The One-Armed Queen

Rating:
Summary: one of the most depressing books i've ever read...
Review: don't get me wrong. i LOVE this storyline, and the first two books were just exceptionally well-written. as one of the other reviewers mentioned, i love the interweaving of myth, legend, history, music, and story in these books, and the actual writing itself is excellent and believable and fast-paced... but this book feels too much like it was written under contract. i feel as though she just arbitrarily killed people off to leave as few loose ends as possible, and the "happily-ever-after" summing-up bit at the end feels hurried and stilted. none of this makes the story less _believable_; on the contrary, the story is reminiscent of some of the bloodier european wars of succession, but it doesn't hold true with the first two books. sure, people die in the first two -- main characters, even! but this is different.

all in all, i was absorbed but disappointed at the end. it was an unnecessary addition to the first two books, and if she didn't want to write it (my interpretation) she shouldn't have written it.

Rating:
Summary: one of the most depressing books i've ever read...
Review: don't get me wrong. i LOVE this storyline, and the first two books were just exceptionally well-written. as one of the other reviewers mentioned, i love the interweaving of myth, legend, history, music, and story in these books, and the actual writing itself is excellent and believable and fast-paced... but this book feels too much like it was written under contract. i feel as though she just arbitrarily killed people off to leave as few loose ends as possible, and the "happily-ever-after" summing-up bit at the end feels hurried and stilted. none of this makes the story less _believable_; on the contrary, the story is reminiscent of some of the bloodier european wars of succession, but it doesn't hold true with the first two books. sure, people die in the first two -- main characters, even! but this is different.

all in all, i was absorbed but disappointed at the end. it was an unnecessary addition to the first two books, and if she didn't want to write it (my interpretation) she shouldn't have written it.

Rating:
Summary: Keeps you on the edge of your seat
Review: Fabulous, exciting, and suprisingly ne

Rating:
Summary: A good read but....2 was enough.
Review: I agree with the previous reviewers. The first two books of the Great Alta series have a more mystic/bardic quality whereas the third seems to be somewhat dryer and 'historical'. I also felt that the story didn't really tie into 'letters to the editors', legend and myth sections of the book, or, if it did, I missed it.

I also don't remember the first two books [although violent in parts, there was a war afterall] being so gory...and for what purpose? Some of the descriptions [I'm being intentionally vague for those who have yet to read it] were very vivid, and yet didn't further the plot lines.

Make no mistake, I am a great Jane Yolen fan and am always questing for her books and short stories. [Check out 'The Stone Fey'. Listed as a children's book but with some wonderfully subtle adult themes.] I guess the Great Alta books are a hard act to follow.

Rating:
Summary: A let-down
Review: I am a great fan of Jane Yolen's writing - including the Books of the Great Alta. I read Sister Light, Sister Dark several years ago and was lucky enough to find a used copy of White Jenna when it was out of print.

I had high hopes for The One-Armed Queen, but I found it to be a major let-down. I guess that White Jenna really seemed like the end of the story to me - this book seems tacke onto the end. But aside from that, I just found it a little dull, and I had to force myself to keep reading. I've never had that experience with a Jane Yolen book before. Usually, I find her writing engrossing and I devour her books a few days after buying them.

If you're a fan of the Great Alta books, you might as well pick up The One-Armed Queen - but don't go into it with high expectations.

Rating:
Summary: Third-half syndrome...
Review: I first read "Sister Light, Sister Dark" when I was nine years old and spent five fervent years searching for its out-of-print sequel, "White Jenna." (Needless to say, now that the two have been reprinted as "The Books of Great Alta," I'm ecstatic.) Together the two books were a perfect pair, complementary halves as befitted a story set in a world whose major system deals with opposites and complements. I loved them.

This said, my problem with "The One-Armed Queen" has nothing to do with its characters, its setting, its pace, or its description. Admittedly, all aspects of the story pale slightly in comparison with the preceding two books, which are phenomenal, but on its own it is a fine, beautifully written, intriguing fantasy. I love the world of the Dales and the Continent, which feels a bit like some alternate British Isles; the societies are well-constructed, and the mythology and folklore are so solid as to be real. I enjoy the interweaving of story, song, and myth with historical interludes-most of the history rather inaccurate, as the pragmatic historian is trying to give concrete, realistic explanations of events that did in fact involve the supernatural (more evident in "The Books of Great Alta" than in "The One-Armed Queen")-and while I was a bit sorry to hear that the anonymous skeptic of the earlier books had died, I was quite pleased to see his daughter take over his work and be just as wrong as he was about what really happened. Story aside, all three books are a fascinating exercise in what happens to a story over time--how it evolves, what forms it takes in song and legend, and how it is reconstructed by historians a thousand years later. "The One-Armed Queen" is ten times better than much of the work out there, and definitely deserves to be read.

So what was the problem? As I mentioned earlier, "Sister Light, Sister Dark" and "White Jenna" are beautifully self-contained, complementary, and complete. The story, which finishes so fittingly at the end of "White Jenna," does not really need to be extended. Of course something happened afterward-something happens after the finish of every story-but the story of Scillia, daughter of Carum and Jenna, and her brothers Corrine and Jemson, the story of the War of Deeds and Succession ("a rather long name for a rather short period in our history"), really does not need to be told. I am glad that it was told, I enjoyed reading "The One-Armed Queen," but the story still feels faintly unnecessary in the wake of its predecessors. "Sister Light, Sister Dark" and "White Jenna" were powerful books. "The One-Armed Queen" is a good, thoughtful read. There's a difference.

Rating:
Summary: Third-half syndrome...
Review: I first read "Sister Light, Sister Dark" when I was nine years old and spent five fervent years searching for its out-of-print sequel, "White Jenna." (Needless to say, now that the two have been reprinted as "The Books of Great Alta," I'm ecstatic.) Together the two books were a perfect pair, complementary halves as befitted a story set in a world whose major system deals with opposites and complements. I loved them.

This said, my problem with "The One-Armed Queen" has nothing to do with its characters, its setting, its pace, or its description. Admittedly, all aspects of the story pale slightly in comparison with the preceding two books, which are phenomenal, but on its own it is a fine, beautifully written, intriguing fantasy. I love the world of the Dales and the Continent, which feels a bit like some alternate British Isles; the societies are well-constructed, and the mythology and folklore are so solid as to be real. I enjoy the interweaving of story, song, and myth with historical interludes-most of the history rather inaccurate, as the pragmatic historian is trying to give concrete, realistic explanations of events that did in fact involve the supernatural (more evident in "The Books of Great Alta" than in "The One-Armed Queen")-and while I was a bit sorry to hear that the anonymous skeptic of the earlier books had died, I was quite pleased to see his daughter take over his work and be just as wrong as he was about what really happened. Story aside, all three books are a fascinating exercise in what happens to a story over time--how it evolves, what forms it takes in song and legend, and how it is reconstructed by historians a thousand years later. "The One-Armed Queen" is ten times better than much of the work out there, and definitely deserves to be read.

So what was the problem? As I mentioned earlier, "Sister Light, Sister Dark" and "White Jenna" are beautifully self-contained, complementary, and complete. The story, which finishes so fittingly at the end of "White Jenna," does not really need to be extended. Of course something happened afterward-something happens after the finish of every story-but the story of Scillia, daughter of Carum and Jenna, and her brothers Corrine and Jemson, the story of the War of Deeds and Succession ("a rather long name for a rather short period in our history"), really does not need to be told. I am glad that it was told, I enjoyed reading "The One-Armed Queen," but the story still feels faintly unnecessary in the wake of its predecessors. "Sister Light, Sister Dark" and "White Jenna" were powerful books. "The One-Armed Queen" is a good, thoughtful read. There's a difference.

Rating:
Summary: Not so good...
Review: I read White Jenna and Sister Light, Sister Dark and I loved those two. But this book just doesn't meet those standards. It was ok. I liked it because I found how the rest of the story went, but it just didn't seem to catch me. She only really developed the girl (i forget her name) that Jenna had adopted. I think you should read this book just to find how the story ends, but that's the only reason.

Rating:
Summary: The queen lives!
Review: Okay. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I have to ask . . . *what's the matter with you people???* This was a truly great book ! The plot was fascinating, and the set-up itself was wonderful. The concept of a Dark Sister is a little confusing if you've never read any of the other books in the series (which I haven't but now mean to), but Jane Yolen makes it clear as the book progresses. She didn't bore me with lengthy descriptions of the Dales in the beginning of the book; she showed, rather than told. The little inserts of history and letters that were written years after the story (so to speak) were great, adding a new dimension to the story. And the characters were amazing. Jenna, the White Queen, and her sister Skada. Uncertain of herself, yet brave in her actions, she has become a hero of mine. The brothers Jemsen and Corum----Corum was one of my favorite charaters, so real that he seems a real person. And of course Scillia, the one-armed warrior queen. What a great concept. But perhaps the best part of Scillia was that she did _not_ like war. Killing repulsed her. An original respite to the usual, kill-and-make-jokes-at-the-same-time method that most fantasy books use, thank you very much. And more than that, Scillia was the first true KID in a fantasy book I've seen so far. A moody thirteen-year-old, she found herself angry with her mother or a situation without knowing why. I can relate. In fact, reading this story gave me courage in knowing that I am not the only teen to be discouraged by things in life. And relating to Jenna for awhile helped me to see my mother's point of view as a parent. This is something you rarely see in books. -------- The plot, characters, setting . . . EVERYthing was original. And the songs in the back of the book were gorgeous. I sing "The Two Kings" and "The Dark Sister Lullaby" all the time. The music is simple but beautiful. So please, give this book a chance. It made me smile, it made me cry (and I don't cry when I read books), it made me proud to be a woman. The queen lives.

Rating:
Summary: War and retribution
Review: The One-Armed Queen was better than White Jenna yet nowhere near as good as Sister Light, Sister Dark. Like WJ, it lacked the mystical quality and bardic flavour of SL, SD but it was made up by the characterization of the two brother princes and the excellent plotting when Jemson was sent overseas. Jemson and Corrine are both amazing characters, surprising in their depth.