![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Reading Wednesday
Jun. 29th, 2016 05:39 pmWhat did you just finish?
Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks. The land of Shaftal has been invaded by a foreign people, who have killed Shaftal's king, scattered its leaders, taxed its farmers, and subdued most of the country. Zanja, a young woman when the invasion first occurred, has been working as a spy and trader to protect her small tribe of border people. When that fails, she joins the remnants of Shaftal's army, who have been harrying the invaders and engaging in guerilla warfare for the last fifteen years. This brings her into contact with Karis, an extremely strong Earth witch, and Emil, a fireblood like herself (the magic system is not very well-explained, but firebloods seem to have the ability to vaguely see the future, while Earth witches can heal, make things grow, and work metal).
All of this is pretty much standard High Fantasy – Good vs Evil, a hero emerging from humble origins, the lost heir to the throne, underdogs valiantly struggling against vast odds – but it turns out that's not at all the story Marks is interested in telling. Though it takes a significant percentage of the book to get there, Marks eventually overturns the trope conventions. It becomes about making peace rather than winning a war, about acceptance rather than vengeance, about healing and melding instead of holding strong. All of which is great!
Unfortunately, the tone overall is much more intellectual than emotional, which made it hard for me to engage with the characters; the book sometimes feels more like a philosophical exercise than a story. The beginning also has an exteremly high bar to getting into the story. I realize that info-dumping is bad writing, but leaving the reader with no explanation of what's happening doesn't work much better!
On another note, there are multiple important gay and lesbian relationships, and gender seems to not be an important discriminating factor in any of the cultures here: we have women soldiers, generals, scholars, smiths, and every other role.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and though I had some problems with it, it's a great idea and I'm really looking forward to reading the other books.
What are you currently reading?
Jazz Moon by Joe Okonkwo. A novel about a gay black man – or rather, a man struggling not to be gay – in Harlem Renaissance NYC. I'm not very far into this yet, but I am LOVING IT.
Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks. The land of Shaftal has been invaded by a foreign people, who have killed Shaftal's king, scattered its leaders, taxed its farmers, and subdued most of the country. Zanja, a young woman when the invasion first occurred, has been working as a spy and trader to protect her small tribe of border people. When that fails, she joins the remnants of Shaftal's army, who have been harrying the invaders and engaging in guerilla warfare for the last fifteen years. This brings her into contact with Karis, an extremely strong Earth witch, and Emil, a fireblood like herself (the magic system is not very well-explained, but firebloods seem to have the ability to vaguely see the future, while Earth witches can heal, make things grow, and work metal).
All of this is pretty much standard High Fantasy – Good vs Evil, a hero emerging from humble origins, the lost heir to the throne, underdogs valiantly struggling against vast odds – but it turns out that's not at all the story Marks is interested in telling. Though it takes a significant percentage of the book to get there, Marks eventually overturns the trope conventions. It becomes about making peace rather than winning a war, about acceptance rather than vengeance, about healing and melding instead of holding strong. All of which is great!
Unfortunately, the tone overall is much more intellectual than emotional, which made it hard for me to engage with the characters; the book sometimes feels more like a philosophical exercise than a story. The beginning also has an exteremly high bar to getting into the story. I realize that info-dumping is bad writing, but leaving the reader with no explanation of what's happening doesn't work much better!
On another note, there are multiple important gay and lesbian relationships, and gender seems to not be an important discriminating factor in any of the cultures here: we have women soldiers, generals, scholars, smiths, and every other role.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and though I had some problems with it, it's a great idea and I'm really looking forward to reading the other books.
What are you currently reading?
Jazz Moon by Joe Okonkwo. A novel about a gay black man – or rather, a man struggling not to be gay – in Harlem Renaissance NYC. I'm not very far into this yet, but I am LOVING IT.
