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Mar. 31st, 2009 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsMichelle West's The Broken Crown is the first book in The Sun Sword, A Big Fat Fantasy Series. Cons: it has severalt of the flaws common to the Big Fat Fantasy Series. Pros: it has some merits that are not at all common to the Big Fat Fantasy Series. Also, said series is actually completed!
The flaws: First of all, there are a lot of characters. They have a lot of names. Many of these names are very similar. A lot of them involve the classic Fantasy Novel Apostraphes. I had a lot of trouble remembering who was Amara and who was Amaya and who belonged to the one region but had a noble last name that had nothing to do with that region but was unfortunately similar to the noble last name from the other region. Also, the author has the bad habit of often taking time to remind the reader of events that happened right in the previous chapter. Those are not the things I was confused about! And much of the book is pretty clearly setup for Dramatic Things That Will Happen Later In the Series, and the first hundred pages are setup for the setup with characters that we will never see again, which is why it took me a hundred and fifty or two hundred pages to get into the book at all.
The merits: The thing that makes this really stand out from other Big Fat Fantasy Series that I have read is how much of the plot is spurred by, and centered around, relationships among women. And I don't just mean the kind of badass sword-slinging women that you get in most fantasy sagas these days. Most of the plot in this book takes place in a very strict and regulated society where the standard family unit is 1 nobleman::1 head wife::small harem of secondary wives/concubines - and instead of being fetish-y and creepy, as these setups often can be, the book really focuses on the bonds that grow up between the women of the household, how they form intense relationships and a community that is as or more important than their relationship with their husband, and how despite not being recognized as having any authority they can wield power in a number of subtle ways. Also, though there is sort of a destiny thing going on, it is all about choices! Many times choices that women make that quite often do not have anything to do with who they will sleep with! Which is, overall, kind of awesome. I am sure that some would accuse Diora, the main character, of being a Mary Sue - seeing as she is the most beautiful woman in the country and also possessed of secret magic powers! - but I really like her relationships with other women and her difficult decisions and the ways in which she manages to manipulate her status. And the author does a very good job of showing a society that is completely different from ours, and involves a lot of things that we would consider terrible injustices, without vilifying it. By which I mean that there aren't any people running around with suspiciously modern sensibilities all out of tune with their cultures going 'this is all wrong! FREEEEDOM!' as happens in so many fantasy and historical novels.
Which is not to say that there are not ass-kicking women also - there are many different kinds of strong ladies involved in the plot. The more overtly ass-kicking ones live in a different culture that is not as much focused on in this book, although I suspect it will be in later books in the series, and many of them are also very cool and strong and interesting authority figures also. (And one of the protagonists reminds me a lot of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
varadia's X-23.)
So basically, though I have not yet fallen passionately in love with the series, I am definitely interested enough, and admiring enough of a lot of what the author is trying to do, that I will be reading more. Once I overcome the minor dilemma that neither local library system has the second book. NYPL, for once you have failed me!
The flaws: First of all, there are a lot of characters. They have a lot of names. Many of these names are very similar. A lot of them involve the classic Fantasy Novel Apostraphes. I had a lot of trouble remembering who was Amara and who was Amaya and who belonged to the one region but had a noble last name that had nothing to do with that region but was unfortunately similar to the noble last name from the other region. Also, the author has the bad habit of often taking time to remind the reader of events that happened right in the previous chapter. Those are not the things I was confused about! And much of the book is pretty clearly setup for Dramatic Things That Will Happen Later In the Series, and the first hundred pages are setup for the setup with characters that we will never see again, which is why it took me a hundred and fifty or two hundred pages to get into the book at all.
The merits: The thing that makes this really stand out from other Big Fat Fantasy Series that I have read is how much of the plot is spurred by, and centered around, relationships among women. And I don't just mean the kind of badass sword-slinging women that you get in most fantasy sagas these days. Most of the plot in this book takes place in a very strict and regulated society where the standard family unit is 1 nobleman::1 head wife::small harem of secondary wives/concubines - and instead of being fetish-y and creepy, as these setups often can be, the book really focuses on the bonds that grow up between the women of the household, how they form intense relationships and a community that is as or more important than their relationship with their husband, and how despite not being recognized as having any authority they can wield power in a number of subtle ways. Also, though there is sort of a destiny thing going on, it is all about choices! Many times choices that women make that quite often do not have anything to do with who they will sleep with! Which is, overall, kind of awesome. I am sure that some would accuse Diora, the main character, of being a Mary Sue - seeing as she is the most beautiful woman in the country and also possessed of secret magic powers! - but I really like her relationships with other women and her difficult decisions and the ways in which she manages to manipulate her status. And the author does a very good job of showing a society that is completely different from ours, and involves a lot of things that we would consider terrible injustices, without vilifying it. By which I mean that there aren't any people running around with suspiciously modern sensibilities all out of tune with their cultures going 'this is all wrong! FREEEEDOM!' as happens in so many fantasy and historical novels.
Which is not to say that there are not ass-kicking women also - there are many different kinds of strong ladies involved in the plot. The more overtly ass-kicking ones live in a different culture that is not as much focused on in this book, although I suspect it will be in later books in the series, and many of them are also very cool and strong and interesting authority figures also. (And one of the protagonists reminds me a lot of
varadia's X-23.)So basically, though I have not yet fallen passionately in love with the series, I am definitely interested enough, and admiring enough of a lot of what the author is trying to do, that I will be reading more. Once I overcome the minor dilemma that neither local library system has the second book. NYPL, for once you have failed me!
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Date: 2009-03-31 04:26 pm (UTC)DUDE. (http://elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com/37570.html)
I ADORE The Sun Sword. And it gets next to no recognition.
...I think she gets better with the recapping thing? It's not something that I really remember.
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Date: 2009-03-31 04:37 pm (UTC)The recapping thing got less noticeable as the book went on, I think - it was worst right around the timeskip with Diora growing up. Once events actually started being chronologically close together it was less of an issue.
(But why so many ladies with A-names, Michelle West? D: D: I want to be able to keep them straight, really I do!)
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Date: 2009-03-31 04:48 pm (UTC)And you just keep getting awesome female relationships through the whole series! And a few nice male relationships and male/female relationships, but there are more important female relationships than anything, I think!
Yeah, I think that pretty much goes away in the rest of the series. Maybe recaps from different points of view... *trying to remember*
(Yes, well, I do find the cast list at the beginning of each book useful. >.>)
...I have never liked Diora as much as a lot of the other characters, though. She's well treated and goes through some impressive growth, but she does feel less real than, like, anyone else in the series.
But we have people to make up for that. Like Teresea, and Alina, and Jewel, and Kiriel, and...
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Date: 2009-03-31 04:55 pm (UTC)(Oh man, I should have made more use of the cast list, but every time I flipped to the front and saw the massive lists of apostraphe'ed names arranged by clan my mind gave a faint shriek and glazed over. *sheepish* Maybe it will be easier now I actually have a sort of idea of how the political system works.)
I really do like Diora a lot, though it took me a little while to get there, but I love Teresa! She's so dignified and calm and ruthless. And I haven't yet seen enough of Jewel to get a really firm sense of her, but from what I've seen she's kind of awesome. (While Kiriel reminds me so much of a friend's RP character that I cannot tell whether I like her for her own sake, or because of that character . . .)
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Date: 2009-04-02 02:31 am (UTC)(...And sadly, I think you have a point.) Alesso and Sendari are very interesting! I also just became increasingly interested by Alesso in general as the series went on.
I do love Valedan. He's inexperienced, but you can't really call him naive. He genuinely wants to improve things, it's his determination to do that can make him seem naive to other people. ...Well, and the inexperience and some educational gaps. And I adore his relationship with Alina. They're an amazing team, they really help each other out so much. And it's impossible not to love things like:
Valedan: Will you marry me?
Alina: ...You idiot! That would be political suicide!
♥
(Haha, yeah, I can understand that. I remember when I started it, I looked at the titles list in the front and just went, "...okay then" and skipped to the actual book part.)
I have a great appreciation for Diora. But Teresa is my favorite character. I admire her more than I can put into words, really. Jewel's interesting, and she has a lot of great, interesting relationships. Jewel and her den are getting their own series now actually, The House War, which is starting out set before The Sun Sword and will later be covering the events after it (which I must admit I am impatient for, as that section of the plot was left with a dreadful cliffhanger).
(I like Kiriel in her own right, but for a while I wasn't sure if I did because she reminded me of a different book character! ...From the little I know about X-23, they are alike.)
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Date: 2009-04-02 05:05 am (UTC)(Well, if she is writing a sequel series, maybe that should count for the extra books!) They are intriguing characters! I really liked the scene with Alesso and Sendari and the demon. And yes, that scene with Alina! That really made me like Valedan and Alina both. They're so sensible. (Well, I mean, okay, it is not a genius move for Valedan, but it's so sweet! And he does need the advice.)
Didn't Jewel and her den have a duology as well that was already written? Hunter something? (. . . now I am curious about which book character she reminded you of!)
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Date: 2009-04-02 06:41 am (UTC)(True! And The House War did get upgraded to hardcover! [which made me way too happy]) Ooh, I remember that scene! It was awesome. As the series goes on, I really feel you have to grudgingly and then less grudgingly respect Alesso more and more.
Valedan and Alina have kind of become one of the "great partnerships I adore." (I will not even discuss general spoilers, I will not even discuss general spoilers...)
I...actually still need to read the Hunter's books. I do know she is a major character in them. I think they cover the demons attacking Averalaan about 15 years before The Sun Sword, but I'm not sure. In any case, I think the first part of The House War is set before those too. At least The Hidden City was, maybe the second one won't be.
(Corinna from The Folk Keeper, by Franny Billingsley. Which was weird at first, on the surface they're pretty different, but two things about them are really similar. They both base a large part of how they define themselves on how they're different from "ordinary humans." And they're both very concerned with power. ...Though in different ways. Kiriel's all, "I will kill you, therefore demonstrating my power!" Corinna's more, "I will secretly destroy that which you take most pride in, therefore demonstrating your lack of power!")
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Date: 2009-04-02 03:25 pm (UTC)(Oh, I love when that happens! I remember being super-excited when it happened for Naomi Novik, too. Though, uh, also sad that I had to wait longer for the affordable version.) It was totally awesome! I love how you think it's all about their Deep and True Guy Love, and then Sendari is like "well, yes, but actually it is about Alesso's need to prove himself against the gods, so I'm just going to sit back and relax while he fights the demon for me, cool? Cool." - aah no spoilers! *PLUGS EARS DESPITE TEMPTATION*
My library only has the first one and not the second one! Which is frustrating, since I understand the second one is the most Jewel-ish. And huh, cool! (Oooh, interesting. That is not a book I am familiar with, but cool! - ahahaha. Kiriel's way sounds slightly more direct, it is true. But Corinna's perhaps more efficacious in the long term . . .? Since once people are dead they have a hard time appreciating their lack of power!)
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Date: 2009-03-31 04:59 pm (UTC)(Aside from the fact that I am now trying to think of WHO in that series would remind you of X since it has been FOREVER since I have read it --)
My LJ is
I got SO CONFUSED. Who is this setsthingsright who . . . OH. That's ME.
I blame the 5:30 am wakeup call. Really.
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Date: 2009-03-31 05:04 pm (UTC)(Also, it is Kiriel! You know, the creepy sixteen-year-old who has grown up killing for her life, takes everything literally, does not understand normal human customs or emotions . . .)
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Date: 2009-03-31 08:41 pm (UTC)Now I want to reread these, and I do not HAVE THEM.
*sulks*
<3
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Date: 2009-03-31 08:44 pm (UTC)I could lend you mine! Um. Well, the one I own, anyways - though it is looking likely that I will shortly own the second, but first I have to read it. :D
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Date: 2009-03-31 05:59 pm (UTC)ARGH. This, so much. I have books that have their own, personal bookmarks, because said bookmark is actually a 3x5 card with the characters listed on it so I can keep them straight. (I learned this from my parents- there are books in this house where such character lists are written inside the book.)
I think a lot of this is due to names we're used to using everyday, vs. ones we aren't. Most of us can spot the difference between Bryan and Ryan quickly, and keep them separate in our heads, because we're used to them. Names of languages we're not used to? Not so much- my Brother Cadfael books tend to have the most 'character name notes' in them, specially if the book is dealing with a lot of Welsh characters.
As for fantasy, this can be even worse, as most of the names/languages/cultures are Made Up straight from the author's head.
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Date: 2009-03-31 06:11 pm (UTC)(There's a character in the manga Angel Sanctuary whose name I get wrong every time, which is twice as embarrassing because she is my favorite!)
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Date: 2009-03-31 06:32 pm (UTC)First time this happened to me, I was maybe 7? My parents had picked up a set of 'Childrens Classics' which was easy-to-read adaptations of such books like Black Beauty, A Christmas Carol and, most important, The Three Musketeers. Cue me talking to mom about that last one, after I had finished it.
"Oh, and then Darten-Argen-" "Wait. Who?" "Darten-Argen! He... he shows up in the begining to be a Musketeer and gets his letter stolen-" "You mean d'Artagnan!" ".... who's that?"
No one had told me how the name was supposed to be pronounced, and the only other language I had any experience in was Spanish. (Through neighborhood and school.) I needed a mental 'sound' for his name, and that's how it ended up.
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Date: 2009-03-31 06:39 pm (UTC)- I mean, to be fair, when I was 7, I also did that with actual words that I had read-but-not-heard-aloud. I still remember the first time I tried to to use a fancy word to talk about an accident - I was babbling blithely on about the character's unfortunate 'mishup', and my parents were like "...what are you talking about?" To this day I still have trouble remembering which is the right pronunciation for 'mishap'!
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Date: 2009-03-31 06:42 pm (UTC)My mom was a fan of western books as a child, and she told me about one of the first times her dad took her to see a western movie. The characters were in a saloon, and there were some 'ladies' of dubious virtue present as well. Nothing happened (ah, family friendly movies!), but afterwards, my grandfather asked her if she knew what those 'ladies' were.
"Oh, yes! They're 'wars'!" >_>
ie, 'whores' by a young kid who hadn't ever heard the word.
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Date: 2009-03-31 06:51 pm (UTC)I think I would have liked to see your grandfather's face!
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Date: 2009-03-31 07:11 pm (UTC)...
...
*goes to ask*
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Date: 2009-03-31 07:17 pm (UTC)I TOTALLY got the story wrong. No, it wasn't my grandfather taking mom when she was young. It was her and my dad out at the movies, either dating or married. (ie, college age at least) Mom still hasn't heard the word by then in context.
And I still have no idea why dad would have asked her if she 'knew' what those women were. *facepalm*
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Date: 2009-03-31 07:25 pm (UTC)Teaching your date about ladies of the night is TOTALLY THE WAY TO HER HEART.
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Date: 2009-03-31 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 06:49 pm (UTC)I really do love that play on D'Artagnan's name though because it makes sense.
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Date: 2009-03-31 07:11 pm (UTC)At least the other three musketeers had easier names!
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Date: 2009-03-31 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 08:04 pm (UTC)(It is more in the 'political scheming' vein than the 'stoic warrior' vein, but it is very stoic and angsty political scheming. *solemn*)
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Date: 2009-03-31 08:14 pm (UTC)Anyway I do like political scheming so long as I care about the characters involved! (This was my trouble with Kushiel's Dart, which I never did finish. Or... get halfway through...) And so long as the characters are not all being idiots at once. Or at least not being idiots while the author is telling us how brilliant they are. It sounds as if this is not a trouble with this book/series!
And the worldbuilding does sound fun. *grin* Societybuilding is totally the best kind.
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Date: 2009-03-31 08:21 pm (UTC)And some of the characters do act idiotically at times (there is a whole group of characters who the author pretty much says flat-out "these are the Hotheaded Idiots who will do Stupid, Possibly Heroic, Very Hotheaded Stuff! JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR ON THIS") but it is certainly not overwhelming. If there were times when I couldn't quite figure out the characters' decisions it came across to me as a cultural thing I hadn't understood yet most of the time.