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Jan. 8th, 2010 12:51 pmI just finished Michelle West's Sea of Sorrows; four books in, the series continues to focus amazingly on the ways in which women hold power, which is a thing I continue to really appreciate!
The first half of the book was a bit scattered - the Ospreys are doing some stuff here! and the Voyani are doing some other stuff there! and Jewel's gang are over here! and the demons are doing some stuff too! and here's Valedan! and here's Kiriel the angstiest eighty-page fight scene known to man! and and - and it all felt a bit like getting pieces in place for the next book, but I kind of loved the second half, aka Diora and Teresa and Jewel and Avandar and Margret and Elena and Kallandras and a magic elf and a magic stag and bunch of Voyani GO ON A FIELD TRIP. Uh, more specifically, I really liked the focus on the relationship between Diora and Margret as they learn to appreciate each other and the different-but-not-bad rules for being powerful women in their cultures - and by the way, dude, you can't tell me I am not supposed to be shipping them. Margret spends about 50% of her time thinking about how beautiful Diora is, and Diora keeps going on about how much Margret reminds her of one of her tragically dead wives, and the amount of time they spend musing on the texture of each other's skin whenever they have to take hands for whatever reason is - well, it's a lot of time!
( And spoilers! )
My glee, however, was a little bit harshed when I went to Amazon to link to the book and stumbled over this review:
Anybody picking up a book by a female fantasy writer knows not to expect much. As a rule anything on the physical world will tend to be sketchy. Anything to do with war and combat will be flat, with pretty colors. On the upside, female fantasy authors will generally have interesting characters, set in interesting cultures. Too, they will devote some attention to their writing style.
Thank you for your incisive generalizations, mystery Amazon reviewer! Yes, I am sure every single book written by a female fantasy author does conform to your rules. EVERY ONE.
The first half of the book was a bit scattered - the Ospreys are doing some stuff here! and the Voyani are doing some other stuff there! and Jewel's gang are over here! and the demons are doing some stuff too! and here's Valedan! and here's Kiriel the angstiest eighty-page fight scene known to man! and and - and it all felt a bit like getting pieces in place for the next book, but I kind of loved the second half, aka Diora and Teresa and Jewel and Avandar and Margret and Elena and Kallandras and a magic elf and a magic stag and bunch of Voyani GO ON A FIELD TRIP. Uh, more specifically, I really liked the focus on the relationship between Diora and Margret as they learn to appreciate each other and the different-but-not-bad rules for being powerful women in their cultures - and by the way, dude, you can't tell me I am not supposed to be shipping them. Margret spends about 50% of her time thinking about how beautiful Diora is, and Diora keeps going on about how much Margret reminds her of one of her tragically dead wives, and the amount of time they spend musing on the texture of each other's skin whenever they have to take hands for whatever reason is - well, it's a lot of time!
( And spoilers! )My glee, however, was a little bit harshed when I went to Amazon to link to the book and stumbled over this review:
Anybody picking up a book by a female fantasy writer knows not to expect much. As a rule anything on the physical world will tend to be sketchy. Anything to do with war and combat will be flat, with pretty colors. On the upside, female fantasy authors will generally have interesting characters, set in interesting cultures. Too, they will devote some attention to their writing style.
Thank you for your incisive generalizations, mystery Amazon reviewer! Yes, I am sure every single book written by a female fantasy author does conform to your rules. EVERY ONE.
