(no subject)

[skygiants]

Not everything I've been reading recently is grim or horrific! Sherwood Smith's Lhind the Thief is a fluffy fantasy romp involving magic and vague politics and more secret royalty than you can shake a stick at.

The protagonist, Lhind, is a orphan thief who gets picked up and carried off by some mysterious individuals one day after accidentally doing some concerningly impressive magic right in front of them. The mysterious individuals make most of a full D&D group, including a bard, a grumpy noble, and a nerdy mage-scribe named Hlanan.

HLANAN: Lhind, now that we've traveled together for a quarter of the book and you've resolutely refused to change or let anyone close enough to get a good look at you, I'm starting to get this feeling that you've got a SECRET.
LHIND: Mmmmmmmmmmmaybe.
HLANAN: I don't mean to be rude, but is it possible that you're secretly a woman in disguise?
LHIND: Well ... I mean yes ... but that's sort of incidental compared with the fact that I'm secretly some kind of fuzzy elf with fur all over my body except my face and hands?

Yes, friends: Lhind is, in fact, JUST ENOUGH DUDE! Except not a dude, so I now need a term for this. Suggestions are welcome.

Lhind's species, which she eventually learns the name of but we're just going to call them fuzzy elves because I can't remember what it is, can talk with animals, have nature-tuned magical powers, and can occasionally fly. They also have beautiful flowing silvery hair all over, which apparently everyone finds very attractive in-universe. (Culturally, I suppose there is no reason a country full of people raised that shouldn't find yetis attractive.)

The rest of the book basically just involves Lhind Learning To Trust while consistently saving everybody's lives from various conspiracies with her super magical powers. There's a good magical MacGuffin and an evil magical MacGuffin and some politics around an evil sorcerous kingdom which I had a hard time following, and, again, let me repeat: if you're frustrated with secret royalty, this is absolutely not the book for you. However, if you would like some fun fantasy fluff, it very well might be!

Comments

[china_shop]

a fluffy fantasy romp

some kind of fuzzy elf with fur all over my body

I see what you did there. :-)

[skygiants]

>.>

[jothra]

Still have not thought of a good alternate name. I want to do something with the word 'chick' as the opposite of 'dude', but the rhyme scheme is unfortunate at best.

[skygiants]

English doesn't have good casual words for women! How are we supposed to make jokes like this without good casual words for women, English. >:(

[sovay]

Yes, friends: Lhind is, in fact, JUST ENOUGH DUDE!

Is this a meme?

[luzula]

I did not get this either (and an internet search didn't shed light on it).

[skygiants]

Ha, no, as I said to Sonya below, it's a running joke from past reviews of -- well, mostly Mercedes Lackey novels, since she is the most notable perpetrator of "just animal enough to be dramatic, just human enough to make sex logistically simple!"

[luzula]

Ha, okay! : )

[skygiants]

Ha, it's like a very very small meme! It's a longstanding joke between jothra and me about Mercedes Lackey and her habit of including part-animal love interests who were never too much animal to make sex difficult. "A wolf, but only from the nipples up and the knees down!"

[sovay]

"A wolf, but only from the nipples up and the knees down!"

Gotcha!

(Man, The Eagle and the Nightingale sounds terrible.)

[jothra]

NO IT'S AMAZING

Just in a terrible way.