Fantasy

Comparing and Contrasting the Fantasy



Trilogies



Daughter of the Blood and Arrows of the Queen

The trilogies Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop and Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey are both stories of young girls who grow up among characters of fantasy to become queens.   In Daughter of the Blood, the story of Jaenelle Angelline’s struggle with extreme magical powers and the curse of being both Queen and Witch is described.   It tells of her traumatic past caused by her gifts and also her recovery and the transition form childhood to adulthood and monarchy.   In Arrows of the Queen, the tale follows an abused Talia as she becomes one of the magical Heralds of Valdemar.   Poor Talia though isn’t just blessed with being an everyday Herald (an excruciating task in it’s self) but she is also the Queen’s Own which means she’s in charge of all dealings with the queen and her only family member, the Royal Brat or more formally known as Princess Elspeth.   As the story goes on we see the reformation of the young princess Elspeth through the eyes of her exasperated caretaker, Talia.   While, as you can see, the characters and plots are technically the same, the novels differ significantly.

In the beginning, the lives of the main characters are very similar.   Talia grows up in a multi-wife household where women are plentiful and no one cares if a single female child is abused, so of course she’s hit and raped quite often.   Then there’s Elspeth, she grows up in a huge house with powers not seen in Valdemar in centuries.   While these two characters have really no relation besides pupil and teacher, together they describe Jaenelle.   Jaenelle grew up in a house full of nobles where pleasure slaves were abundant and her pedophiliac father resided.   Starting at the age of five, she is continuously shuttled back and forth between her house and a house for the emotionally disturbed on her uncle’s orders even though she’s not ill.   At...