Wren to the Rescue

I somehow lost track of reading Sherwood Smith after a binge a few years ago and am delighted to discover how many stories I haven't read yet. This one reminds me a bit of Tamora Pierce's Circle or Magic (one of my all time favorite series), or maybe Dealing with Dragons -- in any case -- it reminds me of favorite books for your magic seekers. Great characters, great quest, new and interesting world, satisfying storyline. There's a little bit too much deus ex machina that occurs, but in a way I like it because I think it links to a larger storyline, and I am very much interested to see where stubborn, loyal, pragmatic Wren ends up next.

Wren to the Rescue is the first in a young adult/children's fantasy series by Sherwood Smith (who, by the way, is a woman, not a man). I usually enjoy books of this genre, but this one was a bit of a chore to get through.

Wren is an orphan living in the Three Groves foundling home with her friend Tess. It turns out that Tess is a princess in hiding because of a threat made by Andreus, the evil sorcerer-king whose country borders Meldrith. When the girls are summoned to the palace, it takes about a day before Tess is spirited away by a servant of Andreus. Wren is determined to rescue her friend, and along the way picks up two accomplices: Tyron, a gifted student of magic whose involvement in the rescue mission has endangered his standing show more with his master; and Connor, a wellborn magic student with no gift for magic whatsoever. Many clichéd happenings ensue before the happy ending.

What struck me most about this book was how derivative it is of Tolkien. So much is borrowed from Middle-earth — and not very well borrowed, either. I started writing down all the likenesses because there are so many:

• The girls' heroine from legend, Eren Beyond-Stars, bears an alarming resemblance to Lúthien
• Twice the party travels underneath mountains through dark, ruinous caves (can you say Moria?)
• They eat sustaining "traveller's cakes" that smell suspiciously of lembas
• They are able to travel on "chraucans," which bear an alarming resemblance to Tolkien's Eagles
• They are chased by "warries," which bear an alarming resemblance to Tolkien's Wargs
• They are spied upon by "gryphs," which bear an alarming resemblance to Tolkien's crebain
• The characters indulge in lots of scrying, with effects very similar to both Ring and Palantirí use

I understand that Tolkien is a cornerstone in the fantasy genre, but if you're going to copy him, don't do it so obviously. Have some creativity, at least!

Besides all this, the characterization is very poor. Wren never comes across as a believable heroine. Somehow she was born with pre-highlighted hair; no doubt this hints at her incredible magic skills. She's a brat. And she's way too cutesy and perky, annoyingly so. She calls the bad guys "baddiepeepers," which is apparently the funniest thing Tyron has ever heard. Magic students must not get out much.

Andreus is very one-dimensional. Evil and violent, muwhahahaha! He even spills his plans of conquest to Tess, his prisoner, like every stereotyped bad guy to ever terrorize a poor countryside. His henchmen are amazingly stupid (who would not notice a dog slipping into a cell right behind the nightly dinner delivery?). And there are so many holes in his guard spells and tracers, I was really starting to wonder about his supposed prowess as a magician. Mmhmm.

The only halfway-interesting person in the story was Idres, the bitter magician who betrayed and escaped Andreus many years before. But even she fell a bit flat, with her constant "wintry smile" and leave-me-alone-I-am-bitter attitude. Predictably enough, she does join in the quest before the end, saving the children from some very stupid mistakes just in time.

I didn't much care for the writing style either; it was awkward in its attempts to be memorable. Take this example from page 126:

"Tears blurred her vision from the icy strength of the wind."

So the icy strength of the wind was blurred in her vision so she couldn't see it? Is her vision blurred by the wind or by her tears? Wouldn't this be so much better as, "Tears from the icy strength of the wind blurred her vision"? Even that has plenty of room for improvement. Some of the other descriptions were similarly clunky. And why does Smith try to make up words to make her fantasy world seem like it has more of a distinct culture? Combining two words into one ("slimeslug") does not constitute creative slang.

The dialogue was okay most of the time, but there were some howlers. Consider this event that happened in Moria*cough* I mean under the mountain:

"A distant hissing noise, too uneven to be water, came to all their ears. As it got louder, they noted an odd, dry quality to the hiss.
'A serpent!' Tyron choked. 'Let's hide.' " (page 133)

Brilliant plan, Tyron!

The plot was predictable and riddled with convenient happenings. Connor just happens to have been born with the ability to understand animals (great for when Wren gets herself turned into a dog). Grown men — trained soldiers — can be easily beaten if you throw pepper in their faces, or even dirt at a pinch (who needs weapons, anyways?). There is always a poor cottager of some kind or another who will take in travelers for the night, give them a nice warm meal, and load them with useful gifts at parting. Oh, and there are language spells so you don't have to waste time actually studying the language; you can just magically attain it.

With the poor characterization, sometimes laughable dialogue, predictable plot, clunky writing, and just generally unimpressive everything, Wren to the Rescue will very likely be the only Sherwood Smith book I'll ever pick up. Can't recommend this one, except as fodder for snarky review-writing. show less

Wren is a young orphan whose bff Tess confesses that far from being an orphan too, she's actually their country's princess. The time has come for Tess to stop hiding from her parents' enemies, and she takes Wren along to the palace for courage and companionship. Once there, they see the king and queen--but Tess is abruptly kidnapped! While the powerful nobility gather their forces for war, Wren slips away unnoticed to mount her own rescue attempt. She is quickly joined by two Mage prentices, who have secrets and causes of their own. The three young would-be-heroes undertake the quest together.

The plot itself is fairly simple and straightforward. It's the characterization that shines here. Wren is the very definition of "pluck": stalwart show more and true to her friends, always resourceful and cheerful. Far too many fantasy novels [i]tell[/i] us that the companions become friends, but this quest showcases their growing trust and friendship. And I 100% bought that Tess and Wren had been friends since infancy, from their in-jokes to their rock-hard belief in each other.

This is a really sweet fantasy novel, particularly for tweens. There's no forced romance, but there's loads of believable, heartfelt friendships and low-key heroism. show less

Not bad, not great. I like Wren, but there's an awful lot of very convenient special powers here - and the mage (apprentice) is the weakest of the lot. There's also a lot of secret guiding and watching-over - their quest would have failed, several times over, without that secret help. And the solution to the disaster turns into the solution to the quest - if Wren had been herself, they would never have been able to escape. As I said, very convenient. I probably will read the sequels, but I'm not excited to do so.

Campy, yet fun. It took a while for this book to build momentum, and sometimes doubted the choice to switch POVs, but the ride was enjoyable once it got going. The ending, however, felt anticlimactic, particularly when the last problem solved itself.

This book starts one of my favorite YA fantasy series. Wren is an excellent heroine. I like that she is not the most beautiful or the smartest, but she is clever and brave and full of surprises. I read this when I was a kid at my library and was so excited to find there were sequels. This started my love affair with Sherwood Smith. A fun and satisfying read.

A fairly simple read and a semi-classic fantasy. Prisoner taken, questors head off to the big-bad fortress to rescue said prisoner. But still, it was a fun, and fairly light read. The children were a bit younger than I expected, but they came across well enough to be able to handle the adventure, and when the main character gets shape-changed things take an interesting little twist. Good ending, and all comes right, as a proper story should. Nothing to heavy or dark in the story, so it was quite enjoyable for a light read. I did find the 'modern' speech of the children a little bit odd, given the 'medieval' type world they were in, but it did make it easier to follow rather than stiff speech that one might otherwise expect.