we hate their weapons, because weapons do not care
Day 78. Still have no computer. Am beginning to despair. Have yet to master paper crane. Giving in to a sense of hopelessness. Also, am entirely out of socks.
I'm really loving NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy so far. The books are entitled The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdom. The general plot is that there was a god's war between the first three gods: Nahadoth, firstborn and god of night, Itempas, god of law and light, and Enefa, goddess of twilight and dawn. So, chaos, law, and balance. Until Itempas, in a jealous rage, slew Enefa and after the fallout, he trapped Nahadoth in a human form and had him and his children enslaved to humans. The humans were his faithful priests, the Aramari. So begins the mythical backdrop to the story, which begins with protaganist Yeine, come to avenge her mother's death.
May I say here that both books have female protaganists, and they are both badass without needing to be BADASS WARRIOR FIGHTY WOMAN. Yeine does come from a matriarchal society and I have no doubt that she is awesome and fighty, but the Broken Kingdom's protaganist, Oree, is an artist who sees magic. Nothing too physically fighty about her. There's also the fact that I enjoy reading about artists. (Also, POC heroines for the win.) Yes, they both have a romance plot with the god of their choice, but they go about it in a way that doesn't make me twitch. Yeine's entire plotline is her struggle for agency and self-determination, and her mother is particularly fleshed out and focused on through the memories of the people who knew her. She isn't glorified as a blessed mother figure or demonized, and comes off as refreshingly human. I really enjoy well-written, strong female characters. When I say 'strong', I don't even mean physically strong. I mean characters that have clear, definite personalities and strong voices.
I also like the structure of the pantheon. I do admit I like reading well-constructed fictional pantheons, and these gods are just like most old polytheistic views of gods: angry, powerful mortals with tons of drama. The author does a good job making them human and yet other, which is as it should be with gods. I should mention that Nahadoth is a lot like Alucard. Like, dude, if Alucard was a god and was less bloodthirsty and more sexy? He'd probably be Nahadoth. I admit to liking Sieh, the not-child trickster god a lot more, but dark and mysterious and chaotic doesn't always flick my switch.
I like that the plot in the first book is about a daughter avenging the death of a mother, which is sort of a subversion of the usual son avenging a father, and I like the fridged dude plot in the second book. Of course, the second book also picks up right where I wanted to see them pick up, which helps. And it gave me one of my favorite tropes, the reforming not-so-villain, to the extent where I was actually sympathizing with the character in question despite their deeds in the book before. It is a good author that makes me do that. I admit that I haven't read the books in-depth enough yet to get some really good meta on, but I do enjoy them and will read again. It's always exciting finding new fantasy series I actually enjoy.
On that note, does anyone read Octavia E. Butler? Would you recommend reading her books, and if so, explain which ones I should start with, please?
I'm really loving NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy so far. The books are entitled The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdom. The general plot is that there was a god's war between the first three gods: Nahadoth, firstborn and god of night, Itempas, god of law and light, and Enefa, goddess of twilight and dawn. So, chaos, law, and balance. Until Itempas, in a jealous rage, slew Enefa and after the fallout, he trapped Nahadoth in a human form and had him and his children enslaved to humans. The humans were his faithful priests, the Aramari. So begins the mythical backdrop to the story, which begins with protaganist Yeine, come to avenge her mother's death.
May I say here that both books have female protaganists, and they are both badass without needing to be BADASS WARRIOR FIGHTY WOMAN. Yeine does come from a matriarchal society and I have no doubt that she is awesome and fighty, but the Broken Kingdom's protaganist, Oree, is an artist who sees magic. Nothing too physically fighty about her. There's also the fact that I enjoy reading about artists. (Also, POC heroines for the win.) Yes, they both have a romance plot with the god of their choice, but they go about it in a way that doesn't make me twitch. Yeine's entire plotline is her struggle for agency and self-determination, and her mother is particularly fleshed out and focused on through the memories of the people who knew her. She isn't glorified as a blessed mother figure or demonized, and comes off as refreshingly human. I really enjoy well-written, strong female characters. When I say 'strong', I don't even mean physically strong. I mean characters that have clear, definite personalities and strong voices.
I also like the structure of the pantheon. I do admit I like reading well-constructed fictional pantheons, and these gods are just like most old polytheistic views of gods: angry, powerful mortals with tons of drama. The author does a good job making them human and yet other, which is as it should be with gods. I should mention that Nahadoth is a lot like Alucard. Like, dude, if Alucard was a god and was less bloodthirsty and more sexy? He'd probably be Nahadoth. I admit to liking Sieh, the not-child trickster god a lot more, but dark and mysterious and chaotic doesn't always flick my switch.
I like that the plot in the first book is about a daughter avenging the death of a mother, which is sort of a subversion of the usual son avenging a father, and I like the fridged dude plot in the second book. Of course, the second book also picks up right where I wanted to see them pick up, which helps. And it gave me one of my favorite tropes, the reforming not-so-villain, to the extent where I was actually sympathizing with the character in question despite their deeds in the book before. It is a good author that makes me do that. I admit that I haven't read the books in-depth enough yet to get some really good meta on, but I do enjoy them and will read again. It's always exciting finding new fantasy series I actually enjoy.
On that note, does anyone read Octavia E. Butler? Would you recommend reading her books, and if so, explain which ones I should start with, please?