Red River: Vol. 10

by Chie Shinohara

Synopsis
Prince Kail, a young warrior and sorcerer and Yuri, a modern-day teen, where thrown together when evil Queen Nakia drew Yuri across time and space into the ancient Hittite Empire. When it is the season of the North Star, Prince Kail has the power to send Yuri home. But the evil queen's plan to murder them both -- and their growing feelings for one another -- keep getting in the way!

Yuri fights to clear her good name by publicly confronting her impersonator. Rather than earning respect, however, she is exiled to a settlement of the sick and dying! Yuri sets out to change people's minds, all the time hoping to be reunited with Kail. However, her heart is broken when she finds out that Kail has been hiding a terrible secret of his own. Does Kail deserve his bad reputation?

Review
Oops on reusing that synopsis, but that's what's on the back of my book. Maybe it's a first edition problem.

Well, the drama continues. The gist of this volume is that the new king, Arnuwanda, is murdered, and Yuri is accused as the murderer. Of course, we know who the real murderer is, Urhi, ordered by Nakia, but the problem with those two is how to prove it. It was explained that the queen was controlling Guzel, the princess who claimed to have Kail's son, as a way to distract Kail from her real plan: to poison the king. Unfortunately for her, Juda came along with Yuri as she tried to warn the king about the poison. Now here, it gets interesting, as Kail figures out that the queen was using Guzel, and he squeezes her, which brings the black water out of her. Of course, you'd think that the council members would see this, and realize that someone was controlling her, but somehow, it doesn't end up that way. They still seem incredulous that magic could be at work, which is utterly ridiculous, because it seems like common knowledge that members of the royal family can use magic. What could have clinched it though, is proving that Juda is being controlled by her, but funnily enough, she won't allow that. Even after it's been established that no one is above the law. This murder mystery is really interesting, and should have exposed Nakia, but the author isn't ready for that, so it doesn't.

Another matter that really bothers me is why, why are the characters always responding to Nakia? Why do they never go on the offensive? It's like those shows we watched as kids, where the bad guys would think up an evil plan, and the good guys would always have to go thwart him/her. I know this series has a lot of anachronistic behavior, but why do we have to include perfectly good here? It's too simplistic. In history, kings and people in the way were always murdered, even by the good guys. Personally, I really like and respect Queen Elizabeth I, who was an excellent queen. But even she had to murder people who were threats to her power. That's how she secured her power base. Every ruler does that.

I suppose my real problem is that I know too much about history, perhaps even more than the author does. Simple ideas of good and evil don't cut it with me anymore, because the world isn't really like that. Even Yuri says several times that she doesn't like sitting around when she could be doing something. Well, she should take the initiative and figure out how to remove Nakia from power, if she's too cowardly to actually kill her. God, and with this talk of "what a great queen she'd make," don't make me sick. It's pathetic that I can out think her, with just a little bit of logic. Anyone with half a brain would make a better queen than her.

Final thought: I'm crazy, let's rip apart some more!

You're probably wondering why I subject myself to this. Well, it's because I already did, over a year ago when I read these books. I used to think they were great, until I started thinking about them, instead of just devouring them. Rereading them has only solidified my opinion: they're good, but not that good. Besides, aren't rants more interesting than reviews of good things?