| Crown Duel | |
|---|---|
First edition cover |
|
| Author(s) | Sherwood Smith |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Harcourt, Firebirds |
| Publication date | April 1, 1997 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-15-201608-2 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | A Stranger to Command |
Crown Duel (1997) is a fantasy novel written by Sherwood Smith (originally published as two books Crown Duel and Court Duel). It was her first published work that takes place on the actual Sartorias-deles (rather than Wren's World), the world she has been "writing about since [she] was eight years old."[1]
Contents |
Young Countess Meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to what follows, in peacetime. Meliara is summoned to live at the royal palace, where friends and enemies look alike, and intrigue fills the dance halls and the drawing rooms. If she is to survive, Meliara must learn a whole new way of fighting-with wits and words and secret alliances.
In war, at least, she knew in whom she could trust. Now she can trust no one
Crown Duel was originally published as The Crown and Court Duel separately, due to factors such as the publisher's belief that there would be reduced interest among the young-adult audience if the length were increased by combining the two halves. The Crown and Court Duel edition contained certain references to Wren's world, creating the appearance that Wren's world and "Sartorias-deles" were the same. These substitutions of Wren's world references for Sartoran references were implemented to restore the story the way Smith originally wrote it.
There are two subsequent stories, "Beauty" in Firebirds Rising, "Court Ship" in Firebirds Soaring (both anthologies from Viking) and a prequel about Vidanric's early life called A Stranger to Command (Norilana Books).
Writing for SFSite.com, Rich Horton believed both parts of Crown Duel were "great reads". He continued that they are "nice formal contrasts: the first almost all action and war, the second more magic and formal court life. If I had a mild complaint, it would be that in both books the Hill Folk serve as sort of dei ex machina. But this is minor, and does little to detract from the pleasures of reading these two books."[2]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||