As for your observations about Darre being the natural outcome of a 70s feminist utopia, I totally agree. Actually I found that to be the most fascinating aspect of Yeine's character, that she had all these unthinking little sexist thoughts about men. I really liked how Darre culture felt real through its effects on her in that way, even if we don't actually see a lot of it in the book itself. I don't know if you follow the author's blog, but she posted an interesting piece about 'Writing a Post-Feminist Character' a few months back.
I really appreciate the unstable narrative of the book--I liked that it didn't over-explain things to me, but it kept doling out enough information to make me feel invested in the story. I made my book club read it and most of them liked it--the few that didn't I think are people who don't prefer this kind of unstable narration that flips back and forth in time, while I totally eat that stuff up.
One of the parts I struggled the most with was the abruptly shifting characterizations of Naha/doth. What did you think of pet!human!Naha? It took me a while (and a second reading) to come around on that characterization, because while it was cool and befit the god of change to have such wildly different personalities, it felt like there wasn't quite enough there for cohesion. I don't know.
The only character who wasn't as interesting as I needed/wanted her to be was Scimina. She was just straight-up evil and power-hungry and crazy, and I am starting to get rubbed the wrong way by characterizations where power + ambition = crazy & dangerous, particularly in women.
My take on incest was that it was assumed to be part of the morally decayed society of the Amn? I'm not sure. I'll have to think about that one.
The other thing I didn't love about the book is that it focuses so tightly (claustrophobically, even) on the privileged and powerful caste. While it has a less-privileged narrator and her insights really help dispel some of that, I am really looking forward to the next book, especially given the teaser chapter we've gotten. YES.
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As for your observations about Darre being the natural outcome of a 70s feminist utopia, I totally agree. Actually I found that to be the most fascinating aspect of Yeine's character, that she had all these unthinking little sexist thoughts about men. I really liked how Darre culture felt real through its effects on her in that way, even if we don't actually see a lot of it in the book itself. I don't know if you follow the author's blog, but she posted an interesting piece about 'Writing a Post-Feminist Character' a few months back.
I really appreciate the unstable narrative of the book--I liked that it didn't over-explain things to me, but it kept doling out enough information to make me feel invested in the story. I made my book club read it and most of them liked it--the few that didn't I think are people who don't prefer this kind of unstable narration that flips back and forth in time, while I totally eat that stuff up.
One of the parts I struggled the most with was the abruptly shifting characterizations of Naha/doth. What did you think of pet!human!Naha? It took me a while (and a second reading) to come around on that characterization, because while it was cool and befit the god of change to have such wildly different personalities, it felt like there wasn't quite enough there for cohesion. I don't know.
The only character who wasn't as interesting as I needed/wanted her to be was Scimina. She was just straight-up evil and power-hungry and crazy, and I am starting to get rubbed the wrong way by characterizations where power + ambition = crazy & dangerous, particularly in women.
My take on incest was that it was assumed to be part of the morally decayed society of the Amn? I'm not sure. I'll have to think about that one.
The other thing I didn't love about the book is that it focuses so tightly (claustrophobically, even) on the privileged and powerful caste. While it has a less-privileged narrator and her insights really help dispel some of that, I am really looking forward to the next book, especially given the teaser chapter we've gotten. YES.