One Good Knight
Ratings12
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings12
Average rating3.7
When a dragon storms the castle, what should a (virgin) princess do?Why, turn to her studies, of course! But nothing practical-minded Princess Andromeda of Acadia finds gives a definitive solution. The only Traditional answer, though, is soothing the marauding dragon by a virgin sacrifice. Things are going fairly smoothly with the lottery-except for the women chosen, of course-until Princess Andromeda herself is picked!But facing down the dragon doesn't go quite as planned, and now, with the help of her Champion, Sir George, Andromeda searches for the dragon's lair. But even-especially-in the Five Hundred Kingdoms, bucking Tradition isn't easy. It takes the strongest of wills, knowledge, quick wits and a refusal to give up, no matter what happens along the way....
Featured Series
4 primary books6 released booksFive Hundred Kingdoms is a 6-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2004 with contributions by Mercedes Lackey, C.E. Murphy, and Tanith Lee.
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Another light and fun read, though I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as The Fairy Godmother. The final third of the book was too rushed and left at least one massive question unanswered. I did like the resolution to the romance subplot, but... well... I saw a completely different way that the fairy tale could have been subverted...
I would have loved it if Andie had ended up falling for her Champion after all. Lackey certainly isn't averse to same-sex romances and it would have gone against the tradition of girl falls for boy, boy reveals himself to be girl-in-disguise, both girls happily marry other boys. I was pretty sure that it wasn't going to happen, given that it was a Luna book and trying to appeal to the romance market, but it didn't stop me from hoping.
I do enjoy the fact that The Tradition isn't completely hetero-centric – Andie and Gina both still feel the pressure of The Tradition building until they take the blood oath, not just until Gina is outed by the unicorns.
In the end, though, I really did like that Andie ended up with Periapt. A nerdy dragon, how much better can you get? Since I'm one of the readers who did like the sex scenes in The Fairy Godmother, I wish there had been at least a little something about the physical side of their relationship in this one. I mean, Periapt has a whole new body to explore now...
All Princess Andromeda really wants to do is to be useful to her mother, the queen. Problem is, her mother doesn't seem to realise that Andie is competent at anything, and she marginalises Andie's accomplishments. It also doesn't exactly help matters that Andie is half-blind without her glasses, or that she doesn't exactly fit the standard for Acacian beauty (especially when compared to her mother, who is gorgeous).
I was able to identify reasonably well with Andromeda as a character, and I enjoyed the various twists on the story (even if they were telegraphed fairly clearly...which is actually something of the point in this series–the more you know The Tradition the better able you are to work with or around it. At the very least, you will be able to figure out what's going on to a greater degree).
The conclusion elements of the story seem just a little bit rushed, but given the type of book this wasn't exactly unexpected. All in all I classify this as a light, fun read.
