skygiants | (no subject)

Laurie Marks' Water Logic is not really part of sequel season, seeing as it came out nine years ago, but a.) it was a sequel new to me and b.) now that I have read it, I get to join the rest of the world in waiting for the hypothetical last Elemental Logic book! (Which in theory will be Air Logic, after Fire Logic and Earth Logic.

The structure of this book is in some ways very similar to that of Earth Logic. In the A-plot, Zanja takes a journey that leads to her being considered ambiguously dead by Karis, which will somehow lead to something beneficial because of deus ex elemental logic. In the B-plot, Clement of the Sainnites beats her head against a wall attempting to figure out peaceful solutions to ongoing problems that might not, in fact, have peaceful solutions.

I think someone in comments of one of the past posts told me about the SURPRISE TIME TRAVEL, so I was expecting it, but as this is not the sort of fantasy that has previously shown any evidence of providing a mechanism for time travel I would otherwise have been very surprised indeed. On the other hand, Diana Wynne Jones pulled basically the same plot device in Crown of Dalemark so I guess I can't really complain. (OK, I can complain a little about the fact that the water witch's grand time-travel plan seemed very .... convoluted ........ I mean, really, there wasn't any other way to piss the G'deon off enough to make him do the home improvements they needed besides convoluted time travel from the future? He didn't seem like someone who was that hard to piss off!)

I was talking about this book with

varadia and she was like 'I don't know how to feel about the fact that both sets of lesbians [sidenote: there are now two sets of lesbians] get the tremendously angsty plotlines and the gay male couple are in a constant cheerful state of maried bliss,' which: fair. I'm fairly certain that Laurie Marks thinks the lesbians are more interesting and gives them the angsty plotlines as a result, in kind of a reverse implementation of those innumerable slash fanfics wherein female characters are written off the page by popping them into a drama-free mostly-offscreen femslash relationship while the men live through every angsty trope on the bingo list. I think I appreciate this. But I still can't stop laughing every time we kick off another round of 'ZANJA SYMBOLICALLY DIES! KARIS AGONIZES! WILL THEY EVER BE REUINTED?' because, I mean -- yes, they will? They will. Even most of the other characters at this point are like 'I mean we COULD freak out but we're all pretty solidly aware that Zanja is the Jean Grey of this series, death is a revolving door, IT'S FINE.'

Moving back from trope bingo to broader series themes, I like very much that in this book the political situation becomes less of a Shaftali vs. Sainnite two-party problem and brings in the border tribes, and Zanja's growing awareness and frustration with the fact that there are a whole bunch of people involved in the situation who have not yet had a voice in it. I hope Zanja spends the next book actually pushing on this in the present day, instead of falling into yet another symbolic death solo journey plot-hole.

I don't necessarily know how I feel about the Reveal that the Shaftali were also once Sainnite refugees; I'm kind of withholding judgment until we see how that one plays out.

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Ah, I'd nearly forgotten about these books. There are something like a half-dozen series where I'm forever waiting for third or fourth vaporbooks.

SOMEDAY. Hope springs eternal! (she said, having been waiting all of like a month)

She's working on Air Logic again! Someday the fourth book will come. Someday.

It seems a slightly more optimistic outlook than the next Steerswoman book at least (she said, mournfully)

I will also be interested to see how that Reveal plays out in Air Logic. The older I get, the more questions I have about the geopolitics of these books--I still love them, mind, but I have more questions. I was also really glad that Zanja brought in the border-tribe situation in this book, but it does need a lot more pushing.

(I can see a sort-of-shape where all the elemental talents come from the tribes that are now 'border' tribes, but I'm not sure if that's the direction Marks will go with it.)

...and yeah, Will Zanja Survive? Yes, yes she will. Stop freaking out, Karis. Come inside, Karis. Maybe eat something.

I love the time travel but it seems entirely frivolous. On the other hand this also seems in keeping with the way water logic works, afaict? Like, we will do this thing this way because--it's sparkly and has cool effects way down the timeline! Yeah! Let's do it. Like thinking about the entire flow of the universe in narrative-structure-brain.

Every time I read this book I get sad about the flower farmer-soldier boy. It's such a perfect capsule tragedy.

Yeah, I keep wanting to poke more at the geopolitics because -- well, I mean, conceptually it's all very admirably ambitious so I think the stuff that isn't quite fleshed out or doesn't quite work (I keep going back to the WHOLE CITY FULL OF DRUGGED-OUT PROSTITUTES) becomes more obvious.

I wish I really understood how the elemental magic logic stuff worked but I still don't think I quite get it! Like, OK, maybe water logic is sparkly overly-convoluted narrative fiat, but if one is to go by the actions of all the fire bloods in the last book then so is fire logic, except maybe fire logic is less sparkly and more flaily about it? I DON'T KNOW. (Meanwhile, I enjoy in that interview how she's like 'I find it challenging to see the value in air bloods,' while meanwhile I'm like 'why does everyone keep reacting so poorly to poor Norina, she's the only person whose actual logic I can follow!')

I was very, very sad about the flower farmer-soldier boy :(