Nice review. I think you made a good point about the book not stooping to cultural appropriation. The Asian-inspired elements were really entertaining but it never seemed to belittle the culture. Sorry to hear that Stormdancer appears to do that. I've been curious about that one.
Since this is a Fantasy, world-building is obviously important. I was very happy with the Asian-inspired setting (something that was at the forefront of my mind, especially with the release of Jay Kristoff's Stormdancer which received many reviews lamenting its cultural appropriation). While the setting is very obviously Asian-inspired, it's also clear that the Asian aspects are just that: inspiration. Goodman never resorts to stereotypes, and I never felt like my nose was being rubbed in ASIAN everything was supposed to be. It added a nice flavour to the world-building and kept it from being the same-ol'-same-ol' European Medieval Fantasy world. The magic system created from these Asian inspirations were wholly original as well.
Great observation! It's such a fine line to walk between inspiration and appropriation. If I'm ever in such a situation, I don't know how well I do, and I fear I'll do it badly.
My only problem with the book was that it felt too long at times. I will admit that I took almost three weeks to read this though
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It really is a thin line. In the case of Kristoff, I've read in interviews that he actually didn't do any research, outside of Wikipedia and watching a lot of anime (though I've read quotes from Stormdancer where he misuses Japanese words that I only know how to use because I've watched so much anime myself, sooo), which I think is offensive, frankly. But he's defended himself by saying: "Yeah but it's okay because it's not ACTUALLY Japan. It's just a world inspired by Japan." So yeah, definitely something that must be tricky for authors to tread.
And I was so happy to sponsor this theme! I'm just sorry it took me so long to get my review up.
Yeah, it's a super-fine line though... his excuses really aren't enough for me, because he's still appropriating a culture to create his own world, rather than paying tribute to what's there, you know?
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Great observation! It's such a fine line to walk between inspiration and appropriation. If I'm ever in such a situation, I don't know how well I do, and I fear I'll do it badly.
My only problem with the book was that it felt too long at times. I will admit that I took almost three weeks to read this though ( ... )
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And I was so happy to sponsor this theme! I'm just sorry it took me so long to get my review up.
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Whatever. I'm not going to read it regardless. :)
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