BINGO: Red, what a fantastic dress our female hero’s got on
What a funny book, I knew it was something something but I didn’t bother to look too closely before picking it up — while I’ve found her Hurricane Wars series a bit uneven, Guanzon’s earlier fannish work remains some of my all time faves. I’ve grown out of the descriptions of clothes for sure, but she’s got a deft touch for dialogue and scene setting…and a very good touch when it comes to frick frack 😉
If I had to describe, this book has strong Tangled vibes — Gwendoline as Rapunzel, Oskar as Flynn, the fire spirit the magic hair, etc. I’m not pooh poohing the set up, merely letting you know what you’re getting into. It’s Guanzon so yes there’s a large size disparity between our teeny tiny heroine and our hulky handsome hero. And yes, when I say size disparity everything is consistent. Everyone’s tearing each other’s clothes off constantly, and every villain is choreographed in advance. I also don’t quite understand the magic system however in this case I don’t particularly care.
I liked that Gwendoline’s kindness and optimism are consistently (and hilariously) used as strengths as opposed to opportunities for her to be a damsel in distress. She could wander off and get herself into a world of trouble, but instead she writes a note, is stopped on her way out, and then they both sit and talk about why they’re on edge. It’s all very civilized, even if every god forsaken inn they stop in only has only one bed (quelle horreur).
So now, what this is: this is the novelization of an inside joke made during the second campaign in an ongoing series of D&D campaigns by a group of professional voice actors. One character, in the middle of a bookstore -and- a subplot wherein she was trying to seduce the character played her IRL husband, bought an in-universe romantasy whose characters, as shared over the course of the campaign, were thinly veiled representations of her and her husband. This, then, is that novel in the flesh.
As such, it’s probably not that surprising that I liked this on par with Guanzon’s earlier work — it’s fanfiction, sort of, because there are enough details for a casual reader with no awareness of the history to enjoy the plot. The chemistry and plot between Gwendoline and Oskar felt real, or as real as it can be between half orcs and wildfire eldritches. Can recommend.