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Tremontaine #3.1
Ambition
Swordplay, scandal, and sex—welcome to the world of Tremontaine, a glittering new entry in Ellen Kushner's classic Riverside series.
This is the 1st episode in the third season of Tremontaine, a 13-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode written by Ellen Kushner.
Duchess Diane Tremontaine is the guest of honor at a fashionable banquet, but now that she holds power in her own right, challenges—and rivals—come in many forms. As allies reveal their own agendas, Diane looks to keep her friends close, and her enemies closer.
Welcome to Tremontaine, where ambition, love affairs, and rivalries dance with deadly results. A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a handsome young scholar with more passion than sense; a foreigner in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a mathematical genius whose discoveries herald revolution when games of politics begin, no one is safe. Keep your wit as sharp as your steel in this world where politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers.
This is the 1st episode in the third season of Tremontaine, a 13-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode written by Ellen Kushner.
Duchess Diane Tremontaine is the guest of honor at a fashionable banquet, but now that she holds power in her own right, challenges—and rivals—come in many forms. As allies reveal their own agendas, Diane looks to keep her friends close, and her enemies closer.
Welcome to Tremontaine, where ambition, love affairs, and rivalries dance with deadly results. A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a handsome young scholar with more passion than sense; a foreigner in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a mathematical genius whose discoveries herald revolution when games of politics begin, no one is safe. Keep your wit as sharp as your steel in this world where politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers.
- GenresFantasy
Kindle Edition
First published October 11, 2017
7 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Kushner
139 books607 followersEllen Kushner weaves together multiple careers as a writer, radio host, teacher, performer and public speaker.
A graduate of Barnard College, she also attended Bryn Mawr College, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She began her career in publishing as a fiction editor in New York City, but left to write her first novel Swordspoint, which has become a cult classic, hailed as the progenitor of the “mannerpunk” (or “Fantasy of Manners”) school of urban fantasy. Swordspoint was followed by Thomas the Rhymer (World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award), and two more novels in her “Riverside” series. In 2015, Thomas the Rhymer was published in the UK as part of the Gollancz “Fantasy Masterworks” line.
In addition, her short fiction appears regularly in numerous anthologies. Her stories have been translated into a wide variety of languages, including Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Latvian and Finnish.
Upon moving to Boston, she became a radio host for WGBH-FM. In 1996, she created Sound & Spirit, PRI’s award-winning national public radio series. With Ellen as host and writer, the program aired nationally until 2010; many of the original shows can now be heard archived online.
As a live stage performer, her solo spoken word works include Esther: the Feast of Masks, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ for Chanukah (with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra). In 2008, Vital Theatre commissioned her to script a full-scale theatrical version. The Klezmer Nutcracker played to sold-out audiences in New York City, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam.
In 2012, Kushner entered the world of audiobooks, narrating and co-producing “illuminated” versions of all three of the “Riverside” novels with SueMedia Productions for Neil Gaiman Presents at Audible.com—and winning a 2013 Audie Award for Swordspoint.
Other recent projects include the urban fantasy anthology Welcome to Bordertown (co-edited with Holly Black), and The Witches of Lublin, a musical audio drama written with Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom (which one Gabriel, Gracie and Wilbur Awards in 2012). In 2015 she contributed to and oversaw the creation of the online Riverside series prequel Tremontaine for Serial Box with collaborators Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Patty Bryant.
A dauntless traveler, Ellen Kushner has been a guest of honor at conventions all over the world. She regularly teaches writing at the prestigious Clarion Workshop and the Hollins University Graduate Program in Children’s Literature.
Ellen Kushner is a co-founder and past president of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization supporting work that falls between genre categories. She lives in New York City with author and educator Delia Sherman, a lot of books, airplane and theater ticket stubs, and no cats whatsoever.
A graduate of Barnard College, she also attended Bryn Mawr College, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She began her career in publishing as a fiction editor in New York City, but left to write her first novel Swordspoint, which has become a cult classic, hailed as the progenitor of the “mannerpunk” (or “Fantasy of Manners”) school of urban fantasy. Swordspoint was followed by Thomas the Rhymer (World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award), and two more novels in her “Riverside” series. In 2015, Thomas the Rhymer was published in the UK as part of the Gollancz “Fantasy Masterworks” line.
In addition, her short fiction appears regularly in numerous anthologies. Her stories have been translated into a wide variety of languages, including Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Latvian and Finnish.
Upon moving to Boston, she became a radio host for WGBH-FM. In 1996, she created Sound & Spirit, PRI’s award-winning national public radio series. With Ellen as host and writer, the program aired nationally until 2010; many of the original shows can now be heard archived online.
As a live stage performer, her solo spoken word works include Esther: the Feast of Masks, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ for Chanukah (with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra). In 2008, Vital Theatre commissioned her to script a full-scale theatrical version. The Klezmer Nutcracker played to sold-out audiences in New York City, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam.
In 2012, Kushner entered the world of audiobooks, narrating and co-producing “illuminated” versions of all three of the “Riverside” novels with SueMedia Productions for Neil Gaiman Presents at Audible.com—and winning a 2013 Audie Award for Swordspoint.
Other recent projects include the urban fantasy anthology Welcome to Bordertown (co-edited with Holly Black), and The Witches of Lublin, a musical audio drama written with Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom (which one Gabriel, Gracie and Wilbur Awards in 2012). In 2015 she contributed to and oversaw the creation of the online Riverside series prequel Tremontaine for Serial Box with collaborators Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Patty Bryant.
A dauntless traveler, Ellen Kushner has been a guest of honor at conventions all over the world. She regularly teaches writing at the prestigious Clarion Workshop and the Hollins University Graduate Program in Children’s Literature.
Ellen Kushner is a co-founder and past president of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization supporting work that falls between genre categories. She lives in New York City with author and educator Delia Sherman, a lot of books, airplane and theater ticket stubs, and no cats whatsoever.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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October 12, 2017Season three is off to a spectacular start.
New readers could begin here, as we meet crucial characters one by one, and their situations and emotions are delineated. But oh, to understand the duchess's complexity of response as she attends a dinner, one really needs to know how she got to where she is . . . and it's interesting to note how well drawn she is, for she is not yet the formidable duchess with impervious control we know from the books.
Micah is delightfully present, and herself, Kaab has a new goal orthoganal to the duchess's, and Rafe is back . . . and drawn to someone I really, really hate.
I want to see Shade and his partner DEAD, DEAD DEAD. (I don't think it's any spoiler for the first seasons to say that, as Shade is a scumbag from the moment he walks on stage.)
So will Kaab, once she finds out who he is. My money is on her, rather than the Council of Merchants and their posturing . . .
I can hardly wait for more.
New readers could begin here, as we meet crucial characters one by one, and their situations and emotions are delineated. But oh, to understand the duchess's complexity of response as she attends a dinner, one really needs to know how she got to where she is . . . and it's interesting to note how well drawn she is, for she is not yet the formidable duchess with impervious control we know from the books.
Micah is delightfully present, and herself, Kaab has a new goal orthoganal to the duchess's, and Rafe is back . . . and drawn to someone I really, really hate.
I want to see Shade and his partner DEAD, DEAD DEAD. (I don't think it's any spoiler for the first seasons to say that, as Shade is a scumbag from the moment he walks on stage.)
So will Kaab, once she finds out who he is. My money is on her, rather than the Council of Merchants and their posturing . . .
I can hardly wait for more.
October 15, 2017
I would have thought Rafe'd learn by now to keep it in his pants, but noooo. He is so easily led around. I live for the Micah moments, and Kellgren's audio narration for the Duchess Tremontaine is always on point.
And let's say this is a rather fiery opening for season 3. Can't wait for the next episode!
And let's say this is a rather fiery opening for season 3. Can't wait for the next episode!
October 17, 2017
It's great to have Tremontaine back online and I'm eager for the next chapter tomorrow.
This one was pretty much setting the stage, with a lot of jumping from familiar character to familiar character; I have to see how things unfold before I can really judge the trajectory.
This one was pretty much setting the stage, with a lot of jumping from familiar character to familiar character; I have to see how things unfold before I can really judge the trajectory.
October 16, 2017
AAAAAAAAAH
I've read this twice now, and it just gets better and better. Season Three is off to a flying start with role reversals (Diane, Kaab), betrayals (I'm still looking at you Kaab), hot sex (RAFE WHAT ARE YOU DOING RAFE) and blood already on the floor (AAAAAAAAAAH).
Thank heavens for Micah, serenely oblivious and a darling in every way.
Full review
I will as usual be reviewing each episode as it comes out. Although OH MY WORD CLIFFHANGER WHAT NO THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING HELP BRING ME EPISODE 2 NOW (oh good, it's here; the only benefit to getting off to a late start)
I've read this twice now, and it just gets better and better. Season Three is off to a flying start with role reversals (Diane, Kaab), betrayals (I'm still looking at you Kaab), hot sex (RAFE WHAT ARE YOU DOING RAFE) and blood already on the floor (AAAAAAAAAAH).
Thank heavens for Micah, serenely oblivious and a darling in every way.
Full review
I will as usual be reviewing each episode as it comes out. Although OH MY WORD CLIFFHANGER WHAT NO THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING HELP BRING ME EPISODE 2 NOW (oh good, it's here; the only benefit to getting off to a late start)
February 23, 2023
I liked Ambition #3.1, Ixkaab due to her aunts death, she's now replaces her aunt as the first lady of the traders and it adds a twist to her story line.
Just the same old same old with the Duchess's she just seems to magical get whatever she wants, even at times the writing doesn't back it up and the easy button gets used with her.
Like that Micah seems more into the storyline, with her staying at the Tremontaine now and don't care for Rafe anymore. With the Duke gone, just taints his relationship with Rafe, by having already dallied with Florian.
The best part was Ixkaab, speaking at the Confederate meeting, inspiring the meeting leaders due to the death of Arthur Chel, to do something to clean up Riverside and your left with the City Watch marching into the town.
Thanks to netgalley and Serial Box for the advance ARC, for my honest review.
Just the same old same old with the Duchess's she just seems to magical get whatever she wants, even at times the writing doesn't back it up and the easy button gets used with her.
Like that Micah seems more into the storyline, with her staying at the Tremontaine now and don't care for Rafe anymore. With the Duke gone, just taints his relationship with Rafe, by having already dallied with Florian.
The best part was Ixkaab, speaking at the Confederate meeting, inspiring the meeting leaders due to the death of Arthur Chel, to do something to clean up Riverside and your left with the City Watch marching into the town.
Thanks to netgalley and Serial Box for the advance ARC, for my honest review.
October 11, 2017
Tremontaine season three is live, and I’m going to be reviewing it episode by episode! If you’re not familiar with Tremontaine, it’s a fabulous queer fantasy of manners serial story set in Ellen Kushner’s Riverside. Picture political, sword fights, and a primarily LGBTQ cast. I do think it’s a story you should read in order, so head over to season one if you’re not familiar with it.
Diane has triumphed, becoming Duchess of Tremontaine in her own right. Now she’s plotting a way to show up Lord Davenport and what connections it would be most advantageous to further. Only, there’s one thing she doesn’t know: that Vincent Applethorpe is “dead” after she ordered him to duel with Kaab. That will throw a wrench in Diane’s plans as well as giving her some unexpected emotions…
In addition to Diane, this opening episode of season three also focuses on Kaab, who’s deep in grief after the death of her aunt. She’s thrown into her new role as the leader of her family’s spy network, and none of her relatives seem that confident in her abilities. How can she get revenge for Arthur’s death in a way that’s legal and fitting to her family’s station? Her relatives are not enthused with the idea of murdering someone in the street, in the Riverside fashion.
On that note, Kaab’s quest for vengeance raises a larger plot line of conflict between the respectable portions of the city and Riverside. The respectable potions might have the money and political power, but Riverside’s scrappy. I wouldn’t bet against them. Still, I’m predicting that this will be an ongoing plot arc for the rest of the season, especially if Tess gets wind of what Kaab’s up to. That’ll be a show done. On a similar note, Florian has been driven out of Riverside, and I doubt he’s happy about it. I’m sure he’s up to something, and it seems like it involves seducing Rafe? Not that Rafe’s ever been hard to seduce.
Oh, and have I mentioned that I love Micah living with Diane? Yes, Diane’s using her to a degree (doesn’t she use everyone?), but I think Diane also has a fondness for her. It seems like she almost lets herself relax around Micah. It’s sort of sweet. I felt like Micah didn’t get much plot involvement last season, so I hope that changes with season three.
I’m sure Diane’s going to have a plot arc this season, but if “Ambition” is laying the groundwork for it, I’m failing to pick up on the clues. Oh well, I’m sure that will change. Regardless, Diane’s one of my favorite Tremontaine characters (rivaled only by Micah), and I’m always happy to spend time with her.
Thanks to Serial Box for the ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
Diane has triumphed, becoming Duchess of Tremontaine in her own right. Now she’s plotting a way to show up Lord Davenport and what connections it would be most advantageous to further. Only, there’s one thing she doesn’t know: that Vincent Applethorpe is “dead” after she ordered him to duel with Kaab. That will throw a wrench in Diane’s plans as well as giving her some unexpected emotions…
In addition to Diane, this opening episode of season three also focuses on Kaab, who’s deep in grief after the death of her aunt. She’s thrown into her new role as the leader of her family’s spy network, and none of her relatives seem that confident in her abilities. How can she get revenge for Arthur’s death in a way that’s legal and fitting to her family’s station? Her relatives are not enthused with the idea of murdering someone in the street, in the Riverside fashion.
On that note, Kaab’s quest for vengeance raises a larger plot line of conflict between the respectable portions of the city and Riverside. The respectable potions might have the money and political power, but Riverside’s scrappy. I wouldn’t bet against them. Still, I’m predicting that this will be an ongoing plot arc for the rest of the season, especially if Tess gets wind of what Kaab’s up to. That’ll be a show done. On a similar note, Florian has been driven out of Riverside, and I doubt he’s happy about it. I’m sure he’s up to something, and it seems like it involves seducing Rafe? Not that Rafe’s ever been hard to seduce.
Oh, and have I mentioned that I love Micah living with Diane? Yes, Diane’s using her to a degree (doesn’t she use everyone?), but I think Diane also has a fondness for her. It seems like she almost lets herself relax around Micah. It’s sort of sweet. I felt like Micah didn’t get much plot involvement last season, so I hope that changes with season three.
I’m sure Diane’s going to have a plot arc this season, but if “Ambition” is laying the groundwork for it, I’m failing to pick up on the clues. Oh well, I’m sure that will change. Regardless, Diane’s one of my favorite Tremontaine characters (rivaled only by Micah), and I’m always happy to spend time with her.
Thanks to Serial Box for the ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
October 10, 2017
After much anticipation on behalf of this reader, Tremontaine returns with Season Three of the thrilling serialized dram filled with intrigue, sex, and, of course, chocolate. I was fortunate enough to read season three episode one a week early thanks to being able to join TremonTEAM this year.
Episode was positively delightful, opening with Diane, now Duchess in her own right, surveying her city. I loved seeing Diane's introspection in this scene, thinking of how she arranged last season's duel between Kaab and Applethorpe.
We then see Kaab readjusting to life after missing she ship home and loosing her aunt. I also loved the interaction between Micah and Diane, a small slice into Micah's new life at Tremontaine. And of course, I admit I had a major fangirl moment over Diane and Kaab's scene together. (“oh Kaab!” Diane gasped, even after Kaab's very formal “Madame Duchess” and I swooned.)
Rafe and Florian also make appearances in the episode but here is where I must confess my bias and say that I sometimes find Rafe quite annoying. Not really in this episode though.
Episode one, Ambition, was a strong start to the season and I can't wait to see where it goes!
Episode was positively delightful, opening with Diane, now Duchess in her own right, surveying her city. I loved seeing Diane's introspection in this scene, thinking of how she arranged last season's duel between Kaab and Applethorpe.
We then see Kaab readjusting to life after missing she ship home and loosing her aunt. I also loved the interaction between Micah and Diane, a small slice into Micah's new life at Tremontaine. And of course, I admit I had a major fangirl moment over Diane and Kaab's scene together. (“oh Kaab!” Diane gasped, even after Kaab's very formal “Madame Duchess” and I swooned.)
Rafe and Florian also make appearances in the episode but here is where I must confess my bias and say that I sometimes find Rafe quite annoying. Not really in this episode though.
Episode one, Ambition, was a strong start to the season and I can't wait to see where it goes!
October 18, 2017
So glad this series is back and what an opener.
Diane is on fierce form.
Rafe you horn dog.
Micah sweet cinnamon bun.
And Kaab having to assume a new mantle.
So goooood
Diane is on fierce form.
Rafe you horn dog.
Micah sweet cinnamon bun.
And Kaab having to assume a new mantle.
So goooood
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2017
Needs more Tess (always, always, always).
This season is off to a strong start, and I am glad to have some of the storylines from the first and second seasons finished off.
This season is off to a strong start, and I am glad to have some of the storylines from the first and second seasons finished off.
October 13, 2017
Oh man, Tremontaine is off to a killer start this season! A number of baby plots are just starting to grow, with consequences carried over from last season. I can't wait to see where this season goes. Looks like outright violence between Riverside and the Hill might be on the menu. [Also, please Vincent be okay!]
October 11, 2017
Tremontaine is back!
The third season of Tremontaine opens with an all new mix of conspiracies, ambitions, plots and counterplots. Few fictional worlds are as rich as this - you owe it to yourself to check it out.
The third season of Tremontaine opens with an all new mix of conspiracies, ambitions, plots and counterplots. Few fictional worlds are as rich as this - you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews