The Sword and Laser discussion

Class structure is an interesting component of the novel. Dellaria makes no bones about being low-status and embraces the lifestyle. She has her place in that world's society. And the servants of the world certainly judge those above them in the social hierarchy. Not just griping, but economic: The Footman in the country house complains that the owners are too full of high minded causes and don't know to run a household. It means that that family's members are squandering resources, which affects everyone - including the servants. An Aristocrat functioning well in their place takes care of the entire household, to the benefit of servants as well as blood relatives.

What does this mean for romance? (Fairly significant spoilers follow.) (view spoiler)[Winn is a fairly obvious do-gooder, engaged in causes herself. These have been cast as useless at best in other people. Is that trait useless here? Dellaria seems to think so. She believes that she is treating Winn as a mark, altho her feelings do seem to change underneath before being expressed on the surface.

Is Winn simply slumming, bedazzled by the game Dellaria plays? There's significant social pressure to stay in your station in this world. We don't see until halfway through the book that Dellaria is a significantly better wizard than previously presented. She's good enough to go to the wizard college - except that she was set up to fail by snobby uppers trying to prove a point. Winn sees that even if Dellaria does not. Winn's love is genuine. Okay, I found the endless lovey dovey stuff a little nauseating, but I'm not the core audience for this book.

In the end Dellaria does believe she is worthy of love, and is therefore willing to try to make the class transition. It's a little easier because Winn is something of an outsider herself, being part troll. Mom and dad's relationship could be a book by itself!

The land sale towards the end of the book by the Tredworth's is given as a sign of bad capital management. Had the Tredworths managed correctly they would not have been short of money. It's plausible that Clairelle Tredworth would never have entered the Drip trade and the book's events never have happened. Death and ruin follow bad management. (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, those British dramas that come to the US on PBS (a la Downton Abbey) make an art of this sort of thing. Even ones that focus on the mismanagement of the upper classes though are often way too forgiving, however. For some reason, making a stupid investment is just a terrible thing, but the centuries of squandering money on fancy hats is acceptable (or socially necessary). Or, if you're generally kind to servants and manage to actually pay their salaries you're a good person, even if all your tenants have lived in squalor and poverty for generations. Dellaria has the right idea when she talks about the Tredworths selling some land - she finds it completely uninteresting that a rich person becomes a slightly less rich person. When you have a manor and "lands" to sell, you aren't poor.