Review of A Brother's Price

That's Jerin, in case you were wondering. The wimpy one with long hair being carried (that other one is his sister- her hair's actually longer than it should be- not sure which one, as this scene does not actually appear, but since it can be presumed to have happened I'll let it pass).

2.8/3

I love the premise of this book, and I think that it was carried through pretty well. The author had a little too much fun at times, but with this sort of book you have to expect that. It was much darker than I thought, with a lot of... well, Jerin insists it's not rape, but it's definitely sexual harassment even if no actual sex technically occurs.

I also didn't realize how young everyone was. Jerin is FIFTEEN and he sleeps with at least... 1...2...3...4...plus that creepy lady... and those others... see that problem? He's adorably innocent until it comes to actually sleeping with someone, and then he's good. It's a bit odd.

I did like that this book wasn't about Jerin overthrowing the oppressive society or anything silly like that. It's a love story within the boundaries the author set up, and although Jerin's a bit more adventurous than most males, it's not by his choice.

What I didn't like was that having multiple wives meant he could be as unfaithful as he pleased, and luckily it would turn out to have been another one of his wives and so he's okay. He literally feels guilty right up until it's revealed to be yet another wife, and then he's fine with it. It never occurs to him that maybe it's still wrong since he didn't know about it.

The girls were also all strong characters. My major issue with this book is that while Jerin's always going on about abusive wives and sisters, all the sisters we see are perfectly loving and sweet (to their own families, at least) with the possible exception of the Brindles, who never actually appear. On the other hand, we're bombarded with the story of the possibly only abusive husband in the entire country.

But all in all, it was fun. Kind of a cute love story, if disturbing (that last sentence... ew. Don't think of the three-year-olds that way, Jerin.) I did like how much time was spent on Jerin's clothing and other people saying he was pretty while he blushed and giggled.

Of course, the entire book existed to mock the genre. So in terms of literature... meh. But it was funny, and not a bad book in its own right.

I was disappointed by the fact that no advantage was taken of their being two Eldest Whistlers at the same time. Actually, no one even mentions it. I'm just assuming the other one was there. Such a missed opportunity.

^Look! A long review! I hope someone read that.

Now, back to Drizzt... (oh. Right. I mean, back to trig.)

-HH