Jaine Fenn's novels

[watervole]

I recently borrowed 'Principles of Angels' and 'Consorts of Heaven' from cdave .  I enjoyed them both.  I'm too bleary (throat infection) to go into details, but if you like novels that are primarily character-driven than these will probably appeal.

They're 'SF-lite' in that it's more about the characters than the setting, but I enjoyed the world backgrounds as well.

'Consort of Heaven' has a well-drawn female protagonist (who is neither young, ravishingly beautiful, nor a military genius), which probably accounts for this being my favourite of the two.

The two books are set in the same universe, but could be read in either order as the settings are independent.

I'll happily buy the next novel by Janie Fenn when it comes out.

Comments

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Wasn't knocked out by PoA, but your good point about the female protagonist's traits applies in that novel too. I have still to read CoH – is it as tightly plotted, or is there room to breathe?

[cdave]

The middle section of the novel concerns a long trek, on foot, across a continent to get to the capital city. So in that sense it's a little railroaded (joke). I think it certainly felt like there was more room to breath.

Jaine has commented on the world-building and apparent lack of some background details. The answer would appear to be "There's reasons for these things, but they'll be revealed in later books in this universe"

p.s. Glad you liked them Judith.
p.p.s. Oi, that's not my name.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Oops, name corrected.

Started the first one on the train home and it held my attention for the whole journey - which is pretty good.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

It's incredibly slow-paced (which I liked) for the first 2/3 of the book and then loads of plot (picking up on clues from the earlier part) is piled into the last third.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Just read about them on amazon, Consort of Heaven sounds right up my street so have ordered from the library, thanks for the recommend :)

[coth.livejournal.com]

If you like grown up female protagonists try Doris Egan.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I liked City of Diamond, hadn't realised she was the same writer. Have added her to my wish list.