Daughter of Mystery

Maisetra, we can’t be friends. You can’t make it work. It would be too easy for me to forget myself. Let me do my duty to you and let it be enough.

Full disclosure: I first picked up this book years ago and DNF'ed it pretty quickly because it just failed to grab my interest. Recently, a friend got me to give it another chance, and the same thing almost happened again. Except this time I decided to stick with the book because my friend was so enamoured with it, and usually our tastes run towards similar things. As a result, I did find a good number of things to enjoy about this story, but it definitely took its time growing on me.
When I look back at the book trying to determine what made the first half such a slog, I think maybe a part of it is the slow pacing. Possibly another part is that I always struggle a bit with "Ruritanian" stories, because inserting a brand-new country into a familiar continent with its historical political landscape immediately gets my mind worked up around too much stuff. How does this influence things for real life countries? How does the inclusion of this new geopolitical unit make the entire continent/world work? Oh, we've added magic, too? Hang on, I need flowcharts for all the possibilities. :D That's a total "me" problem, but getting plagued by all those big questions definitely makes it hard to focus on quiet, nearly slice-of-life story like Daughter of Mystery. Perhaps this is why I usually prefer secondary world SFF stories that can be experienced independently of real world history and such.

Back to the book, though: I did enjoy big parts of this quiet, nearly slice-of-life story. Margerit and Barbra both were compelling, fully realized characters. Barbra perhaps more so for me, when it comes to the "compelling" part, mostly because the situation she was in was more interesting and complicating than the more familiar "oh, suddenly I'm a rich heiress!" trope around Margerit. I did feel like this trope was handled well, exploring a lot of the implications of a situation like this, and I thought Margert acted rather cleverly about the whole thing. Sure, she made a number of mistakes along the way, but they were understandable mistakes for someone so young and inexperienced in these matters. But she applied her brain, she kept her eyes open, and she learned, making me believe that this young woman was aiming to be a scholar, not just dreaming of being a scholar. I also really liked how the world was repeatedly shown through different lenses: you can look at things from the "glittering society" level, you can then see how it all works for the servants, then there are all the midway vantage points, etc.

In the same vein, I enjoyed that the initial power imbalance between Margerit and Barbra (because of their "lady and bodyguard" positions) was fully acknowledged and worked with. I do have a bit of mixed feelings about their romance as a whole, though; the pacing of the romantic plotline felt somewhat uneven. First, a lot of thought was put into the slow development of friendship and trust, and then the jump from that to somewhat heated romantic feelings felt rushed and out of sync with the rest of the book. It felt like there were a couple of scenes maybe missing at the time of that transition.

The magical part of the worldbuilding was pretty interesting, with all the mixture of Catolicism and magic; even though some things confused me (because "Ruritanian" stories always confuse me; see above), I was still able to enjoy and appreciate all the cool ideas. I also liked how the inclusion of real life religion didn't feel preachy at all, and the focus of the related scenes was more on the Saints than on God/Jesus.

All in all, this isn't the kind of book I'd call a favorite, but I liked far more about it than I didn't. It's not exactly my thing, but it's good. 

If you read [b:The Scarlet Pimpernel|136116|The Scarlet Pimpernel|Emmuska Orczy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406764899s/136116.jpg|750426], [b:Swordspoint|68485|Swordspoint (Riverside, #1)|Ellen Kushner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388903158s/68485.jpg|1453593], [b:The Magicians of Caprona|47525|The Magicians of Caprona (Chrestomanci, #4)|Diana Wynne Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356548904s/47525.jpg|1003821], or [b:A College of Magics|382870|A College of Magics (A College of Magics, #1)|Caroline Stevermer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389326269s/382870.jpg|1407092] and thought "But what if: lesbians?" then this book is for you.

So, Margarit is an unexpected Heiress, who is suddenly beset by suitors, when she would really rather find a way to go to (all male) college and study The Mysteries, a sort of religious magic that is simultaneously part of everyday life, and poorly understood. Margarit is so beset by suitors that she needs a bodyguard, so it's lucky that her rich uncle bequeathed her his duelist, the swordswoman Barbara.

Barbara doesn't know who she is, just that her father sold her to the old Baron in payment of a debt, and that the Baron raised her to parse law and fight duels, neither occupations for a woman. Now she's been left to an innocent girl who may mean well but hasn't the experience necessary to care for herself, much less help Barbara discover who she is.

The action is set in, you know, Varona. Caprona. Ruritania. Vaguely italian, somewhere mountainous and relatively secluded. The culture is richly drawn enough to be real and interesting, with its own language, history, religion, and mores. I suspect Jones has some background in the field of history, or is a very dedicated amateur. The action is mystical, political, and romantic, although I feel I should warn you there's no smut; it's all fade-to-black.

But the main point is the characters. You will care about Margarit and Barbara, and root for them to get together. In fact, you will care for random side-character #12-32, and kind of vaguely wonder what happens to #3. I want more people to read this book. I read it in less than 24 hours.

Also, I recommend that, if practical, you buy it from the publisher, where the books are DRM-free, and Amazon doesn't get a cut of the action. (Bellabooks.com)