The Privilege of the Sword -- Ellen Kushner

I hope, hope, hope that this book wins an Alex.  I loooooooooooved it.

Katherine begins:

No one sends for a niece they've never seen before just to annoy her family and ruin her life.  That, at least, is what I thought.  This was before I had ever been to the city.  I had never been in a duel, or held a sword myself.  I had never kissed anyone, or had anyone try to kill me, or worn a velvet cloak.  I had certainly never met my uncle the Mad Duke.  Once I met him, much was explained.

I walked into the library this morning, held The Privilege of the Sword up and said, "Swashbuckling romance, political intrigue and a strong heroine.  Who wants it first?"

Absolutely perfect pick for adult* fans of Tamora Pierce.  (Also highly recommended for non-fans of Tamora Pierce -- in a blurb, Kelly Link describes it as a cross between Georgette Heyer and Dumas, if that helps.) 

As I said above, I loved it -- I got so hooked that I braved nausea to read in the car yesterday.  (Not to mention being an extremely boring traveling companion.  Sorry, Josh.) 

I'm going to have to buy myself a copy**, because it will be a perfect, perfect, perfect comfort read.  I'm off to ILL the other two Riverside district books.  WHEEEE!

*Older teens, too, depending on their maturity level -- there's lots of sex, but none of it is particularly graphic.

**Preferably the Small Beer Press hardback with the nice cover art.  I don't like the look of the trade at all.

Comments

[Jackie]

Oh, awesome cover. I'm so gonna read that. Like, in February. sigh.

Wait. This is a series. Hmm, can I handle the commitment?

[Leila]

Yeah, I love it. The trade cover makes it look kind of generically cheesy, though.

I think the Riverside stories work as companions to each other more than as a series -- the other books (from what I've read) are set in the same vicinity, but are about different people and different times. Swordspoint (which I ILLed yesterday) is about the Mad Duke in his teens. CAN'T WAIT.

[Jen Robinson]

This book looks right up my alley. I totally consider Georgette Heyer's books comfort reading, and I'm an adult (more of less) fan of Tamora Pierce's books, too (at least some of them). Anyway, thanks! I added this to my to read list. Of course that's almost meaningless, given the rate at which the list is growing. But this does sound like a can't miss for me.

[Leila]

It'll be a treat, Jen -- it was a total comfort read.