Red Glove, by Holly Black
There is very little I can say above a cut about this excellent YA fantasy, which is mostly about the consequences of the startling plot twist at the end of the first book, other than that I enjoyed it very much. The story continues to be gripping, disturbing without being grim or depressing, lively, and thoughtful.
But I did want to give a heads-up that the theme of the book is primarily consent, both sexual and non-sexual, (and secondarily, I would say, identity), so if that may be disturbing, well, now you know. It does not contain anything that I would classify as rape, but on the other hand, since the whole book is about consent issues, others might draw the line elsewhere. If you've read the first book, you can undoubtedly figure out what I'm referring to. Basically, Black takes a plot trope which I've seen about a million times before, and explores the potentially very dark indeed implications at length.
I don't want to make it sound tract-like - it's basically a fantasy mystery-thriller with a very twisted central romance. It's a lot of fun to read. But it's also got some interesting issues driving the plot.
Red Glove (Curse Workers, Book 2)
Giant spoilers below cut. The link above goes to Amazon.
In the last book, Lila is cursed to love Cassel. They both know it's a curse, and sensibly flee in opposite directions. But Lila, despite knowing that her feelings were inflicted on her by an outside force, can't help feeling them. Her inner struggle is a lovely metaphor for the kind of love that makes no sense and drives you crazy, and yet you pursue it anyway. Cassel has a very similar problem, except that his feelings (well, so far as he knows) are self-generated, but under the circumstances, equally wrong, hurtful, and irresistable.
Black is exploring the hard-line consent stance (which I subscribe to), which is that if someone's consent is impaired, like by roofies or a curse, and you know about it, having sex with them is rape. Even if they beg you for it.
Cassel tries to stay away from Lila, he tries not to take advantage of her, and finally, briefly, he fails. I'm not sure how I feel about the brick through the window while they're making out - it's a bit of a deus ex machina to prevent Cassel from going all the way and committing outright rape. I would have liked it better if he'd managed to hurl himself out of bed, realizing that next time he might give in.
And, of course, he ends up violating her free will anyway, by trying to have her cursed to not love him - well-meaning, but still without her consent. (And selfish - he could have had his own feelings for Lila removed instead.)
This ties in with Barron's casual altering of memories (his own and others), Cassel's mom's manipulation of everyone in her vicinity, and the admittedly deserved set-up of the anti-worker student and politician. Everyone has reasons, with varying levels of justification, for messing with everyone else, but it's generally not quite as justified as they think.
Overlaid with these issues of consent are questions of identity: is Lila really Lila if her emotions aren't self-generated? Is Cassel in love with her, or his memory of a girl who doesn't really exist any more? Is Cassel responsible for deeds he doesn't remember? And what an awful con that would be if, as was suggested, the way his brothers got Cassel to start killing people was to simply make him believe that he already had? The self-perceived identity creates itself, as people match their deeds to the identity they think they already have.
Finally, I absolutely loved the last twist, with Lila embracing her heritage.
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/910795.html. Comment here or there.
But I did want to give a heads-up that the theme of the book is primarily consent, both sexual and non-sexual, (and secondarily, I would say, identity), so if that may be disturbing, well, now you know. It does not contain anything that I would classify as rape, but on the other hand, since the whole book is about consent issues, others might draw the line elsewhere. If you've read the first book, you can undoubtedly figure out what I'm referring to. Basically, Black takes a plot trope which I've seen about a million times before, and explores the potentially very dark indeed implications at length.
I don't want to make it sound tract-like - it's basically a fantasy mystery-thriller with a very twisted central romance. It's a lot of fun to read. But it's also got some interesting issues driving the plot.
Red Glove (Curse Workers, Book 2)
Giant spoilers below cut. The link above goes to Amazon.
In the last book, Lila is cursed to love Cassel. They both know it's a curse, and sensibly flee in opposite directions. But Lila, despite knowing that her feelings were inflicted on her by an outside force, can't help feeling them. Her inner struggle is a lovely metaphor for the kind of love that makes no sense and drives you crazy, and yet you pursue it anyway. Cassel has a very similar problem, except that his feelings (well, so far as he knows) are self-generated, but under the circumstances, equally wrong, hurtful, and irresistable.
Black is exploring the hard-line consent stance (which I subscribe to), which is that if someone's consent is impaired, like by roofies or a curse, and you know about it, having sex with them is rape. Even if they beg you for it.
Cassel tries to stay away from Lila, he tries not to take advantage of her, and finally, briefly, he fails. I'm not sure how I feel about the brick through the window while they're making out - it's a bit of a deus ex machina to prevent Cassel from going all the way and committing outright rape. I would have liked it better if he'd managed to hurl himself out of bed, realizing that next time he might give in.
And, of course, he ends up violating her free will anyway, by trying to have her cursed to not love him - well-meaning, but still without her consent. (And selfish - he could have had his own feelings for Lila removed instead.)
This ties in with Barron's casual altering of memories (his own and others), Cassel's mom's manipulation of everyone in her vicinity, and the admittedly deserved set-up of the anti-worker student and politician. Everyone has reasons, with varying levels of justification, for messing with everyone else, but it's generally not quite as justified as they think.
Overlaid with these issues of consent are questions of identity: is Lila really Lila if her emotions aren't self-generated? Is Cassel in love with her, or his memory of a girl who doesn't really exist any more? Is Cassel responsible for deeds he doesn't remember? And what an awful con that would be if, as was suggested, the way his brothers got Cassel to start killing people was to simply make him believe that he already had? The self-perceived identity creates itself, as people match their deeds to the identity they think they already have.
Finally, I absolutely loved the last twist, with Lila embracing her heritage.
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/910795.html. Comment here or there.