In Winters and Neb we see the the outlines of some very standard fantasy character tropes... the young Queen/Princess and the orphan boy/Savior. Their story progresses as we can expect. They meet under unusual circumstances and their identities are not fully known to each other. They are very quickly enamored of each other. Their paths lead in different directions. But there is the hope/dream/prophecy of a reunion and great events. You've read that one before? Yeah, me too.

Scholes does manage to create very interesting and compelling characters in both Neb and Winters. I think there are enough differences, both in how the characters have been created and in how the story is unfolding, that there is a good reason to believe that these characters will be deeper and better realized that simple trope characters. (CANTICLE goes a good way toward proving this)