  Great Book, 2007-12-07
I read a couple of negative reviews about this book, all of them complained that nothing ever happened.
I had a totally different impression. I thought a great deal happened, and I enjoyed reading this story immensely.
As I have gone through life I have discovered that there are a lot of the kind of people around who have to be told EVERYTHING. They can't make a connection between idea A and idea B. Nothing can be implied, everything has to be spelled out. If this sounds like you, then you probably won't enjoy this book.
Striking and lovely, but not for everyone., 2007-04-15
This book is not for everyone. A previous reviewer complains that the heroine doesn't seem at all heroic; well, one of Tanith Lee's great strengths is that she often works with fantasy tropes and stereotypes in unexpected ways; "heroine" has some irony in it, here. If you're looking for swordfights and blatant sorcery and such, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for a different kind of story about a war-torn, mutedly magical world, and the way women have often had to live through such times -- particularly if you seek vivid description and delicate characterization -- then you won't be.
I think many of the issues reviewer have with this book derives from the blurb. It seems as though so many blurbs for Lee's books are off -- I think this has more to do with how unusual her work really is compared to the legions of quick-read fantasy novels out there, and less to do with any real weakness to her writing. Don't blame Lee if the blurb wasn't correct -- she doesn't write them, after all.
Striking and lovely, but not for everyone., 2007-04-15
This book is not for everyone. A previous reviewer complains that the heroine doesn't seem at all heroic; well, one of Tanith Lee's great strengths is that she often works with fantasy tropes and stereotypes in unexpected ways; "heroine" has some irony in it, here. If you're looking for swordfights and blatant sorcery and such, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for a different kind of story about a war-torn, mutedly magical world, and the way women have often had to live through such times -- particularly if you seek vivid description and delicate characterization -- then you won't be.
I think many of the issues reviewer have with this book derives from the blurb. It seems as though so many blurbs for Lee's books are off -- I think this has more to do with how unusual her work really is compared to the legions of quick-read fantasy novels out there, and less to do with any real weakness to her writing. Don't blame Lee if the blurb wasn't correct -- she doesn't write them, after all.
Much work, little reward, 2005-11-27
The writer is intelligent, and the psychology of her characters is dead-on. But the story is through the eyes of one character, very inward, and it does drag on.
There is a truly offensive element, which some others haven't mentioned and which I really found repellent: the 'heroine' is 13, only on the threshold of puberty, and her captor is much older, and a pedophile. He supposedly woos and wins her, and takes her with him as the army moves, but he's basically inducing Stockholm Syndrome and taking advantage of the psyche of a child. Though this is could be part of the aftermath of war, and it rings psychologically true, it's painful and off-putting to read.
There was an interesting moment with a side-character (the captor's servant, or slave) in the middle of the book-but what came before was painful, and what comes after is interminable, so it's not enough to redeem the book.
The heroine retreats inward and insulates herself from the frightening events that have destroyed and reshaped her life. She feels numb, so as the readers, so do we. She is passive, and allows her life to be determined by others. This is psychologically consistent with someone who mentally fixated at the level of a child, the age when she was traumatized, but it doesn't endear her to the reader nor make for very interesting reading.
I read this some time ago, but I remember forcing myself to slog through it, and feeling betrayed by both the blurbs and the illustration of the cover. I respect the author, but did not enjoy the book, nor feel interested in pursuing her other works.
A brilliant, unique, realistic fantasy novel, 2005-10-05
I first wrote a review of this book on this site in 1997. I reread A Heroine of the World every year or two and it is still one of my favourite novels ever -- so I wanted to write another review, especially for anyone considering reading this book who may be puzzled by the disparate opinions which have been posted here.
This is a fantasy novel but one which pushes the boundaries of the genre, creating a unique world which I believe may be inspired by central Europe in the 18th or 19th century. The fantasy elements are subtle, and do not overwhelm the stark realism of the story or the humanity of the characters. In essence this is the story of a young girl who becomes a refugee when her country is invaded and the city in which she lives is besieged. This war will change her world and profoundly shape her own life, carrying her, as she says, beneath its grinding wheels. Her parents are killed in the war and she is taken under the protection of an enemy officer. When he dies Aradia inherits his property and lands, and there she comes of age and gains power over her own life.
It's not necessarily an easy book to read, however. The first time I read it I set it aside after about 100 pages -- when Aradia is in the midst of what seems like a neverending military retreat across a bleak and desolate winter landscape. It seemed to me as if nothing much was happening in terms of the plot, and Aradia herself was a bit too passive for my taste. I didn't pick up the book again for at least a year, at which point I discovered that a few pages after I had abandoned the book, something really big happens. After that I was hooked, and I couldn't put the book down. I was completely engrossed by the story, by the subtle plot twists and the development of Aradia's character, by the heart-wrenchingly painful story of her discovery that the adult world is not everything she thought it would be, that there is no happy ever after.
Aradia is 13 years old at the beginning of the book, and she may seem too passive, judged by modern standards of how novel protagonists should behave. But her behaviour is in keeping with her age and with the terrible events she has endured. And one of the crucial aspects of the story, of Aradia's special (perhaps magical) power, is that every small action she takes has large consequences. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something a bit different, and especially to those who haven't tried reading fantasy before. Tanith Lee possesses a skill for language and imagery that is matched by few writers in the fantasy field. Every time I reread this book I discover something I hadn't noticed before, a beautifully written passage, a keenly observed character, a passage of dialogue which leaps off the page. The novel may not be to everyone's taste, but it's definitely worth a try.
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