Asia at least, without the possibility of it being anywhere else, either. It really didn't have that distinctive flair I imagined it would have, but still ... I liked Ash quite a bit.
Aniri annoyed me occasionally because she went from one extreme to another without thinking things through, but I suppose if that's what her whole character was based off (her emotions ruling her) then there WAS something there, then.
Still.
In any event, however, overall I enjoyed this, but I want to learn more about the provinces and kingdoms, so I'll be picking up the second book soon enough, hopefully!
I also recommend this to any reader who wants something a bit more out there - even if it isn't distinctively different in culture, it DOES have some wonky, wicked items thrown in!
xx
*image not mine
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