The Fox: Book Two of Inda

Simply and purely, Sherwood Smith writes excellent books.The storyline of "The Fox" began with "Inda", and here Smith gives us more of the same: a deeply and thoroughly built world, rousing action, and characters that are real, human and humane, people that you can care deeply about. Despite the complexity of the world, the quick pace, it is easy to keep up, and I don't find myself preferring any story line over the other - a rarity for me. Excellently done, and I can't wait for the last in the series.

I almost put 4 stars because I would give Inda 5 stars and found it to be a slightly better book, but then I had to remind myself how much better BOTH books are than most books being published in the genre, so 5 stars it is. I was completely captivated by reading Inda last year and have been waiting impatiently for The Fox to come out--I found the only copy in a nearby bookstore on Monday and was so thrilled that the store clerk thought I was a little weird!At any rate, I've finished reading and will now wait just as impatiently for the third book. As in Inda, injustice continues to ride Inda's heels in The Fox, making you root for him every step of the way. The irony, of course, is that Inda is so very just and is working for the greater good on almost every page. The Fox, which starts with Inda as a new prisoner on a pirate ship, goes on to show him engineering a mutiny and becoming a pirate to pirates. The world-building is wonderful, as is the plotting, but for me, the most fascinating thing about these books is the characters--their various motivations and interactions. The characters read as being so very real that, as in my experience of the first book, it is easy to care for them and to feel like they are about to walk off the pages. (I have gotten to be a picky enough reader that not many authors can do this to me anymore, so Smith's books are a happy find!) For those who've been scoffing about Inda's heroic perfections, his imperfections show a bit more in The Fox--but the strength of his integrity and of his desire to make the world a better place keep coming to the forefront.Both books are also a curious commentary on the nature of true leadership, as we consider characters who WANT to be great leaders and don't understand why they aren't, then contrast them with Inda, who has a natural gift for leadership (and what does this mean?). Inda's friend Fox makes a particularly edgy foil for him. Smith also riffs on the meaning of great beauty and the uses and abuses of sexuality, though there must be a universe somewhere where Joret and Tau hook up!Plot-wise, the main thrust of The Fox is Inda's efforts to break the hold of a pirate community over the sea lanes, with a segue to the beginning of his work to stop the Venn invaders, possessors of a large and magically supported navy. Another player, the ominously powerful magical kingdom of Norsunder, threatens to take center stage at a later point. Meanwhile, back in Inda's home kingdom, plots and counterplots continue to swirl, with certain key villains getting some comeuppance, but not without casualties. Inda also meets up with a new breed of villain, causing considerable angst for readers until he is rescued. In the sense that The Fox is a middle book in a trilogy or series, it feels somewhat incomplete, but it does end with a great setup for the next book, leaving Sherwood Smith with rich material to develop--I hope for next summer, if not sooner!I will add that Smith's take on pirates reminds me of the reason my mother refuses to go see the popular pirate movies--she says she's too familiar with the vicious reality of pirates in history to want to see them made into heroes on screen. Fortunately, Sherwood Smith is wise enough to make Inda's pirate experience sufficiently questionable and difficult in The Fox.[Note: I generally review children's books, so I'll end by pointing out that Inda and The Fox are shelved in the grown-up fantasy aisle, and rightly so, as they are best suited for adults and older teens. However, Sherwood Smith has also written books for younger readers: the excellent Wren books and Court Duel/Crown Duel for about 4th-10th graders, though adult fantasy fans would probably enjoy them, as well. The latter two books, an adventure story and a court intrigue story--both tinged with romance--are very well done and will have particular appeal for girls.]

This is the second book of the trilogy and I thought it very good; especially, the pirate fighting and the portrayal of the different characters.

I am far too invested in these characters, even moreso in the 40 years of other stories Sherwood Smith has also written on this world of hers, called Sartorias-deles, to give an unbiased review of this book. On this world, societal standards may differ from ours, but they are no less moral. In a way, I feel lucky to be able to read The Fox (and its prequel, Inda) from the perspective of the future, as I have already read Senrid and Crown Duel which takes place several hundred years later. I was checking "facts" against the stories I already knew. In this sense, it is impossible for me to be "spoiled" unlike the Harry Potter books where one quarantines oneself to avoid accidentally discovering who dies. Much like history, we know what happens, we know what the results are. What we want to know is how. And why.The Fox tells us how, and better, we get a taste of what history would really be like if only our textbook authors weren't so dry and nonconfrontational. But this isn't our history. This is the story of Inda, a military prodigy exiled by his own Marlovan people in a set-up; of Fox, who suffers a similar-but-different exile; of Barend, from the family responsible for both these exiles; of Tau, whose beautiful face aids his skill in understanding how people think and act; of Jeje, the seeds of her legendary life beginning when she replaces her lust for Tau for his friendship instead (and when he finally might like her back). And they are together, taken by pirates, at least in the at the onset. By the end, they are a fleet--maybe even a navy--taking ON pirates, and winning.Things aren't quite so happy-go-lucky, and though there is swashbuckling and comedy abound, tensions increase both aboard ship and on land. Fox, who shares Inda's exile and excellent fighting skills, does not share his military mind nor his goals, and whether or not that is dangerous remains to be decided. On land, the Venn and Marlovans prepare for war, separated by the sea between them. This would be simpler if the Marlovans themselves--warriors born and bred, trained commanders, with all cultural things military--had their eye on the Venn, instead of the crown.There is a memorable quote near the beginning of the book, where Inda recalls an old text he once read, saying "Civilization is not made by single great events... civilization is a net, made up of moral choices. Bad ones tear the net." In Inda's homeland, the seed of poison once planted by the two tearers who contrived Inda's disgrace (the king's heir and the Royal Shield Arm) is growing, with word leaking out of even more treachery against the Algara-vayir family. How one family can stand such injustice is beyond me (Fox Montredavan-An would certainly have something to say).The Fox answers some of the questions posed in Inda, but like any good book, raises tougher questions that might not have any answers. We explore loyalty, civilization, governance, love, sex, what it really means to be a pirate. Due to the possibility that I may have been a copy-editor in my parallel life, I noticed some typos, but they took nothing away from the book. They would vanish if this book got the attention, distribution and press it truly deserves. The Fox has a more natural resolution than Inda did (with that jolting cliffhanger), but like Lord of the Rings, we have to wait until all three books come out to tie all those loose ends. All I can really say is, The Fox was so epic that I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I ached, I shouted out and declared the supreme awesomeness of what I was reading, and went home completely beatific. I wish more books were written like this. Well, at least one more is--The King's Shield is the third and final Inda book.

The book has great action and a good story line that continues the story from the book Lida.