Troubled Waters, by Sharon Shinn

I was both looking forward to and dreading reading Troubled Waters. I was looking forward to reading it because Sharon Shinn is my #1 favorite author (who is still alive, that is) and I was dreading reading it because Sharon Shinn is my favorite author and when I finished I would have to wait for her next book to come out. And it was as good as I expected and now I want to cry because it is over.
One of my favorite aspects of Sharon Shinn's books are how she manages to fit a long and somewhat complicated storyline into only a few hundred pages. If I were to give you a verbal summary of Troubled Waters you would give me a quizzical look with one eyebrow raised because of how deep she delves into the story. I also love her ability to create an entire new world so complete that it doesn't leave you with any questions about how life works there but doesn't take up too much space with explanations. (I hate when I have to ask "how" over and over again. Which is why I'd make a terrible author--I would'nt be able to stop answering questions that pop up in my head.) While reading any of Sharon Shinn's books I feel completely and utterly inside a different world, universe, realm-you get where I'm going. Her worlds don't only exist for the story, it's as if they really do exist.

So what is Troubled Waters about? Zoe's dad dies and then she is yanked out of her tiny village and brought to the capital, Chialto, to be the king's fifth wife. Note: this is not a polygamous world-only the king can marry more than one person. Anyway, she gets there and escapes and goes to camp/live next to the Marisi river because her element is water (coru). Everyone in this world is connected to one of five elements: water, air, fire, wood, earth (and each also connects to some bodily thing but I can't remember them right now). Personality traits signify element which is a big part of the culture. Zoe's story continues when she finds out that she is coru prime which means she is destined to lead one of the five families of nobility. (This isn't random-it's her mom's family.) Then she goes to court-not to marry the king, but as a political power. Then there's castle intrigue blah blah blah. It's told a lot better in a few hundred pages rather than one paragraph, by the way.

I loved Zoe because I felt like she was someone I was getting to know. Aspects of her personality and character are revealed slowly so you never know what her next action will be. But although I couldn't predict what Zoe would do I did predict almost exactly to the last point what the soap opera-ness behind the story was in the castle.

5 stars. It's Sharon Shinn so I didn't have much choice there.

This note is not about the story but about the actual book itself. A cigarette burn burning holes in 2 pages and marks on another 10 or so. Who does that? Who puts out a cigarette on a book? (It's from the library, btw.)You can call me a hopeless romantic but I know that the person reading it was not the one who did it so I am sending you my best right now, from one bibliophile to another-my heart cries out for you.