Who recommends: Lori, JW, Preeti, Julie, Shelly, Tanya
Who discommends: Barbara

Literally the last book I read like this was Vonda McIntyre's THE MOON AND THE SUN. It was very much historical fiction, a story set in the Sun King's court (Louis XIV). The fantasy element came from the capture of a sea monster. While already forgetting most of the details, I do remember that the hero was reminiscent of Miles Vorkosigan: a brilliant and talented dwarf noble, favored by his King, but hated by most of the court. The heroine...darn if I can remember her. I think she was a young girl at court who manages to communicate with the sea "monster"

Okay, I enjoyed the book. A very nice read. I think it won the Nebula Award too.--Preeti

I have read and liked much of McIntyre's work, this one set a very long time setting the tone of the castle, with intrigues and long passages of establish "this is the way this world works". Found the subplots and eddies of plot dragging down the pace of my reading. A marvelous description that made you actually be there but now that you're there, so what? And I kept waiting and waiting. A very fascinating hero who remains somewhat hidden in motivations, which the plot didn't seem to help develop the charcter of. I found the ending satisfactory but was left with the feeling of "I spent all my time on that?"--Barbara

I started THE MOON AND THE SUN at breakfast and didn't put it down until I finished it just now. I haven't been this enthralled by a book in a long time. I can't really say anything new about it, so just note that it comes highly recommended by me, and cross one of the other books off my best SF/Rom of all time, because this one's on the list now. I've never read any of her books before. Are her others this good?--Shelly (07 Jan 00)>Shelly, I liked the book, but didn't have such a strong reaction to McIntyre's work as you did.--Preeti (08 Jan 99)

I love that kind of story, with a lot of depth and history and attention to detail. It reminded me of Feedom and Necessity (which I loved) because of that. I also love that period in history, being a Dumas freak. So the book had me from the start.--Shelly (08 Jan 00)

Just finished Vonda McIntyre's 'The Moon and the Sun' - which I enjoyed greatly [and managed to read ALL THE WAY THROUGH!] ... I would have preferred the list of characters to be at the end of the book, rather than the beginning, because it does give away things that Marie-Joseph learns only gradually: but the romance is sweet, and the setting is well-drawn. Not a perfect book - there are some flaws and internal inconsistencies, but nothing that really drew me up short.

Regrettably it has given me the urge to reread Dorothy Dunnett's 'Queen's Play' rather than get back to work on a database conversion, or my web site.--Tanya (06 Feb 00)