Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Baen (2008), ebook
Description
Rebecca Beauvelley is a ruined woman. In a moment of girlish folly, she allowed a high-flying young man to take her up in his phaeton, not realizing that he was drunk. When he dropped the ribbons, she recovered them, but not in time to avoid disaster. The young man was killed in the accident. Rebecca survived, with a withered arm to remind her of the wages of folly, and a reputation in tatters. Against all expectation, her father has found someone, an elderly rogue, who will marry her. Rebecca's life seems set, and she resigned to it, when Altimere, a Fey, appears and uses his magic to show her two futures: In the first, she is abused and neglected as the dutiful wife; in the second, she is dressed and bejeweled like a princess. Rebecca chooses the second future and elopes with Altimere. Unfortunately, Altimere has an agenda of his own.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Um...it's a good half-a-book. I'll read it again when the second half (Longeye) comes out...next year? Bah. I thought better of Steve and Sharon than this. She's still in both immediate and long-term peril, and Meri hasn't reached any closure at all. It would be a perfectly reasonable place to stop
Show More
the _chapter_, but the _book_? Not happy. Show Less
LibraryThing member readinggeek451
After a devastating war, the Fey erected a magical barrier. Now there are new dwellers--men--in the lands on the other side. Rebecca is an earl's daughter, with a withered arm and a tarnished reputation. Her father arranges a marriage with a man who proves to be cruel. A visiting Fey offers to take
Dark and disturbing, but compulsively readable. It ends in the middle of things; the sequel (Longeye) is already written.
Show More
her away, and she agrees. But he has plans that have nothing to do with her well-being. There are hidden rivalries among the Fey, and Rebecca is about to play an unwilling part.Dark and disturbing, but compulsively readable. It ends in the middle of things; the sequel (Longeye) is already written.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ericnguyen09
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Duainfey is an interesting mixture of erotica and historical fantasy, unexpected from the husband and wife duo known for their sci-fi novels set in the award-winning Liaden Universe. It is indeed their first fantasy novel together with both strengths and
From the beginning, it starts out like any other Jane Austen-inspired novel, with a strong-will, independent young woman, in this case an disabled woman named Rebecca Beauvelley, who isn't afraid to follow her aspirations. For example, given the choices of being a house wife or being a poor, traveling herbalist, Becca chooses her passion of plants over a stable and luxurious life. This, of course, is when the first of many problems begin, as she is forced to pick between marrying a man who looks towards the marriage as a social gain or running off with a stranger, a Fey to be exact, who promises freedom. She, of course, chooses the latter with disheartening results, which is only the beginning of a deluge of problems Becca must face as she enters the land of Fey and the control of her literal master Altimere, who leads her into a life as a sex object to be controlled for his own agenda.
One of the main strengths of the book is that the authors skillfully weave between history and fantasy, creating a fairy tale story, known not for happy endings, but for its unhappy, bloody, highly sex-laden, not-so innocent happenings. Indeed, some sex scenes are highly explicit and not entirely pleasant with so much brute force and even blood. Indeed, the book is a story of contradiction. Genre-wise it is both history and fantasy; theme-wise it invokes the theme of pleasure and pain, arguing that indeed one must come with the other as well as the theme of freedom and imprisonment, which is perhaps on the same coin.
These strengths of theme, however, is marred by the authors' lack of grace. For the most part, the point of view of the narrator is very limited and assumes that we are already knowledgeable of the fantasy world created, leading us to question if there was a book before this. Furthermore, the book splits between two story tracts: one of Becca Beauvelley as mentioned above, and that of Meripen Longeye, a Wood-Wise who is awaken after his lover is raped and poisoned to death. (Again, a sex scene). While Becca's story is the main attraction, Meripen's story seem to be just snippets interrupting the actual story. Of course, this is only book one of a two book story (Longeye to be published in 2009), but the fact that the story does not parallel Becca's story nor intersects it is a highly questionable strategy in story-telling. Readers are left to question: what is the link?
In addition to this, the author's lack of grace is also shown in the numerous sex scenes, which while not used for solely pleasure, are awkwardly written for the most part and censored in flowery. In an effort to sound poetic, for example, "hardness" replaces a body part and "seed" is used to describe the outcome of fornication. Instead of poetry, the scenes are interrupted and feel out of place, hindering the novel itself from becoming a truly unique and successful blend of erotica and literature, or simply sex as a theme, which it is of course.
Given this, the books is nothing truly unique nor anything you need to run out a get. But it does ask some very ponderous questions and indeed in opens up the realm of fantasy as a man's genre and sex as forbidden from any fantasy. It is then good reading for anyone who likes to study the links between sex and literature. However, it is not recommended for the average fantasy reader who grew up on Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, whose works tamed compared to this book involving orgies and rapes. Thus, the book is innovative in idea; it is flawed, however, in execution.
Show More
weaknesses.From the beginning, it starts out like any other Jane Austen-inspired novel, with a strong-will, independent young woman, in this case an disabled woman named Rebecca Beauvelley, who isn't afraid to follow her aspirations. For example, given the choices of being a house wife or being a poor, traveling herbalist, Becca chooses her passion of plants over a stable and luxurious life. This, of course, is when the first of many problems begin, as she is forced to pick between marrying a man who looks towards the marriage as a social gain or running off with a stranger, a Fey to be exact, who promises freedom. She, of course, chooses the latter with disheartening results, which is only the beginning of a deluge of problems Becca must face as she enters the land of Fey and the control of her literal master Altimere, who leads her into a life as a sex object to be controlled for his own agenda.
One of the main strengths of the book is that the authors skillfully weave between history and fantasy, creating a fairy tale story, known not for happy endings, but for its unhappy, bloody, highly sex-laden, not-so innocent happenings. Indeed, some sex scenes are highly explicit and not entirely pleasant with so much brute force and even blood. Indeed, the book is a story of contradiction. Genre-wise it is both history and fantasy; theme-wise it invokes the theme of pleasure and pain, arguing that indeed one must come with the other as well as the theme of freedom and imprisonment, which is perhaps on the same coin.
These strengths of theme, however, is marred by the authors' lack of grace. For the most part, the point of view of the narrator is very limited and assumes that we are already knowledgeable of the fantasy world created, leading us to question if there was a book before this. Furthermore, the book splits between two story tracts: one of Becca Beauvelley as mentioned above, and that of Meripen Longeye, a Wood-Wise who is awaken after his lover is raped and poisoned to death. (Again, a sex scene). While Becca's story is the main attraction, Meripen's story seem to be just snippets interrupting the actual story. Of course, this is only book one of a two book story (Longeye to be published in 2009), but the fact that the story does not parallel Becca's story nor intersects it is a highly questionable strategy in story-telling. Readers are left to question: what is the link?
In addition to this, the author's lack of grace is also shown in the numerous sex scenes, which while not used for solely pleasure, are awkwardly written for the most part and censored in flowery. In an effort to sound poetic, for example, "hardness" replaces a body part and "seed" is used to describe the outcome of fornication. Instead of poetry, the scenes are interrupted and feel out of place, hindering the novel itself from becoming a truly unique and successful blend of erotica and literature, or simply sex as a theme, which it is of course.
Given this, the books is nothing truly unique nor anything you need to run out a get. But it does ask some very ponderous questions and indeed in opens up the realm of fantasy as a man's genre and sex as forbidden from any fantasy. It is then good reading for anyone who likes to study the links between sex and literature. However, it is not recommended for the average fantasy reader who grew up on Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, whose works tamed compared to this book involving orgies and rapes. Thus, the book is innovative in idea; it is flawed, however, in execution.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LJT
Rape fantasy? Not my thing.
LibraryThing member SunnySD
One impulsive action left Rebecca Beauvelley ruined and a cripple. Now she has a choice: marry a cruel and abusive man who wants her for her dowry, or follow one of the Fey behind the keleigh and wear jewels... it seemed like a simple choice at the time.
An uneasy book. I had to put it down and read
An uneasy book. I had to put it down and read
Show More
something else before finishing it, but once I'd run out of pages I found myself eager to begin the next installment. Not a book full of humor and lightness, but if you're a fan of perseverance, patience, strong characters and subtlety, and you have a fairly strong stomach, this is a worthwhile, if unsettling, read. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
2008
Local notes
Duainfey, 1
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Lee & Miller |
Similar in this library
Plan B by Sharon Lee
I Dare by Sharon Lee