Shallow Thoughts On SK: Beguilement

[ase]

My Deep and Meaningful post was derailed by norabombay and I trying to write science fiction epics on the phone again, so I will instead offer this thought: my second, scattershot dip into The Sharing Knife: Legacy is not reconciling me to the romance or Fawn; it's making me gesture emphatically at The Steerswoman's Road instead. I am not supposed to be annoyed at plucky Fawn, but oh, I really, really wish her selfish recklessness were not presented as courage.

Comments

[ase.livejournal.com]

Steerswoman's Road is an omnibus of two Rosemary Kirstein novels, and it is very, very cool.

I'm willing to give Cordelia a pass, because she was working on a very short-term deadline no one else cared about, and because I was 16 when I read Barrayar. Fawn just hits every one of my, "well, isn't she a darling little plucky thing!" nerves. Other people may not have come up with an answer as quickly as her, but they were trying. Compare with the Miles situation, where Cordelia and Aral were about the only people who cared. I sort of see what LMB's trying to do, but she's created a character who is supposed to be smart and doesn't come off that way. Compare to Steerswoman's Road, where Rowan (protagonist) comes off as very, very smart.

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

Cordelia and Aral were indeed the only ones who cared, and, had that little venture not occurred, lots of deaths would have occurred, among them, no doubt, Miles.

However, had it not been under control of the author, the little venture's most probable outcome was to give watzisface another, more effective hostage. It is like spending your last funds on the lottery, because that is the only way you can possibly get enough funds to (do whatever noble purpose is appropriate).

I am further biased by the fact that I consider continuing Miles' development a very bad thing (except, of course, for the source of wonderful stories), but that's my problem.

I will keep an eye out for Kirstein and Stearswoman's Road. Thanks!

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Hmm... so I'm willing to give Cordelia a pass because selfishness for the sake of mother love (whether she should have felt mother love for an embryo is another question, and I've never quite forgiven Bujold for the authorial manipulation where they couldn't have any more children Because I Say So) is understandable to me, and I'm sympathetic.

Selfishness on Fawn's part for the sake of... uh? The arrogance that she might be able to do something other more experienced people can't? I'm not buying it.

I don't know, I think Cordelia would have figured out some way to die nobly or something. I kind of trust Cordelia to take care of herself, and I don't trust Fawn. Maybe that's what it comes down to.

(Which is kind of what ase was saying, but in different words.)

*goes to look for Kirstein*

[ase.livejournal.com]

Selfishness on Fawn's part for the sake of... uh? The arrogance that she might be able to do something other more experienced people can't? I'm not buying it.

Thank you for nailing what I would have spent a lot of time trying to say.

I am not going to guarantee that everyone will like the Steerswoman series as much as me, because it's pretty much a descriptive checklist of what I want in my sf/f reading, but I think it's interesting enough that other people will enjoy it too.

[mareklamo.livejournal.com]

The arrogance that she might be able to do something other more experienced people can't

Sounds like a teenager to me!

[ase.livejournal.com]

charlie_ego makes pretty much the point I would. I might say, if I feel the author's hand weighing the scales, I feel she weighed them by giving Cordelia bonus character traits, but in Fawn's case by creating a plot that broke in her favor. You probably missed the Mercedes Lackey Valdemar books, but I keep waiting for Fawn's snow-white telepathic stallion to come riding up and present itself as validation of her Special-ness. This isn't a feeling that makes me inclined to enjoy any scene she's in, which is sort of a problem in a romance novel.

Re: Miles: series bias is a powerful and subtle thing, yes. I want an LMB book as good as Mirror Dance or Memory, but I think she can do that without returning to the Milesverse. I am less sanguine about the prospects of her doing it in the Sharing Knife universe.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I thought Curse of Chalion was as good as Mirror Dance, and maybe (in a lot of ways) even as good as Memory (minus the Miles-bias at the end, where Haroche gets destroyed and Miles gets a shiny new job, which does kind of disturb me). But it's certainly a very different book.

I think she could do it in the Sharing Knife universe, but I'm increasingly less convinced she can do it with Dag, Fawn, or any of their compatriots.