Blackcurrant Fool

by Victoria Goddard

Ebook, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Goddard

Publication

Victoria Goddard

Description

Magic is out of fashion. Orio City is where that's decided.When his best friend Mr. Dart unexpectedly needs to make an urgent trip to Orio City, Jemis Greenwing's immediate response to ask when. He's willing to make up to his grandmother so she will lend them her falarode, he's willing to offer to run the errands of half the barony, and he's certainly willing to spend a week or so away from the gossips of Ragnor Bella.It's such a pity that Jemis and Mr. Dart are more than halfway to Orio City before Jemis remembers that his vindictive ex-lover Lark is a rising star in the criminal courts of Orio City. It's an even greater pity when they realize just what her new position is in the legally instituted court there.What with the dragon Jemis slayed a month ago, his consequent ascension to the position of Viscount St-Noire, and his father's very recent second return from the dead, to say nothing of that still-famous play from the summer, Three Years Gone: the Tragicomedy of the Traitor of Loe, it's really too much to hope for that Jemis will be able to spend even three days in the old capital incognito.University students. Bear baiting. Unexpected relations. Wild magic. Literary criticism. Kittens. And always that whisper from the highwaymen of the Arguty Forest that someone's death is on the line ...Book Four of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners--and mischief.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member merrystar
An enjoyable entry in the series; it lacks the madcap energy of the earlier books. Jemis and Mr. Dart travel to Orio City where they run into Hal, and, in due course, Lark and Violet. How they escape is most of the adventure. It was nice to have some more of the open questions about Jemis' time at
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Morrowlea cleared up.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
OK, things get _weird_ here. Lark and Violet and that poem and what Jemis had worked out about it...and then major changes, for him and for the whole region. Things are still dovetailing excessively well.
LibraryThing member quondame
Jemis and Dart leave Ragnor Bella the business on the east coast, hoping to complete it before being discovered by Jemis' enemies. It turns out that the quietest region on the continent isn't the only place where Jemis gets into deep trouble.
LibraryThing member jennybeast
OMFG, what a gift to exhausted English majors everywhere, where an obscure poem from the architectural school of traitorous puzzle poem writers can describe the secret paths through a prison and across worlds. And what a feat of world building that sets up that ludicrous proposal as a completely
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believable situation, where an audience can follow the literary criticism. Good grief! I love it! And I feel that the frivolous inclusion of a litter of kittens just adds to the folderol.

I was unhappy when the verdict that Jemis' magical gift wasn't so vast as all that, although I see why that was a balm for its loss later in the book. I'm not sure about Mr. Dart's mythic connection, but I hope this unfolds a little more in the future. I delight that another university friend is joining the party and so is a mysterious young woman (sans mother). And in my secret heart of hearts I am sorely comforted by this version of an afterlife.

I am, however, deeply frustrated to have to wait for the next book on a library hold, although I suspect that it's character building, and will keep me from devouring the entire series too quickly.
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LibraryThing member bell7
The fourth book in the Greenwing & Dart series finds Jemis and his friends off to an adventure in Orio City. Jemis manages to agree to get all sorts of things for folks in the town, including going to a book fair for his employer, but also realizes he needs to keep a low profile to avoid the notice
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of his old nemesis/lover, Lark, and her compatriots.

This was a slower start than others in the series, so it's a good thing I already like and am invested in the characters. The last quarter or so more than made up for the slow pacing, and I enjoyed seeing details mentioned in previous books becoming central plot points. There are still questions unanswered, and I will look forward to seeing how everything comes together.
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Original publication date

2019-11-13

Local notes

Greenwing & Dart, 4

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Goddard

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Rating

(25 ratings; 4)
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