fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3833 ]

[ SECRET POST #3833 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3833 ⌋

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Joust

My overall impression of the book was moderately good.

Things I really liked:

-the aesthetic (ancient Egypt-style setting, yes please)
-the story
-the relationship between Vetch and Ari and between Vetch and Avatre

Things I didn't so much like:

-the prose - honestly the writing itself was mediocre to me, which is the main thing putting me off from seeking out the sequels right away, even though I want to see more of Vetch/Kiron's and Avatre's story
-while the characters were mostly enjoyable overall, the character development was weird and choppy at points

Incidentally, I read Throne of Jade (sequel to His Majesty's Dragon, a previous BC book and also a dragon novel centered on the relationship between dragons and their human companions) right after I read this, so it was hard not to make a comparison in my head. The Temeraire series is so, so good imo and I kept thinking "ooh, I definitely want to talk about this" before remembering that it wasn't the book we were reading for BC.

That said, I want to make it clear that I still enjoyed reading Joust. It wasn't at any point a chore, it just had some room for improvement. I wonder if the writing style improves as the series goes on?

Some highlights I particularly enjoyed:

-the scene where Khefti got his just desserts from the magistrate. I enjoyed that whole scene.
-Avatre bonding with Vetch. too cute tbh.
-Vetch bonding with Ari. I like relationships like that (in stories) that are on the surface standard master/servant relationships but behind closed doors are a lot more casual and more of a mentor relationship. And if anything, Vetch helped Ari as much as the other way around; it's like Ari really wanted to be a father and also didn't really have very many actual friends.

I find myself hoping for the future that the two of them are able to work together to make peace for their nations, and improve the lot of domestic dragons/dragons in general (honestly the dragons who aren't raised like Kashet or Avatre just have a really shitty deal :/ )

One thing that seemed really weird and inconsistent to me...while I generally enjoyed the worldbuilding, the rules on serfdom seemed pretty inconsistent. They talked about Vetch not being "freeborn" but like...he was. He was born into a free farming family and made into a serf when he was a child. Serfdom is spoken of as some kind of immutable, constant trait, but it's not? If one can be made into a serf, why not unmade? Why was Haraket given the power to free a slave, but not a serf? Or did he just not want to? :|a

What were your thoughts on the story overall? Any characters you particularly liked, or didn't? What were your thoughts on these dragons compared to dragons of other series we've read (if you're a dragon fan)? If you didn't like the story, why not? If you did like it, what stood out to you? Share your thoughts!

Vetch's conversation with Bakken explained the serf thing a little better. Essentially serfs are prisoners of war and slaves are a bit more like indentured servants. Vetch is a 'war criminal', so freeing him would have to mean returning him to the Altean government. I'm assuming there's no system in place for granting citizenship to war prisoners like re-granting it to Tians who became slaves or granting citizenship to slaves from countries not at war with them.

I posted above, also wanted to add I liked the fact the dragons were sort of horse-birds. I really like stories where dragons are clever animals, as opposed to being weird-shaped people. Especially kind of dumb weird-shaped people. (So HTTYD instead of Pern) I mean I like weird-shaped-people dragons too! But I slightly prefer them as pets.

That sort of makes sense, though their ways of determining who qualifies as a war criminal is so out of whack lol.

(Also Altan instead of Altean...Voltron fan or just random typo? :P)

So I geuss in simplest terms, an Altan "slave" would really be a serf? But surely not all of them are tied to land - what if they took one captive during actual fighting? Or maybe that wasn't allowed.

I'd love for her to go into that system a little more in future books.

I like all different kinds of dragons, though I suppose I somewhat prefer the ones who are sapient, smart pets is cool too. I mostly like the variety!

(back from vacation!)

Overall, I enjoyed the story and found it to be a quick read. That said, the story did have some flaws.

I really liked Ari and Vetch's relationship, though it was odd how they did mention Ari only seeking out professional women to not form attachments and that he wasn't part of the court and avoided those women. I get that we're in a very male dominated world with the dragons, but it seemed a little forced about professional women and the different classes.

I really did like Ari and especially the end how he helped Vetch out. I did enjoy the story enough to check out the sequel, so we'll see when it comes in at the library. I liked the bits about the dragon history but you could definitely sense the world building because I didn't really understand the whole war and Jousters but maybe the sequel will help with that.

It did take a little bit to get into the novel, but once I got going, I finished it in about a day.

I also do see our tendency as a book club to pick fantasy novels so I'd be curious to see what would happen if we start to switch it up and pick genre months?

(How was your vacation? :D)

Yeah it was weird that they specifically pointed out Ari's avoidance of romance, it didn't seem to really have any relevance to the rest of the story. Like she kind of dropped wherever she was going with it.

I can think of at least one interesting plausible explanation - maybe Ari avoided relationships with nobles specifically, and wasn't it usually noblewomen who were propositioning him? Maybe Ari had major qualms with nobility, them being the ones who ordered acts of war, and didn't want to be enmeshed with them. IDK. He seemed to have a lot of general contempt for anyone else of any kind of rank.

I definitely need to see history of the war. To some extent it seems we're supposed to be sympathetic with Alta, but maybe they have committed atrocities just as bad. In war there often are no "good guys".

Let me know if you read the sequel! I should read it too. (I mostly just want to follow Kiron and Avatre's story and see if they find success in establishing a free life for themselves in Alta.)

What do you mean by "genre months" - are you talking about having themed months? I am really not sure how well that would go down, but I can bring it up. (Not for next month though since I've already started taking recs)

(Vacation was amazing. I went to Niagara Falls and really luck out with weather. I want to go back!)

I had no problem with Ari's avoiding the nobles, but that she was so insistent that he did enjoy pleasures but only with women he wouldn't have to make an attachment with seemed out of place. It could have been phrased more about him not wanting to get married and leave behind a widow, which was hinted at because Jousters very rarely live long enough to retire.

I feel like because it's from Vetch who was treated so horribly, we want to be sympathetic to Alta but we know nothing of what led to the war because for Vetch's young life, it wasn't a threat, just something distant.

And yes, for genre months, I mean theme months. Let's see how the next few months pan out, just because it seems like we've had a lot of dragon books and I'd love to read more diverse books besides dragons. Or maybe it just seems like it because those are the months I can participate (or try to participate)

(wasn't logged in, oops, that's me above)

(haha I figured it was you)

Yeah I guess maybe that was a little heavy-handed to some people even if it didn't seem that way to me.

I wonder if Ari is going to be a major character in future books. I'm ambivalent as to whether I want that. I really just want more Kiron

I don't know if I want him to be a major character but I'm curious to see if Ari will show up later. This book was so focused on Vetch/Kiron and in Tian, I'm curious to see the rest of the world.

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[ SECRET POST #3833 ]

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