The Ladies of Mandigyn- Barbara Hambly
Loved this. Ladies being active. Ladies driving the plot. And it was written in the early eighties? How is this book more progressive than some fantasy coming out now? I’m not saying it’s perfect, there were a few things that bugged me but overall, it was awesome.
I think what I loved most was that Sun Wolf character development followed the one of Mandrigyn, the city he was trapped in. He started out with a pedestal type of misogyny, where women (if they were noticed) were only to be protected and coddled. Those few women who were warriors weren’t really women in his eyes, so much as men without penises. At the end of the book he really honestly respected the women of Mandrigyn and understood that not only were they not unique among women, but that they were just as capable as the men in his life. Further, he got rid of the idea that the women warriors he knew were men without penises and saw the one representative (Starhawk) as fully female and indeed recognized his love for her.
Basically this book was all about women being AWESOME while the men sort of stood around and went, oh yea hey look at those awesome ladies.
I mean there was this plot with an evil wizard and Sun Wolf getting magic powers and mage-zombies but mostly it was about the women being awesome.
What's killing me is that I have no idea how I missed this book while I was growing up. And I know I have this tendancy to forget books, but when I do that and re-read them unknowingly I remember about half-way through the book. Seriously though, I read EVERY fantasy book I could get my hands on when I was growing up. I read everything our library had, and they didn't have this one? Ok, yes small library. Still, I'm glad I found it now.
I think what I loved most was that Sun Wolf character development followed the one of Mandrigyn, the city he was trapped in. He started out with a pedestal type of misogyny, where women (if they were noticed) were only to be protected and coddled. Those few women who were warriors weren’t really women in his eyes, so much as men without penises. At the end of the book he really honestly respected the women of Mandrigyn and understood that not only were they not unique among women, but that they were just as capable as the men in his life. Further, he got rid of the idea that the women warriors he knew were men without penises and saw the one representative (Starhawk) as fully female and indeed recognized his love for her.
Basically this book was all about women being AWESOME while the men sort of stood around and went, oh yea hey look at those awesome ladies.
I mean there was this plot with an evil wizard and Sun Wolf getting magic powers and mage-zombies but mostly it was about the women being awesome.
What's killing me is that I have no idea how I missed this book while I was growing up. And I know I have this tendancy to forget books, but when I do that and re-read them unknowingly I remember about half-way through the book. Seriously though, I read EVERY fantasy book I could get my hands on when I was growing up. I read everything our library had, and they didn't have this one? Ok, yes small library. Still, I'm glad I found it now.