Ru Emerson (1944–2025)

The wider the world gets in this series, the more implausible I find it - the rest of the world is nearing 20th-century levels of technology? Queen Victoria exists? Where are the natives of North America, anyway, and why have we yet to meet anyone who isn't white? The magic system is still one of the most intriguing I've ever seen, and Lialla continues to be an utterly fascinating character, abrasive and stubborn and full of self-doubt, which is enough to keep me reading for now.

Okay, it's really tropey, but I do love the arranged-marriage storyline. An overarching plot that started out very 90s "Drugs Are Bad, Mmkay?" is developing more of the nuance that I expected from the first three books in this series, although it took its sweet time. I am skeptical of the proposition that cotton is a major crop in America but slavery was never a thing, though (and making a main character the daughter of a Black indentured servant instead was...lazy).

Okay, I see now why I thought this was the end of the series, back when three books was all I had access to - this does wrap up the instigating plotline relatively neatly. I'm happy to see there's more, though, because there's bound to be a lot of fallout there.

I first read these (first three, at least) books as a teenager, back when I was reading literally every fantasy novel in my small public library. With a little more distance, I can say it's objectively not a great series. The pace is show more weird, and although it's clearly trying to do something other than Might Makes Right, the most interesting parts are still the fight scenes. The characters are pretty good, though - complex and rounded, with plenty of development. The worldbuildling leaves something to be desired (okay, why *are* there no people of color in this alternate-southern-California? They mention it, but it's still a thing), but I still love the magic systems. I can see why I liked these books so much, even if I don't like them quite as much now. show less

This is a decent novelization if nothing spectacular. It takes on three episodes from the television series; "Arabesque," "Masques" and "The Watcher." I was anticipating that author Ru Emerson would link these three disparate stories better into one cohesive whole but this is never done. The episodes are also taken out of the order they appeared in the show, so Emerson plays pretty fast and loose with the chronological timeline of the series. As an uber-fan this irritated me a bit, but it's show more something easily overlooked.

The stories of the first two episodes are very straightforward adaptations, nothing spectacular or new is brought to them that wasn't apparent in their original televised forms. I've always found "Arabesque" to be a rather dull episode, but "Masques" is always enchanting.

It's in "The Watcher" that Emerson really hits her stride. She gives the character of The Watcher some added background and motivation that aren't included in the TV show. Novelizations can sometimes come across as very dry, but Emerson is able to insert her own authorial voice to the proceedings, especially when delving into thoughts of secondary characters.

Overall a worthy effort, but there's not much new here to recommend it besides the "Watcher" segment. show less