skygiants | (no subject)

So actually I think The Hidden City is my favorite Michelle West book so far! Maybe it's just that I've gotten used to her style, or maybe it was just kind of a relief to have just one plotline and set of characters to keep track of . . . or maybe it was just that I am primed to find stories about cold brooding amoral gentlemen who abruptly find themselves in charge of the education of a gaggle of small children hilarious. (

varadia, I am looking at you!)

So the plotline of the book basically goes like this:

RATH: I used to be noble, but I have BACKSTORY ANGST that mean I have repudiated my family and have spent twenty years in the slums as a RUTHLESS AMORAL CRIMINAL!
BECCA: So what do you do that's so ruthless and amoral, Rath?
RATH: I SELL . . . . illegitimate antiques.
BECCA: Oh, bless.
RATH: SOMETIMES I HAVE TO KILL PEOPLE WHEN I'M SELLING THOSE ANTIQUES OKAY. Anyway, this small child just stole my wallet! I WILL HUNT HER DOWN . . . and take her home and feed her.
JEWEL: Uh, I don't trust you, strange man, but, um, thanks for the food! I'll go back to living under the bridge now.
RATH: Oh my god you have a fever of a hundred and street urchin, YOUNG LADY YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE . . . I mean, am kicking you out just as soon as you're not sick anymore. Whatever.
JEWEL: . . . okay?
RATH: DID I MENTION I HATE CHILDREN. AND AM A TERRIBLE AMORAL PERSON. SERIOUSLY I MEAN IT.
BECCA: Oh, bless.

JEWEL: So, uh, Rath, I picked up these other street urchins and they need food and I kind of saved this one's life and, uh, can I keep them? :D I've got extra space in my room?
RATH: . . .
JEWEL: I mean, I'll get it if you're mad, I can just leave . . .
RATH: OH MY GOD, fine. As long as they stay in your room and don't bother me.
JEWEL: Okay, and now I'm going to go rescue some more kids from a demon-controlled brothel!
RATH: Jewel. You are ten. You cannot single-handedly rescue kids from a demon-controlled brothel.
JEWEL: Yes but I have to try!
RATH: OH MY GOD, okay, FINE, I will help you rescue the kids from a brothel. Because otherwise YOU WILL DIE.
JEWEL: Thanks Rath! :D
RATH: . . . and now they're all coming to live with us, aren't they.
JEWEL: Um, now there are ten of us and my room is getting kind of crowded, so can I also use the room next door?
RATH: HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME.

DUSTER: I am seriously damaged! Demons want to recruit me to be their pet killer! Also, I am a twelve-year-old-girl.
JEWEL: Hi Duster, let's be friends! :D
DUSTER: Thanks for rescuing me, but also, I hate you for having an easier life than me, and kind of want revenge on the whole world.
JEWEL: You can be a killer, Duster. That's okay! But you're going to be my killer. I WILL BE THE SHEATH TO YOUR KNIFE. ~~subtext what subtext~~
BECCA: So the most important relationship of the second half of the book is between an idealistic charismatic girl and a cold scary amoral girl?
RATH: Did I mention my backstory angst is basically just about how my sister was so hardcore and awesome and I will never forgive her . . . because she was so awesome and then she left the family and none of us will ever be as awesome as her! ;_; SISTER.
BECCA: Michelle West, I love you and your awesome ladies for all time.

(I should probably mention in reccing this book that a.) it is A BRICK and b.) that there is stuff at the end that is likely to be seriously triggery, and that would have bothered me a lot more if the focus was not so very much on the relationship between Jewel and Duster, and on the girls' agency.)

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Okay, I seriously just spent the last two minutes going, "I will be the sheath to your knife? WHAT IS THAT FROM?? I KNOW I'VE HEARD THAT BEFORE."

And then I thought I figured it out, but I was wrong. *facepalm* None the less, now all I can think of is an animated Johnny Depp saying that line.

. . . okay, now I am really curious about where you thought you heard it! Of which animated Johnny Depp do you speak? :O :O :O

I thought it was from the wedding vows in Corpse Bride, where Victor is in the woods, trying to get them right. I was so sure of it!

Ha! He definitely does say something similar to that, at least.

Hohoho, it's 101 Dalmatians all over again~

Jewel: "Right I've got an army of street urchins at my disposal!"

Rath:..."Well we'll just buy a GODDAMN FARM IN THE COUNTRY HOW ABOUT THAT?! >:|"

*giggling* It totally is. And every time she picks up another one, she's just like ". . . . omg Rath is going to be so mad!" and every time, Rath is just like *SIGH* "Just - just make sure that they stay in your room. Two rooms. Two rooms and the kitchen. OUT OF MY STUDY OKAY."

I love your description of this book. *_____*

I'm, uh, not actually sure if I'd love the book itself or not. I can't tell! BUT I LOVE YOUR SUMMARY.

*giggling* For the record, I think you would like it! Michelle West's strengths are in her awesomely complex worldbuilding and awesome ladies, and her main weakness is a fondness for convoluted prose that circles around and around and around her characters' issues that I actually think would work better for you than it does for me. I can't decide if I'd tell you to start with this one or with the first Sun Sword books, though; this one is more instantly gripping and the main characters more immediately likeable, but the Sun Sword series showcases the culturebuilding better.

Very possibly, then! My tolerance for convoluted prose... depends enormously on the rhythm and subtlety of it, and also on how well I like the characters. (However, I can put up with Robert Jordan with enough incentive, so we know I can deal. *laughing*) Awesomely complex worldbuilding and awesome ladies are definite signs in her favor. I will try to remember to give one of those books a try sometime!

I would say, West's books contain more incentives than Jordan's, but . . . it is not fair for me to say that when I have not actually read the Wheel of Time. *sheepish* There is a lot worth reading for, though! And I think you would like the characters, too. I can lend you the first Sun Sword book, if ever you want. (Because clearly what you need from me is MORE BOOKS to add to the pile. *giggling*)

Hee hee hee. For my personal tastes, much as I do love aspects and characters of WoT... probably. We will see! I would be interested to try it, although maaaaaybe I should work through some of the current stack of books-from-Becca first.

AHAHA. Yes, it was pretty amazing that Rath would go on about his terrible past and yet we never saw him do anything worse than lurk through an underground city picking up antiques to sell illegally. And then rescue street children, which seems... to be a more dangerous lifestyle than the one he'd been leading PRIOR to meeting Jewel. Rath... maybe you need to try harder? XD

It was also A+ amazing that it's Rath's life that's shaped by powerful women, rather than being the other way around, FOR ONCE.

Seeing Duster now kind of makes me wish she'd survived to the Sun Sword books! She would get on like a house on fire with Avandar - by which I mean it would have been HILARIOUSLY DISASTROUS.

Michelle West, if you'd just cut the convolution down a LITTLE... ;_;

I KNOW RIGHT. I kept waiting for there to be some kind of reveal about something horrible he'd done, and . . . nope! Even the ~shady dangerous people~ he hangs out with are like, "here are my mercenary friends . . . who are going to help me rescue street children! Here is my DRESSMAKER friend who is totally a cunning and dangerous guy, yo!"

And man, I love that so much - I mean, in any other book, if it was sister backstory angst at all, it would be "MY SISTER IS DEEEAD." Instead, it's "MY SISTER IS SO AWESOME . . . that she's MAYBE TOO AWESOME???"

- now I really wish that too, oh my god. They would get along great, as long as there was someone else to kill!

Hah, I actually thought this was even convoluted than the Sun Sword , but . . . also I think I am just used to her style by now, so I don't notice it as much. Or maybe it's not as noticeable when it's circling around one or two people's issues (Hi, Rath's sister angst! Back again, are we?) than when it's circling around twenty people's issues (Yes, Michelle West, I REMEMBER that Diora's wives are dead!)

"And I frequent a shady pub full of unsavoury types that I will bring you to every day so the owners recognise your face and KNOW TO LOOK OUT FOR YOU." That's... very shady, I'm sure XD

Ahaha YES. And everyone was like, dude, we have faith you can be pretty awesome too and should maybe come back? And Rath is all, No, still busy with the inferiority complex, thanks! Also, with reluctantly rescuing kids from demon brothels!

They could keep Jewel busy. "NO, YOU CAN'T JUST KILL ALL THE TERAFIN'S POLITICAL ENEMIES. ... PROBABLY." And Duster and Kirel could have bonded over being angsty cold blooded killers too. It would have been so great ;_;

Heh, maybe it's the opposite for me. With Sun Sword, there were a million things going on anyway, so it was easy to lose track. But when there's only Rath and Jewel, it gets rather, Rath, didn't you go through this 20 pages ago...? Jewel hasn't been so busy I'd forget THAT fast...

HAHAHAHA I loved that. When he takes her to the SUPER DANGEROUS HANGOUT OF SHADY CHARACTERS, and everyone there is just like "hi, sweetheart! Want some cocoa?"

It does keep him pretty busy. *solemn* Judging from the amount of time he spends thinking about it, at least!

Hey, Kiriel is pretty much acknowledged to be Jewel's Duster 2.0. Jewel is like "I miss having my angsty cold-blooded killer that I could barely stop from murdering all my enemies around. ;_; LET ME FIND A NEW ONE." But Kiriel is not as big on the bitchfights as Duster was, and therefore Kiriel and Avander never get to have hilarious angsty-killer bonding/bitchfights, which I feel is a great lack in the Sun Sword books.

Hee, point! Rath wants to make VERY SURE you don't forget that he has backstory angst, okay. :O

Someone really needs to point out to Rath, "That word you keep using, I do not think it means what you THINK it means..." Admittedly, maybe they tried and Rath didn't notice?

That is true about Kiriel being Duster 2.0. But hey, you can never have too many cold-blooded killers! Especially when they're both girls, which fantasy could always do with more of.

The Duster vs Avandar bitchfights would be so beautiful. Next to them, Jewel and Avandar would practically look like they got along! *cracks up at the thought*

You do fantastic summaries! This book looks quite interesting! I've never read anything by Michelle West so I might start reading it when I get the chance.

Edited 2010-05-15 11:57 (UTC)

Hee, thank you! Michelle West is pretty cool - I've been reading her ENORMOUS BRICKS of high fantasy for about a year now, and I have not been disappointed so far!