Yves Meynard

o.o

Look I really enjoy books in which we find out the main character is a royal in hiding. Joyce Ballou Gregorian's Tredana trilogy and Paul Park's Roumania Sequence, not to mention Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy and Frank Beddor's Looking Glass Wars trilogy , are ALL based around this concept. And I *adore* those series. And to be truthful CHRYSANTHE sounded exactly like something I would love. Plus from a publisher I almost always enjoy (Tor) I thought this was a shoo-in for at least a 3 star rating. I was leery of the fact that a large piece of the story seemed to center on Christine's 'childhood trauma' (or perceived trauma, let's just say she takes a unique approach to finding out the truth).

But as I read more and more of the book (its over 500pages) I became less and less happy. I couldn't put my finger on it. I really couldn't. The book wasn't written badly--its blunt and a bit unsettling at first, but it had a certain....voice to it that I wasn't adverse to. Christine is hard to relate with at first, what she suffers at the hands of her therapist (and 'Uncle') are difficult to read. Though the tension and unsettling nature of those experiences are lessened because the reader already knows its all fake.

Its not until I put down the book and thought about it that I realized why I wasn't happy or satisfied.

I hated this book. I mean, full on hated it. Its been so long since I've hated a book with every fiber of my bookish being that I didn't understand the emotion. (for the curious the last book was BREAKING DAWN) Most books something interests me--like Andrea Cremer's books, I thoroughly disliked the choices made, the development of characters and ending, but I really found the concept fascinating. And Calla wasn't horrible, just made stupid decisions a lot--but by the end of CHYSANTHE? I couldn't recall a single instance, character or concept I wanted to know more about.

Even as I'm sitting here I can't recall anything to like. I have a vague feeling of disquiet and uncomfortableness with the book actually, and gave away my ARC edition as fast as possible.… (more)

Unfortunately, this author set out to tell a brilliant idea with the wrong lead character. Meynard chose the Princess because it allowed the author to explore the made worlds and the real world through the eyes of a newcomer, but an info dump is an info dump is an info dump. It took four hundred pages of info dumping, to get to Melogian and Casimir, the heart and horror of this story.

I'd recommend skipping all the way to Part VI, read the exciting bits, and thank me for the time I saved you. Then if your interested in the myths of the Law and the birth of Heroes, treat the beginning as an appendix you can skip through at will and a lesson in how not to do world building in a novel.… (more)

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It's got so many things that I like - interesting systems of magic! A series of worlds some of which resemble our own but none of which are exactly ours! Commentary on the dangers of overzealous psychiatrists and suggested memories! - but in the end it feels like an incomplete mess. It's hard to tell who the main character is. Is it Christine, the princess who grew up hidden in a false world more similar to our own than to the magical kingdom she belongs to? Quentin, the knight sent to rescue her? Melogian, the apprentice sorceress stuck trying to save the kingdom on her own? None of them have a real character arc; Melogian gets closest, but she's not even introduced until well into the story. The characterization is thin, the worldbuilding is good, this should have been at least three 600 page bricks instead of whatever it was because it's missing too much.… (more)