Sorcerer to the Crown

(Original, DNF review to follow.)

This was another book that I tried reading previously and gave up on. Well, in my effort to be truly fair and give some of my DNF books another shot, I decided to try this one again. I only read the first 30 pages the first time around - and they were probably the best, because this book got worse the longer it went on. Truthfully, I should have DNF'd it and left it that way, and only made it all the way through it due to sheer stubbornness. (And, I really, really wish I hadn't tried to finish it. On the other hand, it's already November and I got my first 1 star read of 2018! So, yay me!)

This is less a review and more a collection of notes that I made on my phone while reading this.

Honestly, if it hadn't been called satire by some of the blurbs, I would have thought it was just a racist, misogynistic pos. As it is...I don't believe satire is for me. (And I still firmly believe this is just a racist, misogynistic pos.)

If women are more strongly magical than men, and non-white women the most strongly magical of all...how did we ever find a country ruled by white men?

Zacharias is okay, though he sounds more like a man of seventy than twenty-four. Prunella...is a super speshul snowflake and the only women that can do anything. She's also, for some strange reason, fancying herself in love with Zacharias.

And don't even get me started on the romance. No, I mean it. Don't get me started on it, because it is pointless, the story would have changed none without it, and it's inexplicable. They also have NO chemistry. None.

Also, the use of ‘Oriental' for race is...disquieting. Especially coming from someone born in Malaysia.

Also, in the space of 30 pages, Prunella ‘makes' two ‘moue's - one that is ‘pretty' and one that is ‘of discontent.' What is up with that? (Oh, isn't that lovely, Prunella's so super speshul, she has a ‘pretty pout.' What, saying that makes her sound too childish?)

Honestly, I thought several times that I I should finish it, but then I go ‘I've already read over 200 pages, I should just finish the thing. Anyway, check out this review for what was pretty much my thoughts, summed up better than I did: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1833528960?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1.

(But, honestly, don't read this book if you want ‘modern sensibilities' because while Zacharias is pretty modern, his adopted ‘parents' are pretty racist (they bought him when he was six or younger but didn't emancipate him until his thirteenth birthday? His delightful father figure could have bought his parents at the same time, but only wanted the boy because...he shows magical abilities.) and the rest of the populace of England is as bad. Worse, with the whole ‘ritual murder' that is only cleared because he's black. And Prunella is every single ‘modern' woman in a historical. Every. Single. One. Just - ugh - this book was terrible.)

(Note about my original review: I did my proper research this time. I thought it would be a comeuppance for all the white supremacists in this book. It wasn't. The narration tacitly supports the racism running rampant. Well, at least when it's directed towards Zacharias. There is little racism directed towards Prunella (whom, if I understand rightly, had a black mother and a white father. Hmm... That doesn't have bad connotations. At all.) instead, she is subjected to sexism that the narration goes out of it's way to discredit.) Anyway, I'm just going to stop now. My blood pressure is rising and I'm so done with this book.


Original review:

DNF - PG 31

Why?

You know, from the synopsis I should have suspected. I really should have suspected. But I didn't. I was distracted by the cover, (that's simply lovely) all the accolades this book has gotten, (however, I usually dislike whatever books NPR likes, so, yeah) and the promise of diversity. (Okay, so it has diversity, but he's disrespected, called a ‘woolly Afric' and proclaimed to have ‘native savagery.') And, the little tiny part of me that did suspect figured that given the tone of the synopsis, it would be a parody of itself and, you know, poke fun in a harmless manner at the fact that he's not a gentleman and that women don't do magic. Instead, I was treated to racist, sexist bigotry. (Sure, the ‘hero' isn't like that, but, beyond some of the supporting characters, the whole society is bigoted. And, considering we have magic and some mysterious place called ‘Fairyland,' tell me how humans sill remained so ignorant. Actually, don't. I don't want to know. The simple fact is, yes, it happened/is happening. I could read plenty of books that deal with bigotry in all it's forms, as well as historical novels that stay distressingly true to life. I don't want to deal with it in such an unpleasant manner when I read spec fiction. I just don't.) Add that to the writing style that I was trying to decide if it was head hopping or third person omnipotent until I realized that it borrows very heavily (too heavily for me) from the writing style that was common during the time the book is supposed to take place. (Which means two things: all those people that compare it to Pride & Prejudice is right on and it's third person omnipotent.)

I just... There's nothing encouraging me to keep reading and plenty of things that I don't like making me stop.

(And I read a review that proclaimed that the story is about inequality and integration and segregation. Honestly, I rather wish I'd found that review BEFORE I bought this book - because I could have figured it was not for me. So, my dislike and DNF of this book is totally on me for not doing my proper research.)