The Stepsister Scheme

[branchandroot]

One of the benefits of being a friend of the author is: sometimes you get free books.

And this was quite a good free book, so I’m reviewing it. Not in hopes of getting a copy of the next one at all, of course. I’m much too high-minded for that kind of thing. *looks suitably virtuous*

So let us consider The Stepsister Scheme, by Jim Hines.

Anyone who likes the retelling-fairytales genre will probably like this. The refrain of the book, and indeed of the series from what I can tell so far, is 'the stories lie'. A rationalization of fairy tales in terms of what that would do to real people's lives, especially one that strikes a good balance between grue and humor is very much my cup of tea.

Make no mistake, there is grue in this, as anyone who has read the older versions of fairy tales will likely expect. But there's also a good quotient of overcoming the odds; another refrain might be 'heroines kick butt'. They don't do it effortlessly by any means, which I quite like, but we do get a happy ending, which I also quite like.

The characterization is a major strength. The three main protagonists are individuals without being cliches, and they get along like three real people. I have to say, I especially love Danielle's practical streak. The villains are not flat; they all have reasons to be doing what they're doing, and reasons that make sense and make you sympathize just a little at the same time you want to reach for your shoe to squash them.

The worldbuilding is also a high point. Yes, it's alter-medieval-europe, but there are enough hints and sketches of complicated politics and religion in this background to make it weigh decently instead of being as fluttery as all too many such settings are. There's food and pretty clothes--for the nobles. There are also fairy creatures wandering around, and it's clear that they have their own history and their own rules which do not match very well with humans', and that considerable trouble has had to be gone to over the years to find some way to live alongside. I like that this involved both a messy war and an equally messy treaty, and a lot of current not-comfortable-ness. Best of all, the fairy peoples succeed in not being character classes or single-philosophy clones or lifestyle representatives, which is desperately rare and wonderful to see.

And I really like the magic. It is as individual and nonsensical as magic should be, and yet clearly does have its own limitations. The magical horse sweats like, well, a horse. Rock on.

My one significant criticism is the balance of tone or focus. Some of the dialogue and thought-narrative is very modern and colloquial, and other parts are more formal; this divides pretty much along the line of humor/drama, which is understandable, but some of the transitions in either direction were abrupt enough to throw me out of the story a bit.

I also have to say, I'm not comfortable with the extent to which the character Talia carries the weight of exoticism, among the heroines. That may sound odd when there are well-rounded non human characters in here, but within the trio of protags we are given to identify with Talia carries two heavy markers (one of which is a spoiler) and one medium and is the most alienated. It makes sense, given her character background, but the concentration twitched at my nerves. On the bright side, Danielle's character highlights a lot of the class issues that could otherwise slip under the radar in any story about a bunch of princesses.

So altogether, I enjoyed the book a great deal, and stayed up late to finish it, and am looking forward to the next one coming out in the fall.