-
A book to come back to.... Jan 1, 2009 (7 of 8 found this helpful)
This is a delightful book. There is fun, humor, adventure, saddness, romance, coming of age - all in sufficient quantity to complete the story. Nothing is overboard - as is not uncommon these days.
I bought the e-book version as soon as it was available, and have re-read several times so far.
The heroine, Flian, is a quiet princess who prefers to watch things from the sidelines. Unfortunately, circumstances compel her to participate. Eventually she realizes there is a balance to be had between action and inaction, and choses her path and future accordingly.
Three Cheers for another fine book from Sherwood Smith!
-
Pleasent Read Dec 30, 2008 (7 of 8 found this helpful)
This book was a pleasent fantasy/romance along the same lines as Crown Duel. I liked the main character, a very normal girl which I think was the whole point. She is not supposed to be a superhero, or "Princess", she is a regular person with regular strengths and weaknesses. The missunderstandings and romance was very remmenisant of Pride and Predjudice. To give you an idea of my viewpoint, I am a fan of Ms Smith and I adore her Inda series, as well as Crown Duel. Senrid, on the other hand, I hated and couldn't get past the begenning. I enjoyed this book, and will no doubt reread it again in the future, which I suppose is the real test afterall.
-
Subtle chemistry, subtle magic, mind-blowingly addictive Jun 24, 2009 (4 of 4 found this helpful)
"The Trouble with Kings" takes place in four main countries, leading to delightful cultural comparison and quite some speculation on fashion, which Sherwood Smith is known to do well. So when you read the summaries, please remember that there is much more to this book than just a plotline and a jumble of characters.
Princess Flian, her memory gone, is told by her cousin, King Garian, that she is passionately in love with, and engaged to, King Jason Szinzar - a man who is "as expressive as a stone. A stone in the dead of winter, to give an idea of how much warmth there was in his countenance." When she is kidnapped on the eve of her wedding, the outlaws that capture her jog her memory, and all she wants to do is get back to her home in Carnison and be with her father in his old age. The powerful men all around her have other plans, however, and she's forced to face more of reality than she would like to deal with. Can you kill a man because he's an enemy? Can you really not trust anyone, when you've a fortune to your name that's easier to acquire through kidnapping and threats than by a wedding?
Flian is not a hothead, and she could be called passive. Her subtle charms may not appeal to everyone, especially not people looking for a kick-butt princess willing to take on anyone and everyone (for that, read "Once a Princess" - hilarious and exciting in all the right amounts). However, there is chemistry. Not in the Twilight-esque, ground-shaking, throat-tightening animal attraction, but in gestures and conversations and how the characters interact with one another. It struck me as very realistic - the kind of romance you can relate to. The magic is mostly present in the fact that "The Trouble with Kings" is set in a magical world with some handy magical objects and interesting magical history. Both are believable.
That said, I stayed up until 6 o'clock in the morning reading this, unable to put it down. It was great to see Flian grow and decide to take action - decide to find out who really is on her side, and help them if possible. If you're willing to read a book about a girl who is strong in a way that doesn't necessarily involve kicking butt, I recommend this book as highly as I can. It's fun, it's fast, and it's full of all the things we love: adventure, excitement, kings, queens, princesses, romance, magic - and beautiful dresses.
-
Sherwood Smith is fast becoming my favorite author! Mar 8, 2009 (2 of 2 found this helpful)
I liked _The Trouble with Kings_ exceedingly well. I started it on a Friday and it's a good thing I did because it was 3:00 in the morning before I could bear to put it down. There was so much I needed to do over the weekend, but all I could think about was getting back to this book!
Poor Princess Flian has been getting a great deal of male attention since turning sixteen. Since she is somewhat plain in appearance and has convinced herself (with the help of some court phonies) that she is boring, unaccomplished, and generally useless, she decides that it is actually her wealth that is getting courted. And she isn't wrong, for the most part. So when someone comes along who actually wants her for her, it doesn't even cross her mind that that may be the case. Plus, her thoughts are rather occupied with surviving being abducted and drugged and thrown into mortal peril all the time.
It was very refreshing to read about a heroine who is actually normal. Just your average untried, unsure young woman. She is a very loyal person with strong morals and good intentions but is hampered by her feelings of self doubt and her lack of experience and training. She has a great distrust of words which keeps her quietly in the background. In her own court, instead of leading, she is so quiet that it is hard for others to see her worth. (Abduct her and nearly get her killed however and the polite princess will tell you what she really thinks.) She doesn't seem to see her own worth either. She never recognizes her bravery, but instead insists instinct to be the cause of her actions. I thought her very likeable and, as I said, refreshingly real.
I liked the men too, though not as well. The reasoning they give for their actions sometimes seemed to me rather lacking. Nice girls with strong morals don't generally respond well to being abducted and drugged. Any of them thinking that she would be okay with such a thing is absurd. Maxl (her brother) I liked a good deal, though I wish he had been more protective.
Yep, I thought that the book was very good. One I'm sure to read many times. My "tip of the hat" to Sherwood Smith!
-
A Wonderful Young Adult Romp Apr 7, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)
The Trouble With Kings was amazing. Trouble with Kings was on par with Posse of Princesses, also by Smith. Both are sweet, well written, and posses just the right combination of danger, adventure, romance, and growth for an excellent Young Adult book. Kings does an excellent job, as Sherwood normally does, at dancing on the line of violence and danger. Even at 26, I am just as entranced and involved with the story as most 13 year olds would be. I think that is a true test of a YA Novel -- when you remove the veil of youth, inexperience, and lack of well-readness (is that a word??), is it still a good book? With Sherwoods writing the answer is always yes. I feel just as comfortable with recommending it to a 13 year old girl as I will forcing all my friends to read it.
Previous reviewers have taken issue with the world, plotting, and main character. I admit that towards the end the book, I was a bit tired of all the abducting. However, I think that the abduction plot device was consistent with the world this story operates within. And I would argue that the characters grow and change. Some of the reviewers seem to take issue with the hero, who they find disingenuous, and I find reminiscent of Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. I enjoyed seeing Flian's growth through her perception of him and his growth. She learns lessons, opens her mind to ideas she'd never previously entertained, finds her own sense of self, and confidence.
Overall if you're a fan of well written, fun, young adult romance, that provides for the opening eyes and changing of minds, set in wonderfully well thought out and developed worlds, I'd recommend Trouble with Kings to you any day.