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Melindam's Reviews > Summers at Castle Auburn
Summers at Castle Auburn
by
by
3.33 stars
If I had read this book in my teens, I would have given it 5 starts, no doubt. But two decades later, I found the story a bit flat, mainly due to the fact that the only POV is that of the heroine, Coriel. This makes the scope of the story too narrow considering the number of storylines (Coriel’s, her sister Elisandra’s, her uncle Jaxon’s, the crown prince’s, the Aliora’s, etc). It does not help that Corrie is barely 14 at the beginning & 18 at the end: her world is pretty limited & occasionally annoyingly shallow. She was OK, but not too likeable & her sister Elisandra definitely stole the show from her at the end spectacularly (WOW, she is one cool customer & no mistake).
It would have been nice to learn a bit more about the Aliora race & their world; and the POVs of Elisandra & Jaxon would have given more depth & layers to the book.
Concerning the love interests: it was fairly clear from one third of the book who will end up with whom. It distrubed me a bit how blind the heroine kept herself to the very end & then WHAM she knew right away that she had been in love with the guy all along and married him almost on the spot & the book ends suddenly. It would have been more credible if she had been given some time to come to terms with her feelings & spend some time with the guy developing their until then non-existent relationship a bit before getting married & living happily ever after.
Despite the negative points raised above, I found this a lovely book, an intriguing & an easy read.
One of it strongest points is the political intrigue, as usual in most Sharon Shinn books – she is so very, very good at creating this kind of tension: who is siding with whom & who is plotting against whom.
If I had read this book in my teens, I would have given it 5 starts, no doubt. But two decades later, I found the story a bit flat, mainly due to the fact that the only POV is that of the heroine, Coriel. This makes the scope of the story too narrow considering the number of storylines (Coriel’s, her sister Elisandra’s, her uncle Jaxon’s, the crown prince’s, the Aliora’s, etc). It does not help that Corrie is barely 14 at the beginning & 18 at the end: her world is pretty limited & occasionally annoyingly shallow. She was OK, but not too likeable & her sister Elisandra definitely stole the show from her at the end spectacularly (WOW, she is one cool customer & no mistake).
It would have been nice to learn a bit more about the Aliora race & their world; and the POVs of Elisandra & Jaxon would have given more depth & layers to the book.
Concerning the love interests: it was fairly clear from one third of the book who will end up with whom. It distrubed me a bit how blind the heroine kept herself to the very end & then WHAM she knew right away that she had been in love with the guy all along and married him almost on the spot & the book ends suddenly. It would have been more credible if she had been given some time to come to terms with her feelings & spend some time with the guy developing their until then non-existent relationship a bit before getting married & living happily ever after.
Despite the negative points raised above, I found this a lovely book, an intriguing & an easy read.
One of it strongest points is the political intrigue, as usual in most Sharon Shinn books – she is so very, very good at creating this kind of tension: who is siding with whom & who is plotting against whom.
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This is the kind of coherent and well put together and structured review I hope to be able to do one day.. :-)
Lovely, Meli (I hope I may call you Meli xD)