Today I want to give a big thank you to all the amazing Champions who reviewed Royal Magic. Royal Magic has had an amazing launch, and I’m honored and humbled by all the love and support it has received. So I hope you enjoy the final extra: the character interview with Benjimir and Gwendafyn! (And Tari and Arion tagged along, too.) Click here for the PDF!
Sadly I couldn’t include all the questions, but I did try to use comments from as many readers as possible. Some of the questions I didn’t choose were answered in either Red Rope of Fate or Royal Magic, and a few of the questions were a bit too spoiler-y for future books so I passed over them as well.
One topic that did surprise me, though, was the questions regarding Lorius, so I wanted to take a moment to address her. I had quite a few readers ask why Celrin left Fyn with Lorius when she was so bad, which sounds like you only saw Lorius through the scope of that final scene of hers in the book.
If you take a close look at Royal Magic, you’ll see it wasn’t like that at all. In multiple instances Gwendafyn said Lorius obviously loved her, and didn’t push her nearly as much until the last few years. She was stunned by Lorius’ scolding at her wedding and by her aunt taking her swords because Lorius had never gone that far before. Indeed, during a meal with the royal family Gwendafyn even thinks that Queen Luciee is far worse than Lorius.
Throughout the book Lorius’ antics grow stronger, meaner, and more controlling. As Gwendafyn marvels multiple times, Lorius was not always like this. (If you recall, Lorius encouraged Gwendafyn to be ruthless with Talon.) Lorius’ increase in those emotions was not random, but an indication of how she noticed Gwendafyn was changing, and of her own past. (As mentioned in the book, she was forced to rule in her brother’s place until Gwendafyn was old enough to become regent. Now who does that sound like? *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*)
If you missed the scenes and lines I mentioned above, why not go back and read the book again!
So I hope you all enjoy the character interview. Thanks again to all the fabulous Champions who reviewed, and have a lovely day!
Thing is, I have read it twice…and I’m still not buying it, Kitty :-). Gwendafyn clearly had deep-seated issues, more than come from a couple of years. She talks about how strict and borderline mean her aunt was when she was a child. Even if it was more subtle early on, Lorius was clearly using abusive emotional manipulation tactics when Fyn was a lot smaller…though it makes it a little more understandable how her parents missed that it was going on. Mind, I KNOW you’re the author, so what you say goes, but it just doesn’t read that way to me. Now, I DO like the idea that what we’re seeing is, at the core, a sort of generational compounding of the wrongs as Lorius is taking out her own thwarted dreams on Fyn, but…a little clearer on that might have helped some of us buy in ;-).
All that said, I read the book twice, I definitely enjoy it and love the characters and where they end up! Plus I always like it when we get to meet the babies of past main characters!
P.S. I greatly enjoyed the interview, particularly the response (snark) about just WHY it’s a bit tough for sarcastic people to hang out in Lessa ;-). (And thanks for taking my question! I did notice the “attendants” line, but I was surprised, I guess, that none of them showed up. Makes sense if there was no friendship growing in the time allowed!)
It still sounds like you aren’t quite taking the whole book into account, particularly since you wonder why Fyn didn’t befriend her attendants. Yes, Gwendafyn has baggage, but it’s not just from Lorius, it’s from her people.
The whole base of the series is that elves are not like humans. They are gentle, kind, and joyous. Not courageous, wild at heart, and sly as Gwendafyn.
Her attendants in the first scene obviously don’t understand her humor in the way they awkwardly smile at her, her own father doesn’t entirely understand why she can’t just get a new sword and wants her old weapons. Yvrea only manages to get over her horror at seeing Gwendafyn fight because she KNOWS Fyn loves it.
Living surrounded by people who don’t understand you–who cannot fathom the very core of your being–is the most lonely feeling in the world. And that is what Gwendafyn was striving to escape.
As Gwendafyn herself says, sarcastic elves like Tari and Seer Ringali are only Evening Stars–and she encountered them rarely because Jubilee isn’t a coastal city. (As exemplified in the way she doesn’t become friends with Tari until Haven.) She was absolutely alone. No elf understood her, and while they are too gracious to be cruel to her about it, in the same way they were mentally unable to understand why she was the way she was.
That’s fair :-). Thanks for taking time to talk about it–it’s a treat to get to chat about this stuff with an author I’m not related to! (My sister isn’t published or anything, but I’m her usual sounding board). Thanks for creating these worlds and sharing them with us–they’ve gotten me through some rough times and are favored re-reads for me!
Yay! Thank you so much, Kitty! And thanks for explaining Aunt Lorius as well – she makes more sense now!
…still looking for a short starring Seer Ringali’s family… 😉
Gah, it keeps changing my profile image…
Thanks Kitty for the interview and amazing characters. I do have one follow up question with regards to Lorius. Is she happier now that she is NOT the regent and can live her own life? I imagine that her harping on tradition is because believing in tradition was the only way she made peace with her role. A role that she was near the end of fulfilling only to have it thrust fully back upon her, hence the becoming somewhat unhinged and bitter about the break with tradition that let Fyn escape. Thanks!
Hmmmmm there is a chance I’ll be able to address this in future books, so I’ll keep my mouth shut on what exactly happens, but let’s just say that, yes, she is doing better. 🙂
I enjoyed the interview and loved the book! Royal Magic may as well be my new favorite work of yours 🙂 Thank you again, Kitty!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you like it that much. 🙂 It was really refreshing to be able to write a book that didn’t introduce many new characters and took place in familiar surroundings.
That was beautiful. :’) Both the post and the interview! I caught Fyn’s surprise at how Lorius’s character arc declined over time, but for some reason never made the connection that she was just as unhappy as Fyn in her role dictated by tradition. Lorius never found a way out – Fyn did. I can totally see how that would (sadly) drive Lorius mad. x/
Thank you, Kitty! <3
I’m glad you enjoyed the interview! I had a lot of fun with it–though Benjimir can still be a snide brat if I let him go too far, but Fyn is always willing to whack him into shape if need be! 😉