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Sep. 4th, 2012 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
In the month or two since I last read the Steerswoman books, I had almost forgotten how good they were. I mean, I knew! But then I started reading The Lost Steersman and I knew all over again.
So The Lost Steersman begins with a story arc I both enjoy and identify with: Rowan has to settle into a town for a while to put the archives in order (the archives being in order is explicitly a key component for saving the world! *___*) which also requires socializing with the locals. Small talk, for Rowan, is like pulling teeth. The locals think she is weird and unfriendly -- and I love when one of the villagers calls her out on the fact that she pretty much thinks they're boring and not worth her time, and they can tell. It's a completely different kind of culture clash than the one in the previous book -- one I don't usually see tackled -- and as with all culture clashes in these books, it's handled very well, and also inspires in me a passionate identification with Rowan while at the same time recognizing the places she messes up. I would rather be alphabetizing than networking any day! I FEEL YOU, ROWAN.
So this is going on, and there's an old friend of Rowan's hanging around and acting weird, and some mysterious demon creatures keep attacking the town . . .
. . . and then EVERYTHING GOES OFF THE RAILS and if you're reading under this cut you should already know what I'm talking about.
So I spent a lot of the last hundred pages thinking essentially the equivalent of "oh Rowan you beautiful naive sophisticated newborn baby," in a way that made me sad for my own cynicism. Rowan thinks that once people know about the sentience of the demons, everyone will care! I love her for thinking that. I . . . do not. The situation on the planet inherently sets up a "them or me" kind of mentality, and the demons are so alien, and so historically feared among the Outskirters, that I cannot see this ending well. AT ALL. FOR ANYONE. I loved the construction of the demons and their completely alien mode of communication and the bare, faint glimmers of understanding, and I can't think it will in any way be enough.
Other deep, deep thoughts:
a. JANUS IS A DICK
b. ZENNA IS PRETTY AWESOME
c. I really hope the ~mystery of Mira~ will be solved in the next book (right now I'm guessing she did just what the townspeople accused Rowan of doing, and replaced the real Mira? But I would not be surprised if it turned out more complicated than that)
d. how much did I love Bel popping up all "heeeeeeere I come to save the daaaaaaay!" SO MUCH.
So The Lost Steersman begins with a story arc I both enjoy and identify with: Rowan has to settle into a town for a while to put the archives in order (the archives being in order is explicitly a key component for saving the world! *___*) which also requires socializing with the locals. Small talk, for Rowan, is like pulling teeth. The locals think she is weird and unfriendly -- and I love when one of the villagers calls her out on the fact that she pretty much thinks they're boring and not worth her time, and they can tell. It's a completely different kind of culture clash than the one in the previous book -- one I don't usually see tackled -- and as with all culture clashes in these books, it's handled very well, and also inspires in me a passionate identification with Rowan while at the same time recognizing the places she messes up. I would rather be alphabetizing than networking any day! I FEEL YOU, ROWAN.
So this is going on, and there's an old friend of Rowan's hanging around and acting weird, and some mysterious demon creatures keep attacking the town . . .
. . . and then EVERYTHING GOES OFF THE RAILS and if you're reading under this cut you should already know what I'm talking about.
So I spent a lot of the last hundred pages thinking essentially the equivalent of "oh Rowan you beautiful naive sophisticated newborn baby," in a way that made me sad for my own cynicism. Rowan thinks that once people know about the sentience of the demons, everyone will care! I love her for thinking that. I . . . do not. The situation on the planet inherently sets up a "them or me" kind of mentality, and the demons are so alien, and so historically feared among the Outskirters, that I cannot see this ending well. AT ALL. FOR ANYONE. I loved the construction of the demons and their completely alien mode of communication and the bare, faint glimmers of understanding, and I can't think it will in any way be enough.
Other deep, deep thoughts:
a. JANUS IS A DICK
b. ZENNA IS PRETTY AWESOME
c. I really hope the ~mystery of Mira~ will be solved in the next book (right now I'm guessing she did just what the townspeople accused Rowan of doing, and replaced the real Mira? But I would not be surprised if it turned out more complicated than that)
d. how much did I love Bel popping up all "heeeeeeere I come to save the daaaaaaay!" SO MUCH.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 12:49 pm (UTC)I too am COMPLETELY floored by Bel being okay with Rowan's assertion that the demons are people -- I keep thinking that Rowan is maybe just avoiding the topic because she knows she doesn't want to have this argument? Because Rowan is also apparently still on board with the 'restart Routine Bioform Clearance' plan, and, wait, Rowan! ROWAN WAIT.
Hah, yes! I laughed at that especially because we're starting to do command line stuff in my digital preservation class right now and our entire class is like "wait, what, no GUI?! this is terrifying! . . . BUT SO POWERFUL *___*" I also love, I forgot to say, how at the end Rowan is like "ehhhhhh, I'm pretty sure you never technically lied to me, IT'S FINE." And all the times she slips that ring on and off for convenience over the course of the story. Our little Rowan is growing up to accept shades of grey, and it's FASCINATING.
I saw a theory that Slado is trying to justify the wizard's treatment of everyone else -- 'look at them all warring with each other, we can abandon them and go home!' But all this seems highly convoluted for that. Or for saving the intelligent alien species, for that matter (although I am SO DOWN for more shades of grey.) I still think a check-up would be fascinating though . . .
no subject
Date: 2012-09-26 08:32 pm (UTC)This has been "vague foreshadowing" with