Re-read of Silverglass
After the relative slowness of Grounded! I re-read Silverglass by J.F. Rivkin. I had written notes about it before, and knew that it's a quick, short read, and I kind of needed that. I may or may not have something new to say here; first I want to write it down, then I'll look at my old notes.
Wow. This book is about 186 pages, quite short, and packs in so much plot and action in so little words and so much clarity. It's a great read. It just keeps going, and has enough plot turns to keep me interested. Good for people with short attention spans.
I seem to remember having a little trouble understanding the magical plotline. One of the two main characters is a noblewoman and sorceress, and towards the end of the book she does more and more magic. There is more information given on the philosophy that she follows in order to practice her magic, but some of the mystical things that happen to her were rather difficult to understand. However, after this second reading I think I understood it a bit better. I'm glad that I read this a second time before moving on to the next in the series.
The other thing that weirded me out the last time was the sexuality, right? It still weirded me out, but now that I no longer wish to identify with the characters much, I was able to just enjoy it. The book became a fantasy for me, something that I wouldn't want to do or approve of in real life, but can enjoy thinking about and reading a story about. The two main characters seem to both be bi, though there isn't much indication that they've been involved with any other women besides each other. Other than that, the swordswoman character (Corson) has one main boyfriend, who keeps a tavern. Corson used to serve in the army and now she spends her time as a mercenary, wandering a good deal. She was involved with the tavernkeeper but never stayed with him for too long; she became restless again and wanted to keep traveling, but she always came back to him eventually. And again and again. The tavernkeeper apparently has already lived her life and is ready to settle down, but she isn't.
What got me was that Corson is possessive of her tavernkeeper and was jealous when she thought he might be sleeping with others; and yet, she had no problems doing it herself.
Still, in the context of this character, it makes sense. Corson's character is especially explained better near the end, as she re-evaluates her life and realizes that she keeps on coming back to the tavern. The implication is that she might eventually settle down, but she won't be ready to do that until she has found what she's looking for (herself ... or something).
To be honest, I'd love to be just like Corson, minus the sleeping around. And the drinking. And the foolishness.
Actually, Corson is rather intelligent; she knows not to trust anyone, and is an expert swordswoman. However, she meets her match in the other main character, Nyctasia, who isn't merely untrustworthy like everyone else; she is involved in a huge fight between two ruling families of the city-state. Corson is able to deal with general, simple problems, like street thieves and such, but she hadn't expected someone like Nyctasia, who is not only involved in some higher-level political problems but also has made lots of schemes to get her way, stored money in various places, basically made lots of lifelines and identities for herself, and is a magician and healer besides. Towards the end, Corson is no longer surprised by anything new Nyctasia comes up with, but it takes time.
Indeed, it's all the crap Nyctasia does that make the book so interesting. She does this, she does that, there's no end to all the solutions she comes up with for her problems. It's fun. She and Corson also argue a lot (their first make-out or sex session was an ending to one of their arguments). The matching of wits is also fun to read.
The politics and "city-stateness" of the area reminds me of either pre-modern Italy, or Mesopotamia. It doesn't seem too Renaissance though, so I'll just go back to the idea that it's in a sort of Conan the Barbarian-type setting. It works.
All this in a very small book. If the rest of the series is like this one, I'm happy.
The series is four books in all.
Edit: I dug up my older stuff on this book: Notes and more notes.
Wow. This book is about 186 pages, quite short, and packs in so much plot and action in so little words and so much clarity. It's a great read. It just keeps going, and has enough plot turns to keep me interested. Good for people with short attention spans.
I seem to remember having a little trouble understanding the magical plotline. One of the two main characters is a noblewoman and sorceress, and towards the end of the book she does more and more magic. There is more information given on the philosophy that she follows in order to practice her magic, but some of the mystical things that happen to her were rather difficult to understand. However, after this second reading I think I understood it a bit better. I'm glad that I read this a second time before moving on to the next in the series.
The other thing that weirded me out the last time was the sexuality, right? It still weirded me out, but now that I no longer wish to identify with the characters much, I was able to just enjoy it. The book became a fantasy for me, something that I wouldn't want to do or approve of in real life, but can enjoy thinking about and reading a story about. The two main characters seem to both be bi, though there isn't much indication that they've been involved with any other women besides each other. Other than that, the swordswoman character (Corson) has one main boyfriend, who keeps a tavern. Corson used to serve in the army and now she spends her time as a mercenary, wandering a good deal. She was involved with the tavernkeeper but never stayed with him for too long; she became restless again and wanted to keep traveling, but she always came back to him eventually. And again and again. The tavernkeeper apparently has already lived her life and is ready to settle down, but she isn't.
What got me was that Corson is possessive of her tavernkeeper and was jealous when she thought he might be sleeping with others; and yet, she had no problems doing it herself.
Still, in the context of this character, it makes sense. Corson's character is especially explained better near the end, as she re-evaluates her life and realizes that she keeps on coming back to the tavern. The implication is that she might eventually settle down, but she won't be ready to do that until she has found what she's looking for (herself ... or something).
To be honest, I'd love to be just like Corson, minus the sleeping around. And the drinking. And the foolishness.
Actually, Corson is rather intelligent; she knows not to trust anyone, and is an expert swordswoman. However, she meets her match in the other main character, Nyctasia, who isn't merely untrustworthy like everyone else; she is involved in a huge fight between two ruling families of the city-state. Corson is able to deal with general, simple problems, like street thieves and such, but she hadn't expected someone like Nyctasia, who is not only involved in some higher-level political problems but also has made lots of schemes to get her way, stored money in various places, basically made lots of lifelines and identities for herself, and is a magician and healer besides. Towards the end, Corson is no longer surprised by anything new Nyctasia comes up with, but it takes time.
Indeed, it's all the crap Nyctasia does that make the book so interesting. She does this, she does that, there's no end to all the solutions she comes up with for her problems. It's fun. She and Corson also argue a lot (their first make-out or sex session was an ending to one of their arguments). The matching of wits is also fun to read.
The politics and "city-stateness" of the area reminds me of either pre-modern Italy, or Mesopotamia. It doesn't seem too Renaissance though, so I'll just go back to the idea that it's in a sort of Conan the Barbarian-type setting. It works.
All this in a very small book. If the rest of the series is like this one, I'm happy.
The series is four books in all.
Edit: I dug up my older stuff on this book: Notes and more notes.