Crown Duel and Court Duel

Crown Duel

2002 single-volume paperback
(preferred edition)

Publisher: Firebirds
Publication Date: June 10, 2002
Media Type: Paperback
Pages: 480
ISBN: 0142301515
Awards: Nominated for ALA/YASLA Best Books for Young Adults, on the ALA/YASLA Quick Pick List for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and named one of NY Public Library Best Books for Teens, 1998 list. Finalist, Soaring Eagle Award (Kids 12-18 voting, Wyoming Library System)
Preceded By: A Stranger to Command
Followed By: Beauty and Court Ship (Also, see here)

Crown Duel (1997) is a fantasy novel written by Sherwood Smith (originally published as two books Crown Duel and Court Duel). It was her first published work that takes place on the actual Sartorias-deles (rather than Wren's World).

In this book, young Countess Meliara Astiar (Mel) swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to what follows, in peacetime. Meliara is summoned to live at the royal palace, where friends and enemies look alike, and intrigue fills the dance halls and the drawing rooms. If she is to survive, Meliara must learn a whole new way of fighting-with wits and words and secret alliances.

In war, at least, she knew in whom she could trust. Now she can trust no one. ^[1]

Contents:

Summary - contains spoilers
- Part 1
- Part 2
Additional Publication Details
- Crown Duel
- Court Duel
See Also
References

Summary

Contains Spoilers!

Part 1

Young Countess Meliara Astiar (Mel) swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. The revolt begins when Galdran Merindar sent his cousin, Nenthar Debegri to overthrow the Astiars and take Tlanth. Greatly outnumbered and poorly supplied, Bran and Mel fought back admirably, holding Debegri off until Galdran sent in Vidanric Renselaeus, the Marquis of Shevraeth, to replace him as commander.

Mel led a pack of non-warriors to sabotage Shevraeth's forces, changing street-signs, peppering their food, and to the request of Bran, laying out traps. Unfortunately, Mel's foot got caught in one of the traps and she was taken prisoner. Brought to Athanarel as a traitor on death row, she escaped with the aid of her spy, Azmus, and the Renselaeus family, who were covertly working against Galdran from inside the court. Mel roamed around the country for days on a bad foot, even at one point being the subject of a highly publicized (and intentional) wager between Shevraeth and the Duke of Savona.

Finally, after barely avoiding death on several occasions and spending time in prisons, Mel was taken to the Renselaeus estate and reunited with her brother, Bran. Here at Renselaeus, the Prince, his son the Marquis, and the two Astiars discussed the future of Remalna and the Renselaeuses's plan. At Mel's decision, however, the Astiars chose not to partake, though on their way back to Tlanth they were ambushed by Galdran's warriors.

Mel attempted to duel with Galdran when he charged at her, sword in hand. Shevraeth then killed Galdran and his warriors surrendered quickly thereafter. Mel returns home to Tlanth, while her brother goes to the court at Athanarel

Part 2

Meliara has been working hard in Tlanth, restoring the territory and remedying her ignorance. Soon, she gets a letter from the Marquis of Merindar inviting Mel to Merindar. Soon afterwards, Branaric shows up to Tlanth for a surprise visit, bringing with him Shevraeth and his fiancee Nimiar Argaliar. Meliara agrees to go back to Athanarel with them, for Bran and Nee's wedding, and so that she can decide if Shevraeth would make a fit king. Nee begins to teach Meliara about the ways of court.

When Mel arrives in court, she was made popular by the Duke of Savona, who sought her out for many dances. She also begins a courtship by letters with an Unknown, who turns out to be Vidanric Renselaeus.

Additional Publication Details

Crown Duel was written to be one, complete book set in Sartorias-deles. However, when it was first published in hardcover by Harcourt, that was revised. It was split into two books, Crown Duel and Court Duel, which together made up The Crown and Court Duet, for one of the "rules" of YA fiction at the time was that books would not be read by that audience if they were too long.

There were other changes as well. For the Harcourt version, Crown Duel was changed to be set in the same world as the previously published Wren Books in order to attract a larger audience. Moreover, the Flauvic scene, in which Meliara visits Merindar House alone, was cut. The reason for this was both to keep the word count down and to keep the story more suitable for young readers.

In the Firebirds edition, everything was changed back to the way it was supposed to be. The two sections of Crown Duel were reunited, and the references to Wren's World were replaced with their original Sartorias-deles counterparts. ^[2] The Flauvic scene was added back in, as the edition was aimed for older teens and it helps make more sense of Flauvic and Mel's interactions later in the book. ^[3] In addition, a short story, "Vidanric's Birthday Surprise", was added at the end.