(no subject)

rymenhild has been talking about Ruritanian romance recently, so it seemed like a good time to remember I had The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau hanging around my Kindle to be reread at some point.

The Prisoner of Zenda is the great-great-granddaddy of Ruritanian romance, seeing as it is set in, you know, Ruritania.

Our Hero, Rudolf Rassendyll, is one of those dashing-but-idle young sprigs of British nobility who decides to take a visit to Ruritania, mostly because his great-grandmother is well-known to have had an affair with a former king. The rest of his family is pretty embarrassed by this; Rudolf's attitude is essentially GET IT GRANDMA.

Rudolf then bumps into the Crown Prince and king-to-be, to whom he has a CONVENIENT RESEMBLANCE. The Crown Prince throws a party to celebrate his new cousin! . . . at which he proceeds to get a.) drunk and b.) drugged.

THE KING'S ADVISORS: Ohhhh shit the king is going to miss his own coronation. THIS IS SO NOT GOOD.
RUDOLF: Huh, awkward! Wish there was something I could do to help!
THE KING'S ADVISORS: . . .
RUDOLF: . . .
THE KING'S ADVISORS: . . .
RUDOLF: . . .
THE KING'S ADVISORS: :D?

So Rudolf is officially crowned king -- just for a day! -- except, of course, then the actual crown prince gets kidnapped in addition to being drugged. Meanwhile, everyone discovers to their chagrin that they like Rudolf better than the real king anyway, because Rudolf is super dashing, and also has a sense of humor. This gets especially awkward when 'everyone' includes the king's sort-of-fiancee.

You guessed it: HIJINKS ENSUE.

It's all very witty and swashbuckling and deeply enjoyable, and, in a weird way, kind of oddly subverts the entire idea of an inherited monarchy -- like, the plot is all about putting the rightful king on the throne, except by the end of the book everyone has pretty much acknowledged outright that the rightful king is not really very good at his anything and this completely random dude is in fact way better at filling the role, and nobody's really very sure at all why they are working so hard to get the king back except out of what is essentially force of habit.

(I should note that kinging, in this context, mostly appears to involve being a cheerful and charismatic figurehead, and very little in the way of actual politics. Possibly this is going to change when WWI hits. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT, RURITANIA. Although, actually, now I really want the fic about Queen Flavia steering Ruritania through WWI!)

Anyway, the fact that the king is not very good at his job and everyone likes this other random dude who turned up better comes back to bite them all in the ass in the sequel, Rupert of Hentzau. Rupert of Hentzau is much, much less fun than Prisoner of Zenda. Partly this is because Prisoner of Zenda is narrated by Rudolf, who has this witty, swashbuckling tone that is fun to read in all circumstances, and Rupert of Hentzau is narrated instead by Rudolf's Ruritanian BFF Fritz. I like Fritz -- and, in a sidenote, Flavia/Rudolf/Fritz/Helga would make for a perfect sedoretu -- but he is a much more serious person and his voice is far less entertaining than Rudolf's.

The bigger problem, though, is that Prisoner of Zenda is a book about a presumably incompetent person turning out to be unexpectedly competent, and Rupert of Hentzau is a book about a lot of competent people acting unexpectedly incompetent. Which is a shame.

If you have a favorite Ruritanian romance, by the way, please rec it in comments! I know Rym has the bug currently and she has infected me as well; a reread of A College of Magics is also on my list for the near future.

(no subject)

So, hey, Internet . . . can you give me a heads-up if you see any pictures of me floating around?

Context: I am sitting on the subway, reading my Kindle, and the woman next to me gives me a nudge. I look over, and she asks, "Do you know that man opposite us - the one with the phone?"

I give a quick look and see a man with a cell phone, giving off faint vibes of sketch, and respond that I do not.

"Well," she says quietly, "he's been taking photos of you with his phone."

I look up again, and Sketchy Gentleman With Phone -- which is, indeed, open and pointed in my direction -- hastily puts his phone away as soon as he sees me looking and avoids my eyes.

My stop is the next one, so at this point I thank the woman who tipped me off, get up and leave, thoroughly creeped out.

I would like to hope that I am maligning Sketchy Gentleman With Phone and he is in fact a perfectly un-sketchy if tactless person taking pictures for a Humans of New York-style tumblr or something!

I sort of doubt it, and I sort of doubt the photos will end up anywhere traceable.

But, just for the record, today I am wearing a short black skirt with a flower print and a short-sleeved turquoise open-weave shirt over a white tank top, so if you see any photos of a girl on a subway with a Kindle answering this description, please link them back here; I'd really appreciate it.