I love Silver Phoenix and I can't wait for Fury - especially after striking out on about five different ARC giveaways. Still, the anticipation will just make finally getting it that much sweeter.
Heroine's journey? I don't think so. Her journey is almost entirely motivated entirely by men and loathing almost every woman she meets. Her be-all-end-all role model is her father. Her mom exists only to look sad and elegant and prim and proper. The villain has a violent, hysterical ex who attempts to engineer the heroine's rape.
Female bit characters are:
* a mild-mannered man's shrill and unpleasant wife * girl servants who serve male masters (one of whom drugs the heroine's tea so her master can try to rape the heroine; the heroine later defeats her would-be rapist by KISSING HIM).
Aside from the heroine and her mom, there are no positive relations ships between women. Even then, Ai Ling and her mom spend all their time talking about men. Bechdel what now?
Pippin has a wonderful comic that examines Silver Phoenix and how skeevy and messed up its presentation with rape and supposed heroine empowerment is, here: Silver Pheonix In Comic Form. I WISH those panels were exaggerating.
To be fair, that is a pretty much the classic heroine's journey ;-) /cynicism
I appreciate the review; from the brief description it had looked like something I might pick up. Despite my tendency to use them as such, I don't know that the point of these posts is a recommendation of the books themselves. As a discussion of the publication process I did find this post interesting, since it is an example of how ideas that may not skim as marketable can end up doing well.
Re: Yeah right.jimhinesMarch 11 2011, 15:50:42 UTC
"I don't know that the point of these posts is a recommendation of the books themselves. As a discussion of the publication process I did find this post interesting..."
Bingo. I haven't read Pon's book yet, and the same holds for probably at least half of the authors I invite do to FBF posts. My goal was to present different paths to publication, to explore the differences and similarities in how authors wrote and sold that first book. In a way, I think of it as complementing to the First Novel Sale survey I did last year.
While I didn't find the book quite as misogynistic as the above review, I was really bothered by the rape scenes, which I thought edged toward titillating, and by the way the whole "evil woman tries to engineer the protagonist's rape to remove her as a romantic rival" plotline was handled. I finished the book inarticulately upset to the point that I ultimately left a blank review field on Goodreads, something I almost never do; I just couldn't reconcile my reaction well enough with the book's overwhelmingly positive press, and felt like I'd somehow stumbled onto an alternate universe edition. I'm kind of glad to know I'm not the only one who had problems with it.
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Oh, I see what you're saying. You won't comment on one of *my* posts, but when Cindy comes along, *then* you're the very first comment.
That's okay. I understand. No, no, my ego and I will be all right eventually. Just give us a little time.
I haven't heard about this Love Boat article - is that online?
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Female bit characters are:
* a mild-mannered man's shrill and unpleasant wife
* girl servants who serve male masters (one of whom drugs the heroine's tea so her master can try to rape the heroine; the heroine later defeats her would-be rapist by KISSING HIM).
Aside from the heroine and her mom, there are no positive relations ships between women. Even then, Ai Ling and her mom spend all their time talking about men. Bechdel what now?
Pippin has a wonderful comic that examines Silver Phoenix and how skeevy and messed up its presentation with rape and supposed heroine empowerment is, here:
Silver Pheonix In Comic Form. I WISH those panels were exaggerating.
Reply
I appreciate the review; from the brief description it had looked like something I might pick up. Despite my tendency to use them as such, I don't know that the point of these posts is a recommendation of the books themselves. As a discussion of the publication process I did find this post interesting, since it is an example of how ideas that may not skim as marketable can end up doing well.
Reply
Bingo. I haven't read Pon's book yet, and the same holds for probably at least half of the authors I invite do to FBF posts. My goal was to present different paths to publication, to explore the differences and similarities in how authors wrote and sold that first book. In a way, I think of it as complementing to the First Novel Sale survey I did last year.
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