What threw me about General Winston’s Daughter was that I had no idea it was a young adult until after I picked it up. That might sound unusual, but when I need a new book to read, and have no certain book in mind, I’ll simply look for an author I like and pick up whichever book of theirs I haven’t read yet. As this wasn’t shelved in the YA section I figured it was of a similar vein as her Twelve Houses series. In that respect, at least, I wasn’t disappointed. Much like her Twelve Houses books, General Winston’s Daughter combines politics with a fantasy setting.

The story is a fairly simple one on the outset–Averie Winston is traveling with her chaperon to the foreign country of Chiarrin to meet with her father, the General, and her fiance, an up and coming soldier under her father’s supervision. Things become muddled the further that I progressed in the tale, however. For instance, though Averie has loved Morgan for countless years and recognizes that he is an ambitious fellow, she doesn’t feel a need to be the wife he needs. Her thought process seems to be that he loves her the way she is and will tolerate the fact she hasn’t become any more sophisticated or ladylike since he last saw her. While ordinarily I would have applauded her for wishing to stick to her principles and not knuckle under to pressure, it didn’t feel as if she wanted to be a strong independent support for his political career, but rather that she expected him to learn to live with her careless ways.

There was something almost childish and petty about the way that Averie viewed criticisms or attempts to make her more ladylike. The harder anyone pushed, the more she fought back, but with no real cause. It was in her best interests to want to be more ladylike so she could help the man she claimed to have loved all these years.

Much of the book is spent on the foreign invasion and conquering of the land of Chiarrin. Her father expounds on the subject quite often, as does her fiance and much of the rest of the cast. Everyone has an opinion on the matter, actually. In a longer book, or even a series, this may have made more sense so we could see the full weight of what the occupation caused, but in a YA novel it seemed out of place and jarring.

In the end I was disappointed by the book, having become so accustomed to the level of depth and intrigue Shinn’s other books exhibit. While I wouldn’t say this is unreadable, I think it’s best for those who just want a light read on some random afternoon. For Shinn fans, however, this book will only lead to confusion and comparisons to her lengthier and more interesting novels. ( )

As Averie Winston sails from her native Aeberelle to the colony of Chiarrin, a lieutenant in her father’s army and loyal colonial, Ket Dukai, causes her to begin to question Aeberelle’s place in the world as an imperialist nation. Once they land in Chiarrin, Averie is enchanted by the land, the people and the customs and wants to explore and learn all she can about the people and place. She befriends a young native woman, Jalessa, and brings her home to work for her after she is injured in a rebel attack on the market. Averie begins to wonder why she fell in love with her fiancé in the first place, Colonel Morgan Stode, since all they do since she has arrived is disagree about conditions in Chiarrin. Vaguely reminiscent of imperialist Great Britain in the nineteenth century recalling the tensions and moral questions of race surrounding the British Empire, Aeberelle’s army officers make many of the same mistakes and ultimately pay the price. It is unclear exactly what makes this novel fantasy except for the unusual/exotic place names and culture. Give this to readers who love romance and period fiction. ( )

Good, but a little simplistic. ( )

I loved this story. I loved how light and airy General Winston's Daughter was, and I loved that it maintained that easy-reading, anti-angst tone while it dealt with such devastating themes: colonialism, imperialism, and the racism born from those ventures.

To be honest, however, the first chapter put me off the main character. She's flighty and giggly and *annoying.* She's young and immature.

But even by chapter two, she'd begun to mature. I was more than happy to follow her through the story's journey, even when she misstepped.

Furthermore--and this is one of my favorite aspects--the climax and resolution were SO satisfying. The sense of unease that's been building explodes, and all the encroaching invaders are forced to see just how much they're not wanted. Throughout the story, there are polite attempts to bring to the imperialists' attention that perhaps their presence isn't wanted despite any good they can do. Those attempts are, of course, condescended to and brushed aside. In the story's climax, there are no parleys or rational negotiation, and the imperialists' violence is matched and exceeded in ferocity.

Also (lastly), nobody rushed into ill-advised romantic entanglements, either. I LOVED that--the main character and her love interest treat each other as equals and come to a compromise regarding the speed of their relationship. The relationship was real and would never have worked without the main character's maturation throughout the course of the story, and the romance gained strength rather like the incoming tide--inexorably, but so slowly it was almost difficult to see.

Overall: beautiful, deceptively deep, and WELL worth whatever you paid for it. (Mine was a Christmas gift. :) ) ( )

I have been less enthusiastic about Shinn's more recent novels, but after rereading The Truth-Teller's Tale I was inspired to look for more of her books.

General Winston's Daughter is classified on Shinn's website as "young adult". It's only fantasy in the sense that it's set in fictional countries. The tropical setting reminded me of Troubled Waters, but thematically it felt very similar to Summers at Castle Auburn. Eighteen year old Lady Averie Winston travels to the recently-conquered Chiarrin to join her father, the general in charge of the occupying army. Averie is out-going, impulsive, and eager to explore - she makes new friends and horrifies her conservative chaperone by adopting local fashions. But Chiarrin is not as safe as the general would like, and Averie is confronted with challenging questions about the recent invasion.

General Winston's Daughter is comfortably predictable in some ways, yet still managed to surprise me. I appreciated the bluntness of its message about imperialism, having worried that it might have been too understated.

There's also a love-triangle that I thought was a) very believable and b) sensibly resolved… I can't think of any other books which have gone this route and that seems like a massive oversight.

This definitely exceeded my expectations (which, admittedly, were rather cautious). ( )