Friday 29 December 2017

Review: Dreams and Slumbers - Seanan McGuire

"Dreams and Slumbers," included in all editions of Once Broken Faith. After the conclave is over, Queen Arden Windermere in the Mists has a choice to make, and no one to help her make it.

October Daye Series:
In Little Stars (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Rosemary and Rue
A Local Habitation
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
Through This House (Short story in the Home Improvement: Undead Edition anthology)
One Salt Sea
In Sea-Salt Tears (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Ashes of Honor
Rat-Catcher (Free short story available on the Lightspeed Magazine website)
No Sooner Met (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Chimes at Midnight
Never Shines the Sun (Short story included in the print version of Chimes at Midnight)
Forbid the Sea (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Stage of Fools (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Voice of Lions (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Act of Hares (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Instruments of Darkness (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
With Honest Trifles (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
In Deepest Consequence (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Jealous in Honor (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Quick in Quarrel (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Winter Long
Heaps of Pearl (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Shore to Shore (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Write in Water (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Live in Brass (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Ambitious Ocean (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
And Thrice Again (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Fixed Stars (Free short story available on the Baen website)
A Red-Rose Chain
Full of Briars (Short story)
Once Broken Faith
Dreams and Slumbers (Short story included in Once Broken Faith)
The Brightest Fell
These Antique Fables (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Of Things Unknown (Short story included in The Brightest Fell)
Night and Silence
Suffer a Sea-Change (Short story included in Night and Silence)
The Unkindest Tide
Hope is Swift (Short story included in The Unkindest Tide)

Visit Seanan McGuire's website for more information

Review:
This short story is included in Once Broken Faith and is set just after the end of the conclave. Arden is faced with a difficult decision, whether to wake up her brother early even though her life is in disarray after taking over their father's kingdom, or whether to let him sleep until the elf-shot wears off so she can concentrate on building her power base.

I have to admit Arden isn't my favourite side character in this series (let's face it, she has a LOT of competition from other far more interesting characters!) but I was curious to get the chance to see a story from her point of view. I'm a bit torn about the results though, in some ways I feel sorry for everything that she has been through and I can understand how alone and scared she must be feeling, but in other ways I found it really difficult to see her contemplating leaving her brother asleep for another 20 years just because she was scared about how he'd react to everything that had happened while he was asleep. I couldn't understand how leaving him for longer would make any of that easier to explain to him and surely the sooner she wakes him up the sooner she has an ally that is 100% in her corner and who has the best idea of what she's suffered.

I was happy with how the story ended and it was nice to see cameo appearances from Walter and Cassandra but Arden can be a little too whinny and self-centred for my taste.

Source: Short story included in Once Broken Faith

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

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