Arrivals (Tremontaine Season 1 Episode 1)

Tessa Gratton, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ellen Kushner, Paul Witcover, Mary Anne Mohanraj — 2016

Swordplay, scandal, and sex—welcome to the world of Tremontaine, a glittering new chapter in Ellen Kushner's classic Riverside series. In a city that never was, sex, scandal, and swordplay combine in a melodrama of manners that returns readers to the beloved world of Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint! A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a passionate young Scholar with dreams beyond his reach; a Foreign spy in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a Genius on the brink of scientific revolution—when long-buried lies threaten to come to light, the stakes are high, and more than lives may be lost. Mind your manners and enjoy the chocolate in a dance of sparkling wit and political intrigue. Duchess Diane Tremontaine, the crowning gem of her city’s high class, sits in her manor’s window on The Hill and looks over her domain with eyes that cut and a mind that schemes. Far below, and far away from the glitz of wealth, a poor country farm girl named Micah looks only toward her family, the harvest, and the complex web of math that entrances her. At the Docks, the newly arrived Ixkaab Balam surveys the same city from the deck of her family’s merchant vessel and sees a land to manipulate for fortune and fun. And at the University, a passionate scholar named Rafe bristles at the classism constraining his ambitions and dreams of revolution.

Reviews

Chris@hollowchris

Oct 1, 2021

This story is so good! Tremontaine is from the point of view of three women each trying to be something else. The Duchess is keeping up appearances, the Trader wants to wield a sword, and the Farmer wants to be a Scholar... or Card Sharp. It's hard to tell with her. Tremontaine is set in the same world as Swordspoint. In just this short chapter the characters, their histories, and their motivations are all well established. As with Swordspoint, there are several gay and lesbian characters, and they are treated no better or worse than anyone else. In this installment the POV characters do not know each other or intersect, and I'm really interested to find out how they eventually meet and what happens when they do. The audio version is read by a different person for each point of view. This is not my favorite type of reading since it makes listening feel choppy and takes a while to acclimate to each reader. They also have hired actors instead of narrators. Actors focus on the performance while narrators convey the story, so sometimes the performance gets in the way of understanding what's going on. That said, the readers are all very professional and so far the story stays with each POV long enough for me to sink in. Arrivals is part 1 of the serialized novel Tremontine available through Serialbox.com. The first episode is free in audio or e-form.