I will, however, go find Howl’s Moving Castle. Thanks for the tip!

Even when the reader can predict how things are going to turn out, the writer can’t allow the reader to be smarter (plot-wise) than the protagonist, and I’m afraid that happens about halfway through. The Prince needs another complication in his life that creates more complex reasons for maintaining distance between himself and “Rian.”

(This is completely beside the point, but Ember’s musing about his name reminded me of this.)

In fact, Gaetane’s eventual explanation for her original “curse” is so compelling that rather than simply telling about it at the end, showing it along the way would fit the bill perfectly, and provide an external motivation (rather than only an existential one) for keeping the Prince’s alter-egos at odds with each other, and at odds with Ember.

In Howl’s Moving Castle, Howl has been using his looks, magic and charming nature to keep a dozen balls in the air at the same time, and they suddenly come crashing down, putting them all in danger. So the psychological conflict created by Sophie and Howl hiding their true natures becomes expressed in physical form.

Seriously, with a little work, we’re in Stardust territory. Publishers should be fighting over it.

I got your post on trackback. Glad you liked Ember, but don’t go worrying about paypal, Ember is free :).

P.S. I like Sheri S. Tepper’s Beauty too. I second your recommendation.