Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore

[rachelmanija]

This is the third book in a loosely connected series. It doesn't have to be read in order, and requires no more background than what I'm about to tell you. In the first book, Graceling

Comments

[tool_of_satan]

this happens twice

I hope it was at least a different adviser the second time.

[rachelmanija]

Thankfully, yes. It was not like the book where the same dog dies twice! (The second time, his spirit is killed in the underworld.)

[tool_of_satan]

What book was that?

[rachelmanija]

I don't recall. city-of-dis told me about it.

[asakiyume]

Where She Was Standing looks very interesting, and, coincidentally enough, I just laid my hands on a 27-minute documentary about the political situation not in East Timor, but West Papua, so. Similar.

My morbid curiosity would like to know exactly what you mean in your last sentence under the cut. You could email me...

DISTURBING SPOILER

[rachelmanija]

We think at first they were solely victims, but actually, Leck made them commit horrific crimes on innocent people - and by horrific, I mean Nazi-like "medical" experiments, rape, child murder, etc - while he watched. They then felt so guilty and complicit that they covered it all up after he died.

Re: DISTURBING SPOILER

[asakiyume]

Okay. That's pretty horrible indeed.

You are tormenting me!

[melebeth]

I'm finally number one on the hold list for this at my library, and I keep waiting for them to e-mail me and say it's available :)

[sovay]

and a man named Thigpen, which I can never not read as Pigpen.

I have some kind of third cousin named Thigpen. I have the same problem.

[rachelmanija]

I did not realize that was a real name! Poor guy.

[megfuzzle]

I just finished Fire, and liked it better than Graceling.

I feel like the author pushes her agenda a little too much through these kinda-perfectly-perfect, WON'T GET MARRIED NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY, JUST BECAUSE, -type female characters. Dunno.

What do you think?

[rachelmanija]

I could have sworn that Fire does get married. She can't have children, though she would have wanted to, because they would be monsters.

Most fantasy YA with female protagonists pushes a EVERYONE WANTS TO GET MARRIED agenda. But it's invisible to readers, because our society pushes the exact same agenda. It only looks like an agenda when it's a different agenda from the one generally believed by the mainstream. (ie, "It's okay to not want to get married!)

[megfuzzle]

Right. I'm completely okay with reading about the differing agendas if I feel it's organic to the character. I think Fire had an okay reason to not want children, but I felt like in Graceling, the main character was irrational about it. She fell in love with someone to whom marriage was very very important. It felt like a cop out when he was kind of like 'oh, yeah, okay, you're right, it's suddenly not important anymore', and the fact that she never even CONSIDERED compromising to understand his point of view. Dunno. Just bothered me a lot... felt like the character was just programmed to be that way, instead of actually BEING that way for a reason.

I'm ALL for the strong female hero, I just think in Graceling (again, not as much in Fire), the men were all bumbling idiots to varying degrees. I like the men to at least be respectable, even if they are being saved by awesome heroine.

[jinian]

I think BEST AGENDA EVER, myself.