Jacob Proffitt's Reviews> General Winston's Daughter

I picked this up when I realized there was a Sharon Shinn stand-alone I hadn't read, yet. And I'm glad I did, as it's a powerful story. I was a little concerned when I realized how deliberately it had been setup as a critique of imperialism (though with the labels rubbed off). Averie's country is an obvious stand-in for Great Britain though I wouldn't spend too much time looking for exact analogs from there.

Anyway, Shinn is wise enough not to paint the imperialist Aebrians as any more evil than was reasonable. Indeed, she stuck to a relatively benign depiction with Averie's father, the eponymous general, as the mostly-benevolent governor of Chiarrin who is happy to leave the natives to live their own lives so long as his country gets the resources they came for (mostly an open port strategically placed to oppose the Continental European analogs). So Chiarrin was stomped on for strategic reasons and the natives left mostly alone. So most of the book is Averie getting to know the Chiarrizi culture and learning to love it in her own way. And along the way she learns about life and love and other things that make this story a multi-layered feast, including a very charming romance that I enjoyed very much, indeed.

In the end, I think Shinn did a good job, though I quibble with some of the details of how she put the story together. Unfortunately, these aregreat, huge, honking spoilersso only go there if you have zero interest in experiencing this story the way it is meant to be enjoyed. I groaned when(view spoiler)[I learned of the "Broken Gods" of the Chiarrizi, for example, because if ever there were a belief system setup to throw off powerful imperialists they were these. And not because of anything supernatural. Rather, the values they embody and venerate are those that would see a people through great hardship and justify pretty much any action, any sacrifice, until they succeed or die(hide spoiler)].And I don't think(view spoiler)[Jalessa holds together, either. Shinn wants us to buy her as having been the conniving spy all along with a deep hatred for the invaders. And in the heat of the moment, that almost works because we see her hot hatred in the end as the city burns. Unfortunately, Jalessa was such an active presence in the story that her motivation doesn't really hold very well. Why take Averie to her home (which was just the day before the uprising and a wholly unnecessary invasion of her private space)? Or teach her the details of her culture? Or draw her into the private areas throughout the story? Yeah, she was trying to deceive and invite confidences, but there were much simpler ways she could have done so without opening up such vulnerability (and, coincidentally, risking their plan had Averie put the few clues together correctly). This might have worked better if there had been any hint that Jalessa was even a little bit reluctant or torn. But her actions and vehemence in that final confrontation take away that possibility and that just felt way too unreasonably automaton-ish to me.(hide spoiler)]

So the spoiler stuff drags this down to four stars, for me. Still, this is an outstandingly subtle romance, a delightful heroine who is genuine and kind and courageous, and very deft (and mature) handling of some tricky personal interactions in the relationships we're shown.

A note about Chaste:Being Regency-era Great Britain, the social norms are very much geared towards chaste relationships, so Averie and her paramour engage in some kissing, but nothing more. Which worked very well, I think.