Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold (through about page 30)

[meganbmoore]

A couple years ago, I read an enjoyed Jane Lindskold’s Wolf books. I mean, sure, the plot consistently made less and less sense, but the characters were fun. Late last year, I picked up her Thirteen Orphans, a modern fantasy based on the Chinese Zodiac, but only just got around to trying it. I made it about 30 pages in.

Here’s a few examples of why

Comments

[radiotrash]

Ah Jane Lindskold. I stopped reading the Wolf books after what she did to my favorite character, Derian. Well that and I kept getting more and more annoyed with Firekeeper and more and more skeeved out about her relationship with Blind Seer.

[meganbmoore]

I was pretty neutral on Derian, most of the time.

I wasn't bothered by Firekeeper and Blind Seer's relationship, though, since neither really saw her as a human, but as a wolf who looked different.

[radiotrash]

I was Derian/Firekeeper so I was sad face. I don't think I read anything after that novel when he went horsey.

[gryphonsegg]

I remember reading one of her novels a long time ago. It was about various figures of myth and legend actually being real immortal beings who had to adjust to the ever-changing world. I loved the concept when I was a teenage amateur mythology buff, but the gender dynamics put me off trying anything else of hers (and I was still "not a feminist, but . . ." back in those days).

[meganbmoore]

I may have that book.

[gryphonsegg]

If I'm remembering correctly, all the oldest immortals (the ones who existed before humans evolved) were male. And that turned out to be fortunate since all the stable, healthy, millennia-lasting romances just happened to be heterosexual pairings where the male character was hundreds of thousands or possibly even millions of years older than the female character and also protective/possessive of her in a creepily paternalistic way and maybe reminded her of her father in terms of personality traits as well. And the daddy-type characterization even landed on the archetypal Trickster.

[estara]

Changer! Excellent book. Maybe I'm blind but I didn't notice any particular bad gender dynamics...
I also liked the follow-up Legends Walking as well as Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls - which really did have child abuse as a topic, but eventually showed the empowerment of the girl in question. Inside that world setting a full happy-end wasn't possible though, but she became her own agent and could save others.

[ivy_chan]

I did enjoy the books despite that racefail, but I have no clue why Pearl didn't look more Chinese. Her dad didn't seem to be one of the orphans who changed his appearance to look more 'white' (yeah, the reason why a lot of the orphans are not Chinese is explained by interbreeding and magical...appearance...changing,) and her mother was Chinese, so Pearl should look freakin' Chinese. I guess I can assume that Brenda's a moron and doesn't think she looks Chinese because she doesn't fit the stereotype, but that might be asking too much.

[meganbmoore]

Wow. I'm even happier now that I decided to find something that didn't make me go "did you seriously just say that?" about 10 times in 30 pages.

[ivy_chan]

Yep. Let's see. So far, Gaheris (Rat) looks white, Brenda looks...biracial, Pearl (Tiger) is supposed to be fully Chinese, the Rooster looks fully Chinese, the Dog is black, the Rabbit is blonde and rosy-skinned, and the Dragon is Chinese. (His name is Shen, so I'm guessing here.) I haven't seen the others yet, so I have no idea how they look. I just remember blinking multiple times when I heard that some of the original orphans changed their appearance to 'blend in' more to the country they were in. It doesn't make sense on multiple levels, partly because their ancestors aren't too far removed from them. Just three generations, since Pearl is the daughter of the original Tiger.

[ivy_chan]

Oh right, and Albert Yu the Emperor is also Chinese-looking. Or so I say because his appearance is described as looking like he is from: 'the mystic Orient, not any place in Europe.'