skygiants | (no subject)

I picked up Lee Welch's Seducing the Sorcerer because I liked the idea of having a tired middle-aged unemployed ex-con as romantic hero -- the protagonist is a down-on-his luck former groom with a jail record, in a fantasy world where magic cars have now largely replaced horses, who's tramping around the countryside looking for work when he accidentally acquires a horrifying magical uncanny valley hobbyhorse that brings him to the tower of the local Sinister Evil Sorcerer and Grand Vizier who is Rumored to be Scheming to Marry the Queen.

Of course the Sinister Evil Sorcerer turns out to actually be perfectly nice, just stressed and working hard to maintain a rep, and of course they eventually fall in love, and it's all very sweet and tbh a couple degrees fluffier than I expected from the premise.

But I'll be honest, the perfectly sweet romance was put in the shade for me by the relationship between the horse-obsessed protagonist and his new horrifying magical uncanny valley hobbyhorse. At first he's like "OH GOD WHAT IS THIS THING," and then he decides that even if it's a horrifying magical uncanny valley hobbyhorse it has got to learn proper horse manners, and there are several incredible scenes where he's trying really hard to have normal horse "how many hands is it, then?" conversations about it -- anyway, tl;dr, the plot eventually turns on this man's deep affection and sense of responsibility for his sentient flying pile of straw with a foot-long cloth tongue, and my heart was moved! Call up the ghost of Dick Francis and tell him that he has a challenger!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

happydork

This is INCREDIBLE oh my goodness. What a perfect darling horsie!

From:

skygiants

It's a beautiful nightmare horse and I'm so glad that it ends up receiving its due!

From:

osprey_archer

Are we ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that Lee Welch is a real person and not, in fact, a pseudonym that Dick Francis is using from Beyond the Grave? "A sentient flying pile of straw is PROBABLY too far off brand for me, but if I made up a new pen name..." thinks Ghost Dick Francis.

From:

genarti

Ghost Mary Francis: "so we did piloting books, and of course they were all horse books, and we combined them where we put the horses INTO the planes and flew them around, but what IF--"

From:

skygiants

Now the tenor of the prose is not particularly reminiscent of Dick's vein of straightforward semi-thriller but I would not be at ALL surprised to learn that Ghost Dick Francis visited Lee Welch's dreams, whispered several plot points into a sleeping ear, and then sat smugly back to see what resulted.

From:

osprey_archer

Ghost Dick Francis feels that he has earned his rest and does not wish to write whole BOOKS from the afterlife, but if he occasionally has a good idea or two and can find a receptive ear...

From:

chestnut_pod

Oh my god, I HAVE to read this book about this horrifying magical uncanny valley hobbyhorse.

From:

skygiants

Do I want one? Absolutely not. Do I wholeheartedly love it and wish it the best in all its endeavors? ABSOLUTELY yes.

From:

sovay

At first he's like "OH GOD WHAT IS THIS THING," and then he decides that even if it's a horrifying magical uncanny valley hobbyhorse it has got to learn proper horse manners, and there are several incredible scenes where he's trying really hard to have normal horse "how many hands is it, then?" conversations about it

Apparently I am indifferent to the romance as described, but all here for the hobbyhorse neepery.

[edit] "down-on-his luck former groom with a jail record, in a fantasy world where magic cars have now largely replaced horses, who's tramping around the countryside looking for work" does in fact sound like a Dick Francis protagonist who fell over sideways into a secondary world, just by slightly different routes than Howell Jenkins. (Speaking of sorcerers with bad reputations.)

Edited Date: 2021-11-06 07:55 pm (UTC)

From:

skygiants

Right, like, Welch and Francis have very different styles on a prose level but the protagonist does very much feel like a character concept page from Francis' notebook that got wafted out of his notebook by a stray breeze and ended up on Welch's desk, sending this whole book charmingly sideways in the direction of the stables.

From:

snickfic

I've mostly sworn off pro romance, but you've made a really compelling argument. I too need a story about a sad ex-con groom and his terrifying magical straw horse.

From:

skygiants

The man loves horses so much and I was just so glad that he and his horrifying monstrawsity found happiness together!

$cyphomandra: fractured brooding landscape (Default)$

From:

cyphomandra

Ooh I liked her first book a lot but UNCANNY HOBBYHORSE. Off to click!

From:

skygiants

I've heard good things about the first and will probably pick it up at some point soon!

From:

zero_pixel_count

Thank you for the rec - I badly needed something to take my mind off the firework noise this evening, and apparently this was it. (Bawling over elderly horses notwithstanding.)

From:

skygiants

You're so welcome, I'm very glad it turned out to be a right book at the right time! (I KNOW THAT WAS SO SAD ;___;)

From:

zero_pixel_count

(I am SO PREDICTABLE at crying about horses mind you)

From:

littlerhymes

As soon as I read "down-on-his luck former groom" I was like "this sounds so Dick Francis". But a uncanny valley hobbyhorse? Even better than I hoped for.

From:

skygiants

The character concept is intensely Francis, the prose doesn't read much like it (but is charming in its own right!) but the combination did very much make me wish that someone had bribed Francis into writing a fantasy novel at some point because I would have truly loved to see what that looked like. LOTR with a laser focus on the stables and nothing else ... conceptually perfect tbh.

From:

copperfyre

This sounds truly amazing! I love all the Dick Francis ghost writing suggestions.

From:

skygiants

Me TOO. I for one welcome the ghost of Dick Francis if he ever chooses to come whisper plot points in my ear!

From:

rachelmanija

SOLD.

ETA: And it's only $3.99!

Edited Date: 2021-11-07 02:36 am (UTC)

From:

skygiants

A BARGAIN AT THE PRICE.

From:

issenllo

Wow. Thanks for the rec!

From:

skygiants

You're very welcome, hope you enjoy it if you read!

From:

glitteryv

Oh, I didn't know abt the hobbyhorse!

IIRC, I'd considered reading this book because I'd noticed that the protags were older than they tend to be in most romances. And I also remember liking Welch's previous book. I might end up picking it up sometime next month cuz your review made it sound quite delightful. :P