Oldies But Goodies
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: The Willful
Princess and the Piebald Prince
and Words Like Coins (The
Realm of the Elderlings)
by Robin Hobb
by Karen S. Wiesner
Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review.
Robin Hobb is the author of The Realm of the Elderlings. Within this umbrella series, she's written five "miniseries" and numerous short stories. In previous Alien Romances Blog posts, I've reviewed The Inheritance & Other Stories, which contains a couple Realm of the Elderlings offerings. I also reviewed the first trilogy of novels within this series, The Farseer Trilogy. Do a search on both of them if you missed them previously.
After recovering from the intensity of that first offering, I took a month or so off before I could get myself to read anything else the author has written within this overarching saga. Following that break, I was able to read two miscellaneous novellas in the series, "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" and "Words Like Coins" which are the focus of this review. I was only able to buy ebook versions for both of these stories, which disappointed me as a collector. If I love a series, I want tangible copies.
I was expecting to dislike both of these stories since I've found I prefer Robin Hobb's full-length novels immeasurably more than her short work (especially the stuff written under her real name Megan Lindholm), but I was very impressed with both of these short tales. I read them within a few hours. "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" was the first I read. I opened "Words Like Coins" immediately after, and I simply couldn't put it down.
"The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" was published January 1, 2013. It's referred to as a prequel to The Farseer Trilogy (#0.5). At 159 pages, the novella takes places before the time of Chivalry Farseer (Fitz's father from the original trilogy), and deals with another imprudent royal. Princess Caution Farseer is anything like her name. As queen-in-waiting, she's headstrong and rash. Caution has absolutely no interest in learning anything about the duties, responsibilities, and politics of running a kingdom, and rules and regulations have nothing to do with her! Caution falls in love with a Witted (a human bonded with an animal, allowing them to share thoughts and behavior) man with piebald markings. He possesses a piebald horse that will act tame with none other than himself. Caution literally throws all care to the wind and becomes pregnant by this Witted one. But can a happily-ever-after be in store for a spoiled princess and a man who's partly beast through his Witted skills?
The story is told from the unvarnished point of view of Felicity, a low-born who becomes a sometimes treacherous companion to the princess almost from birth. Felicity more often than not follows the ill-advised, selfish wisdom of her own mother, and this leads to her own downfall as well as that of her charge. That made for some very excited reading! While it was often difficult to feel sorry for many of the characters in this novella, since they made their own beds, so to speak, with their poor choices and behavior, the plot nevertheless held me enthralled from start to finish.
This tale serves as a kind of explanation about why the Witted are looked upon with such disdain in The Farseer Trilogy and more firmly establishes Fitz's origins there.
"Words Like Coins" (first published in the 2009 anthology A Fantasy Medley) is considered Book number 1.5 in The Realm of the Elderlings. The 10,000 word tale was published as a standalone ebook on May 10, 2012.
Mirrifen is the failed apprentice of a hedge witch (utilizing "natural" herbal magic). She married for security, as did her sister-in-law Jami, who's pregnant. When their husbands go off in search of work, a severe drought overtakes the farm in their absence. Rats accumulate, and Jami becomes paranoid about the fact that rats are rumored to bring pecksies.
A pecksie is a mythological fey creature (something like a pixie) about half the size of a cat. Humans can bind them by providing assistance to one, who will then give favors. Pecksies don't take kindly to any human doing this to them, of course, since the binding can't be reversed. Jami relates the story about how her folks tried to bind a pecksie and soon paid the price when they were overrun with them.
Mirrifen doesn't believe a word of it--until she comes across a pecksie who begs for a drink at the well, even if it means she'll be bound to Mirrifen. The fey brags that her people hunt in silence, no words necessary. "Words are like coins. To spend carefully, as they are needed only. Not to scatter like humans do." But her people are too small to draw water from the well. Only Mirrifen can help them.
When she does, the binding between them is accomplished. This particular pecksie is a charm-maker. When Jami and her baby need help, the only one capable of saving her may not be Mirrifen but the pecksie Jami fears most.
"Words Like Coins" is such a delightful tale with irresistible characters and a conflict that's not easily solved. As I said, I read it in almost no time at all, since I couldn't put it down until I found out how it resolved.
While "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" has a direct connection to the world and characters the previous trilogy created with the Farseer kingdom and royal line origins, "Words Like Coins" is simply a story that takes place somewhere in that world without any real connection beyond the author's word for it that it's related. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Both are definitely worth your time and money. "The Willful Princess" will only set you back $5.99, "Words Like Coins" $2.99.
As I'm writing this, I'm in the process of reading the next novels in the series with The Liveship Traders Trilogy, so that review is coming up soon.
Karen Wiesner is an award-winning,
multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.
Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Find out more about her books and see her art
here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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