Could a woman live with half a heart? (The Hallowed Hunt + book recs requested)
Last night I had a relaxing night in of reading through Shadows of Amun rules (I'm so pleased they included the Accelerant core rules in the rules doc. It helps for ignorant people like me) and finishing The Hallowed Hunt.
Oh, Bujold. You are such an artist.
I would say this is not the strongest of her books--it is very slow to get going, and it didn't blow me away in the way The Curse of Chalion did. It wasn't until the last hundred pages that I was really grabbed in the way I usually am by her stories. But I do appreciate how well tied-together everything was, even the seemingly inconsequential things.
I also, as always, admire how she writes the sort of female characters who are both appropriate to the low-tech, feudal culture they are in and yet who are powerful in their own ways, which doesn't involve physically kicking ass. (I'm shying away from using the term "strong female character," for Reasons).
I'm having a hard time explaining what I mean. But when you write a world in which there isn't equality between the sexes--where women are objectively less powerful than men in many ways--I feel like it's upon you as a writer to have female characters who still use the power they have in intelligent ways.
I don't want to use Ijada, the female protagonist, as an example, because that's obvious--you can't carry a book on a character without agency. (Although I do love Ijada, don't get me wrong!) But I really liked that even Fara, for example, had her own plot arc. As a royal princess, she's the thrall of her father, brother, and husband for much of the book--sometimes literally so. But in the Final Battle (tm), she becomes something more.
The romance, of course, is excellent. As I said on Facebook, I really love the way Bujold can write a mature--meaning "real"--love plot between two characters who are broken in unique ways, but broken in ways that complement each other. Such is the case with Ingrey and Ijada. There's even a (meta)physical embodiment of this in the book!
All this tells me: I need to read more Bujold :) I have so much to pick from! I have embarrassingly not read the Vorkosigan books, for which she is best known (except for Borders of Infinity, a selection of short stories in the world, which I did enjoy!) As I am more of a fantasy reader, I think I'm more likely to pick up the Sharing Knife series than I am that, however.
For the time being, however... I need to move on to reading stuff from VP teachers, so I actually, yanno. Know something about them before the big event. I think I can safely skip the Brust stuff ;) Sure, I've only read Dragaera, and nothing else of his, but it's still 15+ books more than I've read by the other authors.
I picked up Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel for Kindle, and I expect that will be my next book. It looks like it has brooding nobles and all the stuff I like in my fantasy.
I should probably read stuff by the Nielsen-Haydens--although I think of them more as editors, I guess--or Steven Gould, or James MacDonald and Debra Doyle...
And possibly more Elizabeth Bear. I have a feeling just having read New Amsterdam is not very representative.... Range of Ghosts is on my mind, because Central Asian fantasy! but also the Ink & Steel books, because Boys Kissing.
Any particular recommendations (for Lise In Particular) from among their numerous works?
Oh, Bujold. You are such an artist.
I would say this is not the strongest of her books--it is very slow to get going, and it didn't blow me away in the way The Curse of Chalion did. It wasn't until the last hundred pages that I was really grabbed in the way I usually am by her stories. But I do appreciate how well tied-together everything was, even the seemingly inconsequential things.
I also, as always, admire how she writes the sort of female characters who are both appropriate to the low-tech, feudal culture they are in and yet who are powerful in their own ways, which doesn't involve physically kicking ass. (I'm shying away from using the term "strong female character," for Reasons).
I'm having a hard time explaining what I mean. But when you write a world in which there isn't equality between the sexes--where women are objectively less powerful than men in many ways--I feel like it's upon you as a writer to have female characters who still use the power they have in intelligent ways.
I don't want to use Ijada, the female protagonist, as an example, because that's obvious--you can't carry a book on a character without agency. (Although I do love Ijada, don't get me wrong!) But I really liked that even Fara, for example, had her own plot arc. As a royal princess, she's the thrall of her father, brother, and husband for much of the book--sometimes literally so. But in the Final Battle (tm), she becomes something more.
The romance, of course, is excellent. As I said on Facebook, I really love the way Bujold can write a mature--meaning "real"--love plot between two characters who are broken in unique ways, but broken in ways that complement each other. Such is the case with Ingrey and Ijada. There's even a (meta)physical embodiment of this in the book!
All this tells me: I need to read more Bujold :) I have so much to pick from! I have embarrassingly not read the Vorkosigan books, for which she is best known (except for Borders of Infinity, a selection of short stories in the world, which I did enjoy!) As I am more of a fantasy reader, I think I'm more likely to pick up the Sharing Knife series than I am that, however.
For the time being, however... I need to move on to reading stuff from VP teachers, so I actually, yanno. Know something about them before the big event. I think I can safely skip the Brust stuff ;) Sure, I've only read Dragaera, and nothing else of his, but it's still 15+ books more than I've read by the other authors.
I picked up Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel for Kindle, and I expect that will be my next book. It looks like it has brooding nobles and all the stuff I like in my fantasy.
I should probably read stuff by the Nielsen-Haydens--although I think of them more as editors, I guess--or Steven Gould, or James MacDonald and Debra Doyle...
And possibly more Elizabeth Bear. I have a feeling just having read New Amsterdam is not very representative.... Range of Ghosts is on my mind, because Central Asian fantasy! but also the Ink & Steel books, because Boys Kissing.
Any particular recommendations (for Lise In Particular) from among their numerous works?