Quotes from book
Crown Duel

Crown Duel
Sherwood Smith

Crown Duel is a 2002 young adult fantasy novel written by American author Sherwood Smith, originally published as two separate books, Crown Duel and Court Duel . Both stories take place in the fictional land of Sartorias-deles, a fantasy world Smith has written about since her youth. The first book follows the adventures of young Countess Meliara "Mel" Astiar of Tlanth as she and her small group of forces rebel against the greed of King Galdran; along the way the mysterious Marquis of Shevraeth aids her, though she distrusts him. With the king now dead, the second part focuses on Mel's journey to the court in Remalna-city, where she must navigate court intrigues surrounding Shevraeth's rise to power as king. In 2008 Smith also published a prequel about Shevraeth: A Stranger to Command.

“I realized that despite how entertaining certain stories were, at the bottom of every item of gossip there was someone getting hurt.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Source: Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“Who in the universe halts when the enemy tells them to?”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Source: Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“Why is it the songs all end with the good people winning, but in life they don't?"
They don't make songs when the good lose," I muttered. "They make war chants against the bad. So there won't be any songs for us.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Source: Crown Duel

“Memory warps time, as it does the sights and sounds and smells of reality; for what shapes it is emotion, which can twist what seems clear, just as the surface of a pond seems to bend the stick thrust into the water.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Source: Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“Except. What is normal at any given time? We change just as the seasons change, and each spring brings new growth. So nothing is ever quite the same.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Source: Crown Duel

“If your opponent is better armed and has longer reach, then surprise is your only ally. And then you'd better hope he's half asleep.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“If more people recognized the difference between friendship and mere attraction, and how love must partake of both to prosper, I expect there'd be more happy people.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“It desolates me to disappoint you, but your brother is not here. Despite two really praiseworthy attempts at rescue.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

dialogue between Vidanric and his prisoner-of-war Meliara.
Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“I've been working hard at assuming Court polish, but the more I learn about what really goes on behind the pretty voices and waving fans and graceful bows, the more I comprehend that what is really said matters little, so long as the manner in which it is said pleases. I understand it, but I don't like it. Were I truly influential, then I would halt this foolishness that decrees that in Court one cannot be sick; that to admit you are sick is really to admit to political or social or romantic defeat; that to admit to any emotions usually means one really feels the opposite. It is a terrible kind of falsehood that people can only claim feelings as a kind of social weapon.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

“It would have been funny if I had been an observer and not a participant, an idea that gave me a disconcerting insight into gossip. As I talked beside the silent Tamara, I realized that despite how entertaining certain stories were, at the bottom of every item of gossip there was someone getting hurt.”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

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