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Jul. 25th, 2018 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI just finished Raven Stratagem, the second Machineries of Empire book (the first being Ninefox Gambit) and I'm trying to sort out how I feel about it.
I mean, I enjoyed reading it a lot! The book has three main POV characters, who I think I can talk about in a non-spoilery fashion. Let's see: OK, so one of the main conceits of Lee's world is that there are six main factions, all of whom serve different functions within society and most of whom get different weird powers or traits as a result. For the Kel military faction, who we spend most of our time following, that trait is 'formation instinct,' which causes them to follow the orders of a superior officer unquestioningly under any circumstances.
Nobody is born with this, for the record; it's something you're injected with if you choose to become a Kel. Every once in a rare while, it doesn't take. The Kel who turn out not to have formation instinct are generally kicked out of the army at best and summarily executed at worst. Nobody wants a soldier who has to choose to follow orders.
(Yes, this all has some resonance with all the clone soldier feelings I've been having lately, why do you ask?)
The beginning of this book sets up a situation in which a very dangerous individual who, by happenstance, still has an extremely high rank saunters into an Army division and takes it over by pure formation instinct -- except for the few non-Kel technicians, and one Very Responsible Kel HR officer, Brezan, who makes a stand to oppose the invader even though it means revealing just how degraded his formation instinct has become.
Everyone who said I was going to love Very Responsible Kel Brezan: yes, obviously you were right, he is great. I also became very fond of Khiruev, the POV character on the flip side of the story -- the general with operational formation instinct, who ends up second-in-command to our Very Dangerous and Oblique Protagonist as they carry out some labyrinthine plan that nobody in the entire book understands. And I even enjoyed being in the head of the third main POV character, Shuos Mikodez, the twisty individual in charge of the Shuos faction (assassins, intelligence, and strategic planning) who also enjoys labyrinthine plans as well as a spot of therapeutic gardening.
What I'm not sure about is ... hmmm. Well, I guess the best way to put it is that by mid-way through the book I definitely started getting some Lymond vibes from Jedao/Cheris in the way that the narrative conveniently warps itself around them. Almost everyone in the entire book is obsessed with them, for good or for ill. It only takes a couple conversations -- in some cases, one single conversation -- for major characters to make a U-turn on everything they've ever believed and decide it's worth supporting their schemes. That is QUITE the charisma stat. I was expecting at least one sympathetic character to remain staunchly opposed. I like Jedao-Cheris' plans, of course, but there are legitimate reasons to oppose, especially if the hexarchate is the only system you've ever known. I guess our surviving teen Mwennin is still not particularly pro-Cheris, but under the circumstances I'm not sure she counts.
And in a way I don't mind this, I mean, I am always looking for female Lymonds and I guess Cheris does count by the ending reveal, but it occasionally does make it a little harder to suspend my disbelief. The thing that really got me was when Khiruev turned out to have a deux ex suppress formation instinct that she didn't use at the beginning of the book, because she wasn't willing to commit suicide for the Hexarchate but will do so on behalf of Cheris/Jedao -- I was like, sure, that makes sense, if the route you decided to take to try to assassinate Jedao wasn't extremely likely to lead to your or somebody's death anyway, but as it is I'm not sure I follow this emotional logic.
That said, I am still very much looking forward to the thrilling conclusion, which I expect to pick up very soon! Clever of me to sit on these until the trilogy was complete. Completely accidental, but clever!
I mean, I enjoyed reading it a lot! The book has three main POV characters, who I think I can talk about in a non-spoilery fashion. Let's see: OK, so one of the main conceits of Lee's world is that there are six main factions, all of whom serve different functions within society and most of whom get different weird powers or traits as a result. For the Kel military faction, who we spend most of our time following, that trait is 'formation instinct,' which causes them to follow the orders of a superior officer unquestioningly under any circumstances.
Nobody is born with this, for the record; it's something you're injected with if you choose to become a Kel. Every once in a rare while, it doesn't take. The Kel who turn out not to have formation instinct are generally kicked out of the army at best and summarily executed at worst. Nobody wants a soldier who has to choose to follow orders.
(Yes, this all has some resonance with all the clone soldier feelings I've been having lately, why do you ask?)
The beginning of this book sets up a situation in which a very dangerous individual who, by happenstance, still has an extremely high rank saunters into an Army division and takes it over by pure formation instinct -- except for the few non-Kel technicians, and one Very Responsible Kel HR officer, Brezan, who makes a stand to oppose the invader even though it means revealing just how degraded his formation instinct has become.
Everyone who said I was going to love Very Responsible Kel Brezan: yes, obviously you were right, he is great. I also became very fond of Khiruev, the POV character on the flip side of the story -- the general with operational formation instinct, who ends up second-in-command to our Very Dangerous and Oblique Protagonist as they carry out some labyrinthine plan that nobody in the entire book understands. And I even enjoyed being in the head of the third main POV character, Shuos Mikodez, the twisty individual in charge of the Shuos faction (assassins, intelligence, and strategic planning) who also enjoys labyrinthine plans as well as a spot of therapeutic gardening.
What I'm not sure about is ... hmmm. Well, I guess the best way to put it is that by mid-way through the book I definitely started getting some Lymond vibes from Jedao/Cheris in the way that the narrative conveniently warps itself around them. Almost everyone in the entire book is obsessed with them, for good or for ill. It only takes a couple conversations -- in some cases, one single conversation -- for major characters to make a U-turn on everything they've ever believed and decide it's worth supporting their schemes. That is QUITE the charisma stat. I was expecting at least one sympathetic character to remain staunchly opposed. I like Jedao-Cheris' plans, of course, but there are legitimate reasons to oppose, especially if the hexarchate is the only system you've ever known. I guess our surviving teen Mwennin is still not particularly pro-Cheris, but under the circumstances I'm not sure she counts.
And in a way I don't mind this, I mean, I am always looking for female Lymonds and I guess Cheris does count by the ending reveal, but it occasionally does make it a little harder to suspend my disbelief. The thing that really got me was when Khiruev turned out to have a deux ex suppress formation instinct that she didn't use at the beginning of the book, because she wasn't willing to commit suicide for the Hexarchate but will do so on behalf of Cheris/Jedao -- I was like, sure, that makes sense, if the route you decided to take to try to assassinate Jedao wasn't extremely likely to lead to your or somebody's death anyway, but as it is I'm not sure I follow this emotional logic.
That said, I am still very much looking forward to the thrilling conclusion, which I expect to pick up very soon! Clever of me to sit on these until the trilogy was complete. Completely accidental, but clever!
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Date: 2018-07-25 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-26 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-26 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-26 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-26 08:22 pm (UTC)Anyway: to me it seemed like Cheris' protagonist field was mostly because everyone else agreed that the hexarchate sucked, they just didn't know what to do about it? Which I quite liked. But I was so enjoying the exterior perspective I might be overstating it.
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Date: 2018-07-29 06:35 pm (UTC)I think the thing I was conflicted on really was that everyone agreed the hexarchate sucked, because, on the one hand, it does! but on the other hand, everyone? It would be nice if everybody always agreed on things that were true but, alas -
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Date: 2018-07-29 08:24 pm (UTC)oh, gotcha, I was thinking of the throwing off of the death countdown clock, not starting it in the first place!
fair point! also: what is Kujen doing? it makes me very nervous.