relliem08's review against another edition
4.0
There are 35 books in this particular series. I've read three and intend to read the rest.
josephfinn's review against another edition
3.0
Just not enough good stuff for me to give it a higher rating this year.
alexctelander's review against another edition
3.0
From the science fiction author of Escapement and Mainspring comes something totally different. Green is clear a novel that Jay Lake has put a lot of heart and soul into, with carefully chosen wordings and phrasings, along with a unique story. The first in a trilogy, Green is a book that will be a welcoming read to those who’ve ever felt they didn’t belong and will be an eye-opener for those who’ve never experienced this.
Green is a girl sold by her father at a very young age and stolen from the simple world she has known and forced into a form of servitude and training. While she doesn’t know what she is being trained for at first, it is grueling, abusive, forcing her to lock away the simple memories of her father and home for protection. Her training ranges from cooking and the making of clothes, to the martial arts and the use of weapons. She soon knows she has few friends in this harsh world. Eventually she will be sold from the Pomegranate Court to become a concubine to some man she’s never met, under the orders of the Duke.
Named Emerald at the end of her training and the arrival of her “monthly courses,” she proclaims herself Green, killing the mistress who beat her for years, and escaping the confines of the court, leaving the town of Copper Downs, and fleeing back to her home, hoping for love, respect, and a place to belong. There she finds a father who doesn’t remember, and the ox Endurance – her symbol of survival – a withered, dying animal. Fate takes her back to Copper Downs, now a trained assassin, she becomes wrapped up in the political intrigue, becoming a formidable adversary to anyone stepping in her path.
A fantasy world with an oriental flavor that has gods and goddesses who are real and live with us, but at the same time are not infallible. Lake also introduces unusual creatures who live among the peoples and proudly crosses the “bestiality” line much as he did in Mainspring, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Lake should be somewhat applauded for doing this with a character who has never belonged or fitted in anywhere.
Green is a book with poetical lines and paragraph that force to the reader to take their time. This may force some to give up, but the result by the end of the book is a magical tale that is well worth the read from cover to cover.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
Green is a girl sold by her father at a very young age and stolen from the simple world she has known and forced into a form of servitude and training. While she doesn’t know what she is being trained for at first, it is grueling, abusive, forcing her to lock away the simple memories of her father and home for protection. Her training ranges from cooking and the making of clothes, to the martial arts and the use of weapons. She soon knows she has few friends in this harsh world. Eventually she will be sold from the Pomegranate Court to become a concubine to some man she’s never met, under the orders of the Duke.
Named Emerald at the end of her training and the arrival of her “monthly courses,” she proclaims herself Green, killing the mistress who beat her for years, and escaping the confines of the court, leaving the town of Copper Downs, and fleeing back to her home, hoping for love, respect, and a place to belong. There she finds a father who doesn’t remember, and the ox Endurance – her symbol of survival – a withered, dying animal. Fate takes her back to Copper Downs, now a trained assassin, she becomes wrapped up in the political intrigue, becoming a formidable adversary to anyone stepping in her path.
A fantasy world with an oriental flavor that has gods and goddesses who are real and live with us, but at the same time are not infallible. Lake also introduces unusual creatures who live among the peoples and proudly crosses the “bestiality” line much as he did in Mainspring, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Lake should be somewhat applauded for doing this with a character who has never belonged or fitted in anywhere.
Green is a book with poetical lines and paragraph that force to the reader to take their time. This may force some to give up, but the result by the end of the book is a magical tale that is well worth the read from cover to cover.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
frantic_vampire's review against another edition
3.0
This was about a 3.5 for me. It was a really good book, but there was a LOT to get through in the beginning of this book. The last quarter of the book picked up the pace quite a bit and it was better. Overall it was a great read, it just took a while to get through it all.
catevari's review against another edition
4.0
One of de Bodard's Xuya stories; this one takes place in Xuya, but the cast is largely Mexican. Like "The Lost Xuyan Bride", this is a rather noirish feeling mystery, something that reminds me, very tangentially, of William Gibson or Phillip K Dick; that futuristic griminess and texture, but also the joy (for the reader) in discovering this beautifully constructed, real-feeling world.
Like the other Xuya stories, there's a starkly drawn theme of half-ness; people caught painfully between societies, the difficulty of not fitting into the place you came from or where you are.
Like the other Xuya stories, there's a starkly drawn theme of half-ness; people caught painfully between societies, the difficulty of not fitting into the place you came from or where you are.
zizabeph's review against another edition
2.0
Not what I expected, at several turns. I kept expecting it to go one way, but it went another and I enjoyed it less for it. The premise was good, but I feel like it left that behind after the first 100 pages. Also, the sex/masochism aspects felt either tacked on carelessly or edited so thoroughly that they lost all meaning to the character.
After the first few chapters, I couldn't wait to find out what was happening and get the next book. After finishing this, I'll give any further books a pass. Sad, because I really could have liked this character and this world.
After the first few chapters, I couldn't wait to find out what was happening and get the next book. After finishing this, I'll give any further books a pass. Sad, because I really could have liked this character and this world.
quorumbutton's review against another edition
3.0
This is 300% a character exploration novel. There is some plot, but it's not particularly compelling and doesn't live up to the hype of the back cover; Green is an interesting character, but I wasn't really into her arc. While the book sets her up as having agency, it doesn't feel like it and it kept jarring me out of the flow of the book -- I kept going "no, you really don't" whenever she'd say she had a choice. Which, yes, a lot of the book is about how choices are really just based on the life you've lived up until that point, but... I just didn't really feel it. Also there was just... so much sex that didn't need to be there. It wasn't terribly written, but I was like 'why. i don't want this.'
That said, the language was engaging and I actually did like Green as a character! It's just everything else that was meh.
That said, the language was engaging and I actually did like Green as a character! It's just everything else that was meh.
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