Books books books
A comparison:
Harry Potter part six and seven, which I borrowed from a co-worker took me a couple of weeks to get through - once I actually started reading.
Karen Miller's Kingmaker Kingbreaker, which I borrowed from my cousin last week: a day and a half for part one, and I'm on the fifth chapter of part two right now. It's a shrill contrast to HP, which I read in half-hour bursts of idle time, amidst annoyance about Harry's OMGDRAAAAAMAAAAAAAAA!!!1!
But despite the fact that the Karen Miller books have kept kept me with my nose glued to the pages, they are not without their problems. Big ones:
Things that bug me about the Kingmaker Kingbreaker duology:
(Please keep in mind that I read the Dutch translation - I don't know if names and terms have been drastically changed!)
The Doranen are a tall, pale race, with whitish-blond hair and light eyes. In contrast, the native people (the Olken) are stockier and have colourfing: eyes, hair, and I think skin as well - though admittedly I can't remember if it is explicitly mentioned.
Both races have magic. Doranen magic is flashier and fairly visible (orbs of light, healing, fireballs, influencing the weather etc), Olken magic is "slower" and more subtle - not entirely sure what they can do, they haven't really shown all that much of it so far.
Anyway. Over six hundred years ago, some Doranen came to the kingdom of Lur, the Olken country. They were fleeing Morg (the Big Bad). This is what happened:
Barl, a Doranen mage: Hi there! My jilted lover, Morg, is kind of evil and trying to take over the world. We're gonna hide here, kay?
Olken people: Um, right. Welcome, I guess?
Barl: I'm gonna close this country down. A big sparkly Wall from one end of the continent to the other, and a nice reef all along the coast line. Nothing -evil or otherwise- will be able to get through it! In return, I'm going to regulate the weather, so that we have nice sunny days and rain when we need it. Nature on a leash, y'know.
Olken: ...All praise Barl!
Barl: Oh yeah, before I forget it: we're also going to rule you, you illiterate peasants. Doranen royalty all the way! And don't you dare use any of your own magic, unless you want to lose your head. Literally. ♥
Okay, so this was an overly dramatic summary of the country's history - but it does show what I found disturbing in the world building:
- Why should the Olken forget all about their own magic, even to the point that an Olken person who is found practicing magic is given the death penalty? It just doesn't make any sense - at least, so far. I don't know if they go into the subject somewhere in the second book.
- The colouring of the races. The pale, blond people are royalty, the dark haired race are shown as less refined - farmers, fishermen, traders... less cultured and/or intelligent. Not all, but certainly the majority of the Doranen look down on the Olken. (I think prince Gar is just about the exception, but that might be because he was born 'handicapped': a magic-less Doranen.)
And you know what? I think that, a decade ago, I wouldn't even have seen the problem with that. I mean: almost all of the elves in (for example) Lord of the Rings or the Forgotten Realms books were pale-skinned and blond, weren't they? That's just they way they looked. But since I stumbled over the Racefail debates I've been taking a second look at the fantasy genre. And whoo boy, it certainly has its problems, and these books are no exception.
I might ramble on about this at a later time, but this is it for now. Early day tomorrow. :)
Harry Potter part six and seven, which I borrowed from a co-worker took me a couple of weeks to get through - once I actually started reading.
Karen Miller's Kingmaker Kingbreaker, which I borrowed from my cousin last week: a day and a half for part one, and I'm on the fifth chapter of part two right now. It's a shrill contrast to HP, which I read in half-hour bursts of idle time, amidst annoyance about Harry's OMGDRAAAAAMAAAAAAAAA!!!1!
But despite the fact that the Karen Miller books have kept kept me with my nose glued to the pages, they are not without their problems. Big ones:
Things that bug me about the Kingmaker Kingbreaker duology:
(Please keep in mind that I read the Dutch translation - I don't know if names and terms have been drastically changed!)
The Doranen are a tall, pale race, with whitish-blond hair and light eyes. In contrast, the native people (the Olken) are stockier and have colourfing: eyes, hair, and I think skin as well - though admittedly I can't remember if it is explicitly mentioned.
Both races have magic. Doranen magic is flashier and fairly visible (orbs of light, healing, fireballs, influencing the weather etc), Olken magic is "slower" and more subtle - not entirely sure what they can do, they haven't really shown all that much of it so far.
Anyway. Over six hundred years ago, some Doranen came to the kingdom of Lur, the Olken country. They were fleeing Morg (the Big Bad). This is what happened:
Barl, a Doranen mage: Hi there! My jilted lover, Morg, is kind of evil and trying to take over the world. We're gonna hide here, kay?
Olken people: Um, right. Welcome, I guess?
Barl: I'm gonna close this country down. A big sparkly Wall from one end of the continent to the other, and a nice reef all along the coast line. Nothing -evil or otherwise- will be able to get through it! In return, I'm going to regulate the weather, so that we have nice sunny days and rain when we need it. Nature on a leash, y'know.
Olken: ...All praise Barl!
Barl: Oh yeah, before I forget it: we're also going to rule you, you illiterate peasants. Doranen royalty all the way! And don't you dare use any of your own magic, unless you want to lose your head. Literally. ♥
Okay, so this was an overly dramatic summary of the country's history - but it does show what I found disturbing in the world building:
- Why should the Olken forget all about their own magic, even to the point that an Olken person who is found practicing magic is given the death penalty? It just doesn't make any sense - at least, so far. I don't know if they go into the subject somewhere in the second book.
- The colouring of the races. The pale, blond people are royalty, the dark haired race are shown as less refined - farmers, fishermen, traders... less cultured and/or intelligent. Not all, but certainly the majority of the Doranen look down on the Olken. (I think prince Gar is just about the exception, but that might be because he was born 'handicapped': a magic-less Doranen.)
And you know what? I think that, a decade ago, I wouldn't even have seen the problem with that. I mean: almost all of the elves in (for example) Lord of the Rings or the Forgotten Realms books were pale-skinned and blond, weren't they? That's just they way they looked. But since I stumbled over the Racefail debates I've been taking a second look at the fantasy genre. And whoo boy, it certainly has its problems, and these books are no exception.
I might ramble on about this at a later time, but this is it for now. Early day tomorrow. :)