Liviania’s review of Once a Princess (Sasharia En Garde!, Book 1) by Sherwood Smith
Fantasy romance ebook released by Samhain 17 June 08

Sherwood Smith first caught my eye with Crown Duel many years ago. Years after that I discovered her lj comm Athanarel. There she posted many of her unpublished stories for free – including this one. Now she appears to be making those stories and others available through Samhain and Norilana and taking them down from the site at the same time.

Once a Princess begins with Sasha and her mother Sun in LA, both receiving mysterious visitors that prompt them to move. They’re on the run from another world because King Carander Merindar resents their claim to the throne. But both are quickly pulled back into the world of Sartorias-deles. Sasha falls in with pirates and Sun tries to find her. Both spent time on Earth learning to fight so they wouldn’t be dead weight. Sasha’s a good heroine, who works on the ship and leaves the leadership to the captain who knows what he’s doing. Her mother is clever and a decent strategist.

I don’t think splitting the story into two parts did it many favors. Both Sasha and her mother want to find her father, but they don’t start the search in this novel. It makes the novel lack a sense of danger, as he’s the only one in true mortal danger – the evil king doesn’t wish to kill either of the female leads. (Nor is much done to make him seem evil, aside from the fact he usurped the throne. While Sun seems like she would make a good queen, Sasha seems nice but not ready to rule a country.) Most of the plots pick up in the last third, and I’m afraid some of them might seem rather random to people who aren’t familiar with Smith’s other works (including unpublished ones).

For someone who has read them, mental flags go off: Senrid! Yustnesveas! Norsunder! All of those help tell where Once A Princess fits into the world and the greater plot of the various countries fighting against Norsunder. Due to my familiarity with this plot I find these mentions intriguing and don’t mind three random strangers showing up. I just wonder, as a reviewer, whether the connection will through new readers off instead of drawing them into the other stories.

I like the central romance of this one, between Sasha and Zathdar. She knows better than to trust him but instead of being aloof and rude she gives him a chance and acts nice anyway. They’ve got chemistry and work well together. He’s intelligent and makes careful plans for the future. While I like the relationship and feel the two go well together, it just serves to further undermine any sense of danger the story might possess at this point. It just never feels like Sasha’s actually risking anything, despite being on the run. Again, I think this is partially a problem of the story being divided into two so that there is basically no falling action. There needs to be more about the quest to rescue her father.

This review sounds rather negative unfortunately, but I enjoyed the novel. I like the characters, I like the romance, and I like the most aspects of the plot. I simply feel a small part of the plot may be slightly confusing to those unfamiliar with some of Smith’s other works and most of the plots start rather slow. It picks up once Jehan Merindar becomes a part of the story, because he actually is in danger. Those who like Once a Princess will probably enjoy her other stories set in the same world, as well as Sasharia En Garde! book two, Twice a Prince.

Grade: B

Sasharia En Garde: Once a Princess is a romantic fantasy set in the same world as Crown Duel, taking place about six years afterward. Sasha’s mother, Sun, was once swept away from a Ren Faire to another world by a real prince, but not to a happy ever after. Prince Mathias disappeared, and a wicked king, “Canary” Merindar, took the throne. In the years since, Sasha and Sun have been hiding on Earth. Mom and daughter don’t quite see eye to eye on the situation—Sasha wants to stand and fight. Sun insists her prince will return for them one day; it’s safer to stay hidden. Then Sasha is tricked into crossing the portal to Khanerenth. She’s more than ready to kick some bad-guy butt, but is the stylish pirate Zathdar the bad guy? Or artistic, dreamy Prince Jehan? Meanwhile, back on Earth, Sun is furious Sasha has been kidnapped. Sun might once have been a rotten princess, but nobody messes with Mom!