General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn

Averie Winston is seventeen, the only daughter of the noted Aebrielle General, who is overseeing the subjugation of the country Chiarrin. Averie has never been out of the country before, and the trip, though long, is made in the company of her guardian, Lady Selkirk.

What really makes the trip bearable and enjoyable, though is the company of a young officer of the Aebrielle army, Ket Du'kai. His conversation entertains Averie and Lady Selkirk on the long, hot hours of the trip through the hot, sticky Southern climate, but his words aren't all entertaining.

Aebirelle is part of an empire, and Ket comes from a country named Xan'tai, which was also conquered in its part by Aebrielle many years ago. The Xan'tai were not happy to be conquered, and Ket is one of those who seeks to change the status of his country and throw off the yoke of Aebrielle, but peacefully, with votes in government. Averie has been told that the Xan'tai needed to be taken over and improved, and is startled to hear differently from Ket Du'kai. The idea that the people of Xan'tai were perfectly happy as they were has never occured to her, and that taking over the people of Xan'tai and their land was unjust troubles her, especially as that is exactly what is happening now in Chiarrin.

Averie is not only going to Chiarrin to meet her father, but also her betrothed, Morgan Strode. She hasn't seen him in a while, but even now, she remembers his kisses with delight. But when she finally arrives in Chiarrin, she can't think of anything but how much she misses him. For a while, his presence keeps her content, but when a bomb goes off in the marketplace while she is shopping, she takes into her home a cloth merchant named Jalessa who had helped her buy shoes and been injured when the bomb went off.

Soon, she hires Jalessa as her maid, and her father is happy, hoping that he can use Jalessa to find out information about the Chiarizzi people. Even as Averie explores the city and adopts the dress of Chiarizzi for her own, the country seems to be quieting. But she and Morgan are growing further apart as her growing sense of right and wrong make his attitudes seem distasteful to her. But as Averie explores the city of Broken Gods, can a stunning betrayal make her finally grow up into a woman? And how will she choose to spend her life afterwards?

This is a YA novel, and it dealt with war and its consequences. Averie has never thought of the consequences of War on the people her country is at war with, and never thinks the impact of that war can have consequences to herself. In effect, by the end of the novel she comes off as foolishly naive, and much of her countrymen and women with her, as the Chiarizzi people act in a decisive way to throw the invading army out of their land.

The whole story of the book is uncomfortably reminiscent of the Empire-building of the English, and the names of the characters bear that out, with Lady Selkirk, Averie's father General Winston, etc. all having English-sounding names. And while Ket Du'kai's people sound vaguely eastern (Chinese, Japan and so on), his looks peg him as more African. Just as the Chiarizzi people also sound Chinese, but come off as more Pacific Islanders. Still, the link to the invaders looking or sounding as adjuncts of the English is strong, and made me rather uncomfortable with the whole "English as Invaders" thing, as it ties the story to the real world in a way that probably wasn't good for the story.

By the time half the novel had gone by, I was uncomfortable with the Aebrielle people seeming to have won the war, and was actively looking for someone to unseat the military from their perch, no matter how sympathetic Averie was, and the ending of the story actually made me glad. Yes, it was sad what happened to Averie's father and her fianceé, but they asked for it, in my opinion. I don't think that my reaction is what Sharon Shinn wanted, though.

The best part of the novel was in the romantic triangle between Averie, Morgan and her new friend Ket Du'kai. As Averie finds her moral sense moving to be not as accepting of the war and the reasons for it being fought, she is also moving away from Morgan, since he agrees with the reasons for the war. Ket Du'kai, though, is much more ambivalent about the reasons for being in Chiarizzi, because his own country was previously conquered. He only joined the army because the prospects for him in his own country were limited after it was conquered, and he needed money and some form of rank to be taken seriously, and for that, joining the army was his best choice. That he is now engaged in trying to conquer another people was not the thing he wanted to do in the army, but he has no choice.

And yet, I have to wonder how the people of Xan'tai would take her at the end of the novel. Yes, she'll be supporting Ket with her money, but will they welcome her any better than the Chiarizzi did?

This is an uncomfortable novel to read, and it's mainly about an issue, treated mostly one-sidedly. This is a little less objectionable in a YA novel, but it's not one I'd recommend to teens, as it seems a little confused in its aims and may end up making you cheer the "wrong" side over the heroine, her family and friends.