Oh, I’m excited that you’ve read this already! I literally finished it five minutes before you tweeted about recs from Wiscon. I loved it to bits; it certainly left me with a lot to think through.
I agree so much about wanting more about Darre. Yeine’s parent culture was so important to her character, but the details we were given felt far too sparse, and always so subjective (since it was almost always Yeine’s highly personal recollections, or occasionally a little Amn prejudice). I wish the book could have spent a little more time there, so we could have seen more through Yeine’s eyes than her memories, which were tantalizing.
As far as the incest taboo thing goes, I think that Yeine was able to accept that the gods were just fundamentally different from humans. They’re not exactly flesh, they’re not “born” the way humans are … it just doesn’t mean the same thing, necessarily, particularly between the Three. They’re all inherently connected, but on a highly symbolic/spiritual level. (The relationship between the Three and their children struck me as a little more “human” somehow – if only because they were deliberately and consciously created - which could be why Yeine seemed more thrown at the idea of Nahadoth sleeping with the other Enefah.)
I have to run out the door, so I’ll just leave these disjointed thoughts for now, but yeah. Quite an engaging, original piece of fantasy writing; I can’t wait for the follow-up. (More thoughts later, maybe.)
no subject
I agree so much about wanting more about Darre. Yeine’s parent culture was so important to her character, but the details we were given felt far too sparse, and always so subjective (since it was almost always Yeine’s highly personal recollections, or occasionally a little Amn prejudice). I wish the book could have spent a little more time there, so we could have seen more through Yeine’s eyes than her memories, which were tantalizing.
As far as the incest taboo thing goes, I think that Yeine was able to accept that the gods were just fundamentally different from humans. They’re not exactly flesh, they’re not “born” the way humans are … it just doesn’t mean the same thing, necessarily, particularly between the Three. They’re all inherently connected, but on a highly symbolic/spiritual level. (The relationship between the Three and their children struck me as a little more “human” somehow – if only because they were deliberately and consciously created - which could be why Yeine seemed more thrown at the idea of Nahadoth sleeping with the other Enefah.)
I have to run out the door, so I’ll just leave these disjointed thoughts for now, but yeah. Quite an engaging, original piece of fantasy writing; I can’t wait for the follow-up. (More thoughts later, maybe.)