Books 42

[subplotkudzu]

Workload is still keeping me from reading any too quickly.

42) The Farthest Shore: The conclusion of the Earthsea trilogy. I decided to read this immediately after Tombs in hopes of staying in the cadence of LeGuin's work, and it was successful - I tore through this one, enjoying it quite a bit. It also helped that I finally internalized that these are a series of coming of age novels, which helped. Alongisde that realization was the grossly unfair thought "It's like 'Pern' done by someone who can write!"

I know, grossly unfair, because McCaffery _can_ write, even if she hasn't done anything noteworthy in a couple of decades, she won a Hugo for her initial Pern short story and the Pern books themselves are quite good YA lit. But I had to include ti because it had me giggling.

Comments

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I liked the original Earthsea trilogy. It held up on the re-read.

I detested Tehanu, the fourth book, written years later. I can rant about why, if you want. I also didn't care for the fifth, The Other Wind, and can rant about that.

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

Rant away!

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Tehanu summary: Men are bad. Well, except for the king, because he listens to a Woman. Ged, who in the last book of the original trilogy, felt a burden lift when he gave up power, now whines about his lost power. Oh, and that bit about never looking in a dragon's eye? Well, that's fine for men. But, women can do it -- after all, men are bad. Women are good.

The Other Wind summary: Remember that bit about the king being good because he listens to his surrogate mother? Well, he's stopped listening to her, so now he's bad. After all, he's only being advised to marry someone he hardly knows -- he's not thinking about the Woman in all of this, poor dear, imagine what she feels! Being traded like a parcel of goods by her father to force the king into an alliance! And, how dare the king whine about this? After all, it's not like he's essentially being forced into a tight alliance in such a way that benefits his country's enemy! Oh, wait, yes he is -- but how like a man to think that way! Bad man! Oh, and the wall between the dead and the living should be torn down.

To be fair, I might have thought more kindly of The Other Wind if it weren't an Earthsea book, but it's stil weak. I would have hated Tehanu regardless.

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

That resolves the question of whether I should bother to read it then. Thanks.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind, I could be wrong about whether you'll like it. But, I don't think so. Lee Gold once said that authors probably should not return to their works years later, and many times, she's right. This is no exception, imao.

Le Guin, like at least one other author (Marion Zimmer Bradley) got Feminism, in the sense of catching it like a disease. Both authors then said, "Gosh! I've written Bad Patriarchal Works! I must make up for this!"

It isn't that I object to feminism, and I certainly don't object to the idea that I am not a second class citizen or chattel, thank you very much. But, Le Guin missed just how feminist the original trilogy was and proceeded to undercut it.

Bradley's Darkover Landfall has a section meant to irritate feminists, and it is indeed irritating. The Shattered Chain is a good solid novel. It is not high art, but a thoughtful consideration of female roles and the choices we all make. But her two later Free Amazon books are not good. Thendara House has all this consciousness raising stuff that I detested.

City of Sorcery warped a character from Thendara House, turning a woman who, in the earlier work, swallowed her pride and admitted she had wronged our heroine, all on her own, without anyone having to have long boring talks with her, into a caricature who didn't said heroine around to ruin things. It tried to consider the issue of how close friendships (regardless of whether there's sex involved) between men are expected to be stronger than their marriages or families, close friendships between women are expected to last only until there's a man in the picture -- and then killed off the woman our heroine was moving into that kind of close friendship with, rather than, you know, seeing what it might be like.

Bradley acknowledged City of Sorcery's debt to Talbot Mundy's Devil's Guard. Mundy's work, written decades earlier, with far less enlightened attitudes, is still, imao, by far the superior work -- and the one I recommend to you.

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

I doubt that you're wrong. The series seemed pretty well concluded at the end of Farthest Shore, and like Lee I generally don't like those age old revisits. Plus, I have yet to hear anyone jump up in praise fo the book. Mostly it's referred to as "not bad" at best.

It tried to consider the issue of how close friendships (regardless of whether there's sex involved) between men are expected to be stronger than their marriages or families

That's a load of horse hooey, at least in my experience. I know who my best friend is, thanks, and oddly enough she's the person I chose to live with.