*/***** (1/5)
My first and inevitably my last novel by Sharon Shinn, ARCHANGEL explores a girl's faith in a story with strong Christian overtones. A fantasy novel preaching about having faith, there's a lot of bickering (between hero & heroine) in ARCHANGEL. ARCHANGEL's world is a sort of a religious utopia, and its grand city of Luminaux represents the height of the Utopian principles in all aspects: economy, social position, politics, etc. Every man in Luminaux goes to the job he loves, there's no such thing as a menial job in Luminaux. Through the nomadic, yet persecuted, gypsy-like Edori, the Edori customs and ways represent the height of a free, giving race; the Edori are perfect, all of their people good and wholesome beyond belief.
ARCHANGEL views all rich merchants in a very evil light, summarily condemning all of them and religiously denouncing all of their capitalistic practices to gain wealth. Simplistically, beautiful people are either power-hunger mongrels (Raphael) or ditzy dolts (Judith), except for our handsome hero Gabriel of course. "Metaphorical and ethical speculation was wasted on the literal-minded (and beautiful) Judith," Gabriel notes at one point.
There's 3 provinces in ARCHANGEL's world, with 3 angels to lead each province and an archangel which oversees everyone (included as 1 of the 3 "leading" angels). The archangel term lasts 20 years and oracles deduce from God the next chosen Archangel and his Angelica (or Angelico). Like most fantasy novels written by authors interested in romance, you have some sort of a soul-mate storyline and also similar to other other novels, you have the hero accepting it and quickly embracing his soul-mate (angelica) while the heroine very reluctant for the majority of the novel. In ARCHANGEL in fact, the heroine Rachel is resistant until the very last page of this 390-page superior paperback. There really isn't any warring factions or violence in ARCHANGEL's world as everyone lives in awe and fear of the Almighty God. The angels' power? Basically they pray in hymns and song to entreat god to help effect weather changes. Rain for farmers during a drought, for instance. The hero Gabriel is the most competent of the singing angels. There's plenty of concerts in the novel if you haven't guessed already by the way.
Finally, god tracks its "children" through the "Kiss of God," acorn-sized balls grafted into everyone's arms when they're a baby (similarly to a baptism). The balls illuminate when they're near people god wants to them love for bloodlines and procreation, and it's also supposed to help people find their true love. Even the final monumental climax is left in the hands of god.
Even though ARCHANGEL tells us early via its oracle Jesiah that the Archangel-elect Gabriel's Angelica will humble him, I thought it was his angelica Rachel that needed the humbling. The story begins with Rachel working as a slave in an affluent merchant household. Oh and just to preserve our heroine, this particular merchant household doesn't allow anyone to molest women slaves. The annual event Gloria, which celebrates, worships, sings and prays to god, is only 6 months away, and this year it marks the transition of power from the previous archangel Raphael to the archangel-elect Gabriel. Gabriel needs to track down his angelica quickly and God (via the oracle) is there to point him in the right direction. Handy!
The book clumps along as Gabriel finds Rachel early on and they fight with each other and other elements interfering in their confirmation as Archangel and Angelica on Gloria 6 months away.
I couldn't stand the story's religious preaching, I couldn't stand Rachel's character, and I couldn't stand anything about the other plots.
I had high hopes though. I liked how the heroine Rachel wasn't a virgin, I liked how she didn't swoon and melt at the hero's touch (only at his singing in this case), and I liked how Gabriel was very virtuous, and not the notorious libertine we find from romantic historicals. In case you're interested, there's no passionate scenes here, only goes as far as kissing.
Possible SPOILERS ahead, and various musings.
Rachel acts pretty superior and childish throughout, it's as though she alone understands the trials and tribulations of the poor and underprivileged. Anyone with a modicum of wealth or ambitions for fortune in Sharon Shinn's world are shunned as evil and power hungry. Certainly, this generalization holds true everywhere. Rachel flaunts her Edori heritage as superior to everyone and everything else. She's very juvenile and frosty with her husband too. By my count, Gabriel apologized to her at least 4 times for things he didn't know or understand about her, and he always shows her kindness and affection. Rachel reacts in her obligatory I-art-holier-than-thou attitude. When Rachel walks in on Gabriel and Judith, she secures Gabriel's promise later on that he has never slept with and never will sleep with Judith. They had begun fighting for a while, but this promise seems to have placated her. Inexplicably, they transition into a more amiable conversation. The amiable transition didn't follow after a heated discussion where both accused the other of infidelities. The author felt the need for Gabriel to comfort Rachel and dispel her misgivings, but not the other way around.
And it's Rachel who flirts with Obadiah, and the Edori Isaac and Adam. It's Rachel who kisses Isaac and Adam. I actually wanted to see Rachel get busy with Isaac & Adam and reject Gabriel. At least then Gabriel would be free of her. Lord.
I especially don't understand Rachel's cold desire to destroy an entire city, the city of Semorrah. For a Good Samaritan devoted to the betterment of the needy (she sets up a children's shelter and school), she wants to indiscriminately kill everyone in a city, she wants an entire city to pay for its slavery practices? Her friend the Lady Mary who lives in Semorahh would die too wouldn't she? Huh? What? How does this compute? At least think about vengeance discriminately, against the Jensai slavers maybe? Not an entire city!
It's so horrific to be an Archangel-elect's angelica in Rachel's mind. She doesn't want to be an angelica (predictably), and more than twice she thinks she will not forgive Gabriel for bringing her. She will not forgive Gabriel for freeing her from slavery and bestowing upon her every kindness and lavish comfort at her fingertips. Now she finds herself in a position of power to do something about the unfair poverty and build shelters and schools for orphaned children, yet of course she will not forgive Gabriel for plucking her out of slavery. Obviously, all of Rachel's childish reactions and juvenile fits of defiance serve simply as a ploy to add some romantic tension. Poor delivery in the novel here, because I didn't see so much a romantic tension than I did a childish juvenile rebelling against everyone and everything for the sake of being contrary. I thought Rachel was 25 and not a teenager?
Like heroes and heroines from other romance novels, ARCHANGEL has Gabriel justify Rachel's disdainful and combative disposition towards him by having Gabriel think he would prefer willful wife than a submissive one. Well, it is possible to be willful and not quite so bitchy. Gabriel shows her caring and kindness at almost every turn, attempting to talk to her but predictably she lashes out at the only person who will take it, her husband Gabriel. Shinn has Gabriel think and care for Rachel relatively early despite her belligerent, bratty attitude. In fact, Gabriel is constantly remorseful (for having to be away from Rachel), caring and affectionate towards Rachel. Consistently, Rachel fails to reciprocate Gabriel's caring and instead presents Gabriel with a childish, spiteful disdain. Stop whining and get over yourself for once.
Gabriel bestows every courtesy and kindness to Rachel. Gabriel makes an elevator lift available for Rachel to subvert her fear of heights, Gabriel agrees to provide funding for Rachel's shelter and school for orphaned children, Gabriel gives her gold bracelets as her wedding present, Gabriel asks after her well-being at every chance, it's always Gabriel who feels remorse for parting with Rachel badly (even though Rachel is equally to blame), for all of Rachel's juvenile fits of defiance and anger, it's always Gabriel apologizing and seeking forgiveness, it's Gabriel giving her gold-embroidered gloves as a gift.
In response, Rachel openly flaunts her friendship with the angel Obadiah, a close friendship which chafes her husband Gabriel.
The immature adolescence Rachel so exuberantly sponsors ranges to levels far beyond my comprehension. Get this. At this end, she's beyond petty and vindictive. Gabriel is aware Rachel's most fervent "justice" is to see the entire city of Semerroh destroyed. When it's clear that just such a feat will come to fruition if she will not sing, she uses that knowledge to test Gabriel's love and devotion to her instead, spiting him for not believing in her. When she threatens the city and its people if Gabriel doesn't promise to leave her alone, Gabriel quickly acquiesces to her ludicrous demands. After, she cries thinking how she wanted Gabriel to risk destroying hundreds of people so he would say he would rather have her instead. Despite telling her before that the only angelica he would ever accept by his side would be Rachel, and that he wouldn't choose another angelica had she died. Despite telling her that he would always come back to her if he ever leaves. Despite comforting her and protecting her, despite sheltering her under his sensitive wings no one is supposed to touch.
Man, I've never seen a character so selfish, so childish, so juvenile, so immaturely spiteful as ARCHANGEL's Rachel. And she hates Gabriel for choosing to save hundreds of lives instead of be with her, an ultimatum she herself lays down. Are you serious? Is that even a choice? That's no choice at all, any likable hero would sacrifice himself and his beloved in a heartbeat if not doing so meant the death to thousands of other innocents. There is nothing romantic about this retarded "choice" Rachel tests Gabriel with.
After all this, Rachel stays away for months traveling with the Edori and then when she finally decides she wants Gabriel back, she tests him yet again. She makes Gabriel with his broad wings walk through iron stakes on the top of a mountain he can't land on. Yep. Childish. Juvenile. Petty. Vindictive. Adolescent.
This book is garbage. I need to take my own advise, and I'll stop whining now. Needed to vent! Oh by the way, the prose and settings aren't half bad (though nothing great).
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan [4]
****/***** (4/5)
In the relatively new genre dubbed as cyberpunk, British author Richard K. Morgan's first Takeshi Kovacs novel ALTERED CARBON (2002) leaves an indelible impression. A captivating blend of suspense/mystery, hardcore first-person detective story, and action/adventure in the midst of a science fiction backdrop, ALTERED CARBON is sure to hit you hard with its unique style and flavor. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs is exactly the sort of kick-ass, intelligent hero I love to read about. Although I'm not a huge fan of first-person storytelling, our narrator Kovacs manages to admirably build the science fiction universe of ALTERED CARBON with its futuristic vocab and prose. ALTERED CARBON's settings, including the bureaucracy, economic social hierarchy, the vernacular, and futuristic sights are thorough, if not confounding at times. For a debut novel, Morgan ably sets the scene and builds his universe which support his story. There's plenty of related history too. Again, the prose can be ambiguous at times, but it depends on how you receive it; don't let the futuristic vernacular bog you down, just take it in stride. Richard Morgan doesn't shy away from explicit language, brutal violence and sex to grab your attention either. His science fiction world is very morbid, and these things are a part of its "culture."
In the futuristic ALTERED CARBON, human civilization conquers death itself. "Poor Death, no match for the mighty altered-carbon technologies of data storage and retrieval arrayed against him. Once we lived in terror of [Death's] arrival. Now we flirt outrageously with his somber dignity, and beings like these won't even let him in the tradesman's entrance." Ouch. But these things are a reality for the universe of ALTERED CARBON: cloning, mind data storage/retrieval, resleeving (brand new body or same body but younger). In a macabre observation, the book notes how virtual prostitution is actually more expensive than sex with a real prostitute, since bodies don't have much significance anymore. Many "Meths" (rich, influential people, socially and economically high on the food chain) have stacks on storage, and they transmit their current memory over regular intervals of time to a data center containing hundreds of their cloned bodies. "Meths" are often thousands of centuries old. Other, common people also have "stacks" for storage and retrieval in their spinal core, though they often don't have the monetary means to afford more than one clone, let alone hundreds. As the story begins, Morgan weaves in religion as we learn of religious Catholics demonstrating with placards against any form of data storage and retrieval on Earth, arguing such altered-carbon technology destroys the soul. In fact, many Catholics still live a traditional lifespan and forgo any form of cloning and resleeving in a new body.
Ex-U.N. Envoy (military conditioning and training) and criminal Takeshi Kovacs has just been hired by a Meth, Mr. Laurens Bancroft to investigate Bancroft's apparent suicide. The story begins as police commandos gun down Kovacs and his friend Sarah to death on Harlan's World. Next thing we know, authorities "needlecast" (transmit) Kovacs' "stack" (stored mind) over to Earth to be resleeved in a new body sanctioned and paid for by Bancroft. Bancraft is convinced it was a murder not a suicide, and he maintains he wouldn't try to kill himself when they'd download him to a new cloned body later anyway. Unfortunately, his last "update" to his personal data center was well before the events preceding his apparent suicide and now, he has no memory of his suicide or the time before it. Bancraft hires Kovacs on the strength of a recommendation by Reileen Kawahara, who Kovacs did some work for a few years back. The police and the ranking officer Lt. Kristin Ortega have already closed the case, declaring an open-and-shut suicide.
As Kovacs pursues the investigation, we learn more and more about the various pieces of the puzzle. If you're astute unlike me, you may be able to figure out some links well before the end. Kovacs investigates Bancroft's proclivity for blue-collar prostitution establishments like Jerry's Closed Quarters, he learns more about Bancroft's wife, the drop-dead gorgeous Miriam Bancroft, and even Kovacs' current "sleeve" (body) and its rightful consciousness currently stacked away seems to bear some disturbing connections to the leading police officer who closed Bancroft's case, the austere Lt. Ortega. Everyone except Bancroft himself wants Kovacs to leave well enough alone, and drop the investigation. The wild joy ride seems to intrigue Kovacs and he doggedly continues his investigation.
Morgan intersperses a lot of history and world-building into Kovacs' characterization. Although not as old as a Meth, Kovacs is an ex-Envoy and a few hundreds of years old himself with a rich and dark history. He often recalls gruesome wars, gritty experiences and brutal people he's met.
Here's just a taste of Kovacs' hardcore characterization. The following passages comes relatively early on in the book when there's a cold fury raging through his veins. It's actually a lot of fun. In a book Kovacs often quotes throughout, he notes: "And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference -- the only difference in their eyes -- between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's the way of the world, it's a tough life, and that it's nothing personal. Well fuck them. Make it personal."
There's traces of love in the story, but don't hold your breath there, the book's focus rests on the hardcore first-person characterization of Takeshi Kovacs and the mystery he's hired to solve. What I like about the book: the nihilistic Kovacs' motivations behind his actions are very personal, drawn from a caring for the people he values. Nonetheless, Morgan explores some interesting themes here in the midst of his scifi world. In love, is it the body we love or the consciousness behind the body? Can you love a new consciousness in the body of your lover (Ortega/Kovacs/Ryker)? Can you love a new body with the consciousness of your love (Victor & Irene Elliot)? Is any of this cheating? It seems that a true long-term relationship hinges equally on both: the person behind the body and the body itself. And in Morgan's science fiction universe where bodies are interchanged as quickly as shirts, love is tricky.
My main criticism with this novel has to do with the prose. Because of the rich fabric of history and science fiction vernacular Morgan sprinkles into the first-person narrative, the prose takes some patience to follow, and if you don't really care for this brand of hardcore cyberpunk detective story, you're not going to like it. I dropped this novel in favor of others for months before I actually came back to finish this one. Having finished it, I will definitely continue reading other Takeshi Kovacs novels.
It's an interesting ride to say the least.
In the relatively new genre dubbed as cyberpunk, British author Richard K. Morgan's first Takeshi Kovacs novel ALTERED CARBON (2002) leaves an indelible impression. A captivating blend of suspense/mystery, hardcore first-person detective story, and action/adventure in the midst of a science fiction backdrop, ALTERED CARBON is sure to hit you hard with its unique style and flavor. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs is exactly the sort of kick-ass, intelligent hero I love to read about. Although I'm not a huge fan of first-person storytelling, our narrator Kovacs manages to admirably build the science fiction universe of ALTERED CARBON with its futuristic vocab and prose. ALTERED CARBON's settings, including the bureaucracy, economic social hierarchy, the vernacular, and futuristic sights are thorough, if not confounding at times. For a debut novel, Morgan ably sets the scene and builds his universe which support his story. There's plenty of related history too. Again, the prose can be ambiguous at times, but it depends on how you receive it; don't let the futuristic vernacular bog you down, just take it in stride. Richard Morgan doesn't shy away from explicit language, brutal violence and sex to grab your attention either. His science fiction world is very morbid, and these things are a part of its "culture."
In the futuristic ALTERED CARBON, human civilization conquers death itself. "Poor Death, no match for the mighty altered-carbon technologies of data storage and retrieval arrayed against him. Once we lived in terror of [Death's] arrival. Now we flirt outrageously with his somber dignity, and beings like these won't even let him in the tradesman's entrance." Ouch. But these things are a reality for the universe of ALTERED CARBON: cloning, mind data storage/retrieval, resleeving (brand new body or same body but younger). In a macabre observation, the book notes how virtual prostitution is actually more expensive than sex with a real prostitute, since bodies don't have much significance anymore. Many "Meths" (rich, influential people, socially and economically high on the food chain) have stacks on storage, and they transmit their current memory over regular intervals of time to a data center containing hundreds of their cloned bodies. "Meths" are often thousands of centuries old. Other, common people also have "stacks" for storage and retrieval in their spinal core, though they often don't have the monetary means to afford more than one clone, let alone hundreds. As the story begins, Morgan weaves in religion as we learn of religious Catholics demonstrating with placards against any form of data storage and retrieval on Earth, arguing such altered-carbon technology destroys the soul. In fact, many Catholics still live a traditional lifespan and forgo any form of cloning and resleeving in a new body.
Ex-U.N. Envoy (military conditioning and training) and criminal Takeshi Kovacs has just been hired by a Meth, Mr. Laurens Bancroft to investigate Bancroft's apparent suicide. The story begins as police commandos gun down Kovacs and his friend Sarah to death on Harlan's World. Next thing we know, authorities "needlecast" (transmit) Kovacs' "stack" (stored mind) over to Earth to be resleeved in a new body sanctioned and paid for by Bancroft. Bancraft is convinced it was a murder not a suicide, and he maintains he wouldn't try to kill himself when they'd download him to a new cloned body later anyway. Unfortunately, his last "update" to his personal data center was well before the events preceding his apparent suicide and now, he has no memory of his suicide or the time before it. Bancraft hires Kovacs on the strength of a recommendation by Reileen Kawahara, who Kovacs did some work for a few years back. The police and the ranking officer Lt. Kristin Ortega have already closed the case, declaring an open-and-shut suicide.
As Kovacs pursues the investigation, we learn more and more about the various pieces of the puzzle. If you're astute unlike me, you may be able to figure out some links well before the end. Kovacs investigates Bancroft's proclivity for blue-collar prostitution establishments like Jerry's Closed Quarters, he learns more about Bancroft's wife, the drop-dead gorgeous Miriam Bancroft, and even Kovacs' current "sleeve" (body) and its rightful consciousness currently stacked away seems to bear some disturbing connections to the leading police officer who closed Bancroft's case, the austere Lt. Ortega. Everyone except Bancroft himself wants Kovacs to leave well enough alone, and drop the investigation. The wild joy ride seems to intrigue Kovacs and he doggedly continues his investigation.
Morgan intersperses a lot of history and world-building into Kovacs' characterization. Although not as old as a Meth, Kovacs is an ex-Envoy and a few hundreds of years old himself with a rich and dark history. He often recalls gruesome wars, gritty experiences and brutal people he's met.
Here's just a taste of Kovacs' hardcore characterization. The following passages comes relatively early on in the book when there's a cold fury raging through his veins. It's actually a lot of fun. In a book Kovacs often quotes throughout, he notes: "And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference -- the only difference in their eyes -- between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's the way of the world, it's a tough life, and that it's nothing personal. Well fuck them. Make it personal."
There's traces of love in the story, but don't hold your breath there, the book's focus rests on the hardcore first-person characterization of Takeshi Kovacs and the mystery he's hired to solve. What I like about the book: the nihilistic Kovacs' motivations behind his actions are very personal, drawn from a caring for the people he values. Nonetheless, Morgan explores some interesting themes here in the midst of his scifi world. In love, is it the body we love or the consciousness behind the body? Can you love a new consciousness in the body of your lover (Ortega/Kovacs/Ryker)? Can you love a new body with the consciousness of your love (Victor & Irene Elliot)? Is any of this cheating? It seems that a true long-term relationship hinges equally on both: the person behind the body and the body itself. And in Morgan's science fiction universe where bodies are interchanged as quickly as shirts, love is tricky.
My main criticism with this novel has to do with the prose. Because of the rich fabric of history and science fiction vernacular Morgan sprinkles into the first-person narrative, the prose takes some patience to follow, and if you don't really care for this brand of hardcore cyberpunk detective story, you're not going to like it. I dropped this novel in favor of others for months before I actually came back to finish this one. Having finished it, I will definitely continue reading other Takeshi Kovacs novels.
It's an interesting ride to say the least.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Saving Grace, by Julie Garwood [2]
**/***** (2/5)
SAVING GRACE demonstrates Julie Garwood's panache for extremely light, sweet stories. Her heroines are very sweet, and her heroes are generally rough-around-the-edges but gentle intimately and ultimately very caring. The love between the hero and heroine is always mutually giving, which I very much appreciate in Julie Garwood's stories. Unfortunately, her stories harbor little substance, and her weak prose and settings mire the overall effect. Similar to the THE SECRET, soap-opera-ish conversations and plots saturates SAVING GRACE's content, completely overshadowing the sweetness and humor her stories exude. The pacing of the novel plods along at a snail's pace.
SAVING GRACE hones in on a woman's place from the eyes of the Church and God. One evil bishop's interpretations places women behind dull-witted oxen and other animals in God's eyes. Our heroine Johanna takes this to heart and allows her husband the Baron Raulf to shatter her confidence and self-respect first, and then later, Raulf abuses her physically. When news arrives of Raulf's demise, Johanna is overjoyed. Her brother Baron Nicholas promptly arranges Johanna's marriage to a Scottish highlander, the Laird Gabriel MacBain, a mighty warrior. Since the MacBain lands technically belong to Johanna, Gabriel agrees to the marriage, primarily to acquire the land. At first sight, both are stricken by the other's imposing, handsome appearance in Gabriel's case, and beauty in Johanna's case.
Since Gabriel is a warrior and very rough-around-the-edges, I did enjoy how SAVING GRACE's Johanna manipulates him with tenderness and caring to calm him down first, and then make him forget his anger over her willfulness. For example, when Gabriel is very angry at Johanna for venturing out on her own in search of some barrels of ale to barter with, she touches Gabriel gently on the cheek and neck to completely subdue him. It was funny, and the parallel to petting an angry dog was not missed.
I can't help but draw comparisons between Julie Garwood's heroines and other heroines I often read about in this genre. SAVING GRACE's Johanna was verbally and physically abused, and although she's sweet and gentle, she still shows plenty of strength in her own way. Instead of constantly provoking, antagonizing and bickering with her hero Gabriel, she forges her own unique way with love, tenderness, and apparent submission. She confronts her enemies on her own towards the end, and she does what she feels needs to be done to secure the safety of her clan and Gabriel. She's meek when it suits her, she's stubborn and willful otherwise. I think she's much stronger, more mature than so many of the childish, acrimonious heroines we read about so often.
I'll continue to read Julie Garwood's books despite their sluggish pace and gossiping, soap-opera plots. They're sweet in their own right.
SAVING GRACE demonstrates Julie Garwood's panache for extremely light, sweet stories. Her heroines are very sweet, and her heroes are generally rough-around-the-edges but gentle intimately and ultimately very caring. The love between the hero and heroine is always mutually giving, which I very much appreciate in Julie Garwood's stories. Unfortunately, her stories harbor little substance, and her weak prose and settings mire the overall effect. Similar to the THE SECRET, soap-opera-ish conversations and plots saturates SAVING GRACE's content, completely overshadowing the sweetness and humor her stories exude. The pacing of the novel plods along at a snail's pace.
SAVING GRACE hones in on a woman's place from the eyes of the Church and God. One evil bishop's interpretations places women behind dull-witted oxen and other animals in God's eyes. Our heroine Johanna takes this to heart and allows her husband the Baron Raulf to shatter her confidence and self-respect first, and then later, Raulf abuses her physically. When news arrives of Raulf's demise, Johanna is overjoyed. Her brother Baron Nicholas promptly arranges Johanna's marriage to a Scottish highlander, the Laird Gabriel MacBain, a mighty warrior. Since the MacBain lands technically belong to Johanna, Gabriel agrees to the marriage, primarily to acquire the land. At first sight, both are stricken by the other's imposing, handsome appearance in Gabriel's case, and beauty in Johanna's case.
Since Gabriel is a warrior and very rough-around-the-edges, I did enjoy how SAVING GRACE's Johanna manipulates him with tenderness and caring to calm him down first, and then make him forget his anger over her willfulness. For example, when Gabriel is very angry at Johanna for venturing out on her own in search of some barrels of ale to barter with, she touches Gabriel gently on the cheek and neck to completely subdue him. It was funny, and the parallel to petting an angry dog was not missed.
I can't help but draw comparisons between Julie Garwood's heroines and other heroines I often read about in this genre. SAVING GRACE's Johanna was verbally and physically abused, and although she's sweet and gentle, she still shows plenty of strength in her own way. Instead of constantly provoking, antagonizing and bickering with her hero Gabriel, she forges her own unique way with love, tenderness, and apparent submission. She confronts her enemies on her own towards the end, and she does what she feels needs to be done to secure the safety of her clan and Gabriel. She's meek when it suits her, she's stubborn and willful otherwise. I think she's much stronger, more mature than so many of the childish, acrimonious heroines we read about so often.
I'll continue to read Julie Garwood's books despite their sluggish pace and gossiping, soap-opera plots. They're sweet in their own right.
Friday, July 13, 2007
What's important in a novel?
- Characters. They don't have to be all good characters or even necessarily likable ones, but they should be interesting, engaging in some manner. I can't abide too much whining, pining or melancholy from characterizations. Childish characters grate my soul.
- Plotting and pacing. The entire story doesn't have to be happy, but it should be able to hold interest. Violence and sex mixed into the content deters many readers; not me. I'm an adult, I prefer adult content and I'm not going to apologize for it.
- Prose. The writing should invite the reader, and I prefer adult-level vocabulary. Explicit language doesn't bother me.
- Settings. The environment: the sights, smells, sounds, and touches should come alive and complement the story without dragging it down. I prefer settings to supplement and support the story and characters, not swallow the characters and story (i.e., China Mieville). In historicals, the historical backdrop I would consider part of the setting; in SFF, the worldbuilding would qualify as part of the setting. Forgive my amateur qualifications.
- Enjoyment value, the trump card. Admittedly, I place an unreasonable emphasis on the ending, and it affects my overall enjoyment factor. It's the final impression a novel leaves afterall. I don't care how dark, how sad, how challenging the story is to read in the beginning and middle, I unconditionally prefer satisfying endings. Not a 100% happy ending, but a satisfying one nonetheless. Along with the ending, humor also affects my overall enjoyment (favorably). If the first 4 factors are subpar yet I enjoy the novel overall, I'll give it a positive rating nonetheless. The converse is also true (first 4 factors are excellent yet I don't enjoy the novel overall, I'll give it a negative rating).
1 -- Very poor
2 -- Has some merits, but still lacking
3 -- Enjoyed the novel though certain factors bring it down
4 -- Entertaining, worth a re-read
5 -- The Cream of the Crop in terms of entertainment value, prose, settings, plot and characterizations.
Updated TO-BUY List
Ah it's nice to read about a bad-ass male character after so many romance novels. Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels are going to be a keeper, I can tell.
By Possession, by Madeline Hunter
The Rules of Seduction, by Madeline Hunter
The Leopard Prince, by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Raven Prince, by Elizabeth Hoyt
Flowers from the Storm, by Laura Kinsale
The Warrior, by Nicole Jordan
As I check Amazon for Madeline Hunter's updated release date for LESSONS OF DESIRE, it sure does seem like the covers for her latest Regency series are becoming more provocative, huh?
By Possession, by Madeline Hunter
The Rules of Seduction, by Madeline Hunter
The Leopard Prince, by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Raven Prince, by Elizabeth Hoyt
Flowers from the Storm, by Laura Kinsale
The Warrior, by Nicole Jordan
As I check Amazon for Madeline Hunter's updated release date for LESSONS OF DESIRE, it sure does seem like the covers for her latest Regency series are becoming more provocative, huh?
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay [1]
*/***** (1/5)
A Review, SPOILERS galore. Considered by many as revolutionary in epic fantasy storytelling, here's my take on Kay's TIGANA (1990) which I read some time back.
3/10
9/10, if you teach a literature class, and you want your students to write an essay for purely instructional purposes.
If you were ever to create Top-10 list of fantasy novels replete with emotional angst, misery and malaise, you must include Kay's TIGANA in this list. I found TIGANA so unsatisfying, so uninspiring, so emotionally draining, I would be reluctant to pick up another Kay novel ever again. There's a story here, but it isn't meant to entertain. Its central intent? To teach, to share wisdom. Like many others, I have to finish a book I start, and with TIGANA, I felt as if I was being forced to read this book so I can write an essay for a class way back in high school or college. I was begging for some Terry-Goodkind preaching after this novel.
Even not having read Kay's afterword, the reader can sense there's some themes, some lessons, that Kay wants to ascribe to the reader. The didactic prose of the book drips into the farthest recesses of your mind while you're reading this.
Clearly, Kay wanted to teach some lessons in TIGANA, as he explains in the afterword of his Tenth-Anniversary edition of TIGANA. Kay wanted to impart -- emotionally and spiritually and relentless in his prose, in his diction -- what it means to refuse letting the past be in the past. Through the binding between the Alessan and the wizard Erlein, Kay also wanted to teach what it means to use unwilling instruments (people) as tools in your quarrels, in order to raise questions to the legitimacy of the plight. This theme also takes root in Alessan's mother cursing his son on her deathbed for not doing anything about the past, at least not in her eyes. The one person - Dianora - who begins to conquer her past with a promise of love commits suicide by plunging into the water, because in the end, she could not escape her past, her history.
The other central theme Kay wants to drum out mercilessly: the duplicity, the ambiguity, and the divided loyalties of human nature. This is also best represented in Dianora's character, although there's traces of it in Alessan. Obviously, Kay wants to show the good in evil, and the evil in good in a genre, as he says, "tends not to work that way." Well thank you, Guy Gavriel Kay, for shedding some of my naivety, I happened to be waiting for you to do it.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Kay's witty humor and political intrigue. In the bar scenes, whether in the beginning in The Paelion, or towards the end, in the inn Solinghi. When Kay isn't edifying us and torturing us with emotional angst, he's certainly readable.
The prose isn't bad, though the messages very repetitive at times. The opening 100 pages or so were, for the most part, fun, witty and full of political intrigue. Then, Kay does a 180 and brings to home what he really wants to talk about when Dianora's perspective starts appearing in waves and waves. Kay often times repeats things over and over again just to fill the pages, about Devin's cursed memory (again and again), about Devin thinking about Alessan's burdens (again and again), about Dianora's life line leading to this moment, to this path (again and again and again in different words). Furthermore, although I enjoy worldbuilding, Kay takes worldbuilding to insufferable heights. For a stand-alone ~650-page epic fantasy novel, Kay is explaining about the history of this province or the history of that ritual or the gods more than 500 pages into it! And it length! Unacceptable, if you ask me.
Also, George R.R. Martin (GRRM) does this too, but I find it acutely unreadable the way Kay leaves the import of the action off-screen. For example, when Dianora returns to Brandin after seeing a riselka for her path made clear, a humanoid creature with green hair and blue veins, Brandin divulges his plans. The reader never hears about the plans, and Kay leaves words to the effect that Dianora listened and cried and listened. Brandin's plans are divulged much later when Alessan, Erlein and Devin visit Alessan's dying mother at Eanna's Sanctuary (one of the goddesses in the Triad of TIGANA).
The Story.
Some 20 years ago, a very powerful sorcerer - Brandin - conquers the western provinces one by one in a peninsula called the Palm. One of the last provinces to fall - proud Tigana - fought back mightily as Prince Valentin of Tigana slays Brandin's beloved son, his youngest son. Brandin brings the absolute and titanic wrath of his awesome power down upon Tigana, decimating everything and killing most everyone in the province. With his sorcery, Brandin also strips the name Tigana from everyone in the Palm not born in Tigana before its fall, calling the province Lower Corte thenceforth. This expropriation of the name Tigana from the Palm serves as the catalyst and underlying impetus of the entire story. I was very unmoved by this underlying energy which drives the characters we read about.
In the beginning we read about the Duke Sandre staging his own death so as to bring together enemies of another sorcerer Tyrant, this time from the eastern Palm, a sorcerer called Alberico, weaker than Brandin. The Duke's plot goes awry when he's betrayed by one of his grandsons, resulting in the death of everyone from his family and other noble families in the Duke's province Astibar. Here we also meet one of the two main perspectives comprising the bulk of the story, our talented, young 19 year-old singer, Devin. Devin serves one purpose and one alone in Kay's story: Devin is our eyes and ears into Alessan, Prince Valentin's youngest son who manages to escape Brandin's carnage of Tigana. Alessan is older now, in his mid-30s and has made it his life-long mission to excavate both Tyrants from the Palm, Brandin from the western palm and Alberico from the eastern palm. In this singular goal, Alessan and Baerd (Dianora's brother) are building contacts throughout the eastern Palm sympathetic to Alessan's cause and against both Alberico and Brandin and everything the tyrants represent.
Returning to Devin, he is a gifted singer touring in the eastern palm, and he discovers he was born in Tigana right before it was destroyed. While most cannot say or hear the name Tigana because of Brandin's magic, those born in Tigana before the destruction can say and hear the name Tigana. My first thought: so Brandin has so much power, but can't vanquish the name Tigana from everyone, including those born in Tigana before the destruction? I guess we wouldn't have a story otherwise. In any case, Alessan does remember the name, as does others born there before Tigana's fall, people like Devin and Baerd and Catriana.
I have many problems with focusing the story on Alessan's side from Devin's perspective. First, I hate it when authors use insignificant characters of no import or impact simply to magnify the mysticism, the intrigue and power of another character. Devin is bewitched by Alessan and Alessan's cause and to return Tigana's name to the hearts and minds of everyone in the Palm, expunging the two tyrant sorcerers in the process. Kay relentlessly makes Devin oooh and aaaah at everything Alessan says and does, as Devin incessantly notes the burdens Alessan has to deal with. Devin is not only bewitched by Alessan, but Devin is constantly thinking what Alessan may be thinking at a certain time! Since Alessan is the last surviving heir of Tigana and obviously very significant, why not just focus on Alessan's perspective?!? Why force the story from Devin's perspective? Devin does little to add to the story (and Alessan's cause) on his own merit, except possibly for Kay to show us that Devin his plagued with an impeccable memory. Devin's memory is his curse, Kay tells us (many times in the beginning). Again, getting back to Kay's lesson of letting the past be in the past.
I believe one of the biggest reasons to read speculative, escapist fiction is to read about characters that go above and beyond the normal, the average. That can do more, that are more. Devin is nothing if not ordinary through every fiber of his being, there is nothing interesting about him, all the intrigue lies with the puppetmaster forcing everyone to dance to his pipes, Alessan. For all of Kay's beliefs in find the good in the evil and the evil in the bad, what happened to letting us inside the head of powerful characters, or a puppetmaster like Alessan? Especially in this genre. Devin is a character that's less than useless, other than to highlight Kay's history lesson.
For all of Devin's impeccable memory and intuition, Devin never really does catch on that Dianora is Baerd's sister. All of the hints are there for him in plain sight too. Before Devin passes out in a barn after severely injuring his leg, he hears of Baerd's childhood friend Nadoo ask about Dianora, and how 14-15 years ago, she disappeared. Then shortly thereafter, Devin and the reader consantly hears about this girl from Certando province brought to Brandin on one his Tribute ships for his harem. And how she almost started a war because Certando is one of Alberico's provinces, not Brandin's. Even when Devin sees her in person and hears more about her in Chiara when they visit the province Brandin holds court, he doesn't connect the dots. Please, for someone as cursed with memory as he's supposed to be, he sure does miss out on a lot of information. At one point, Alessan dismisses the Certando woman having the same name as Baerd's sister as coincidence. Even though the timing of when she was taken on the Tribute ship fits perfectly. For all the connections Alessan and Baerd gather in the 15-16 years throughout the Palm following Tigana's destruction, you're telling me they couldn't trace her? Or find this woman's name which bears the same name as Baerd's sister oddly interesting? The woman who almost started another war with the other Tyrant sorcerer when she was taken to Brandin's harem? Not even Devin's flawless memory can put together all the pieces here? I thought that was Devin's purpose? To absorb information and slowing connect the dots. Okay, I was mistaken Devin is _much_ less than useless, not just less than useless.
Which brings us to the other major perspective comprising the bulk of the story, Dianora. Dianora's heart-wrenching chapters and emotional angst represent the crux of the story and a key lesson Kay wants to teach us. I wouldn't exactly call Dianora's perspective fun, not by any stretch of the imagination. Dianora's character lies at the heart of Kay's story though, and easily eclipses other characters and other happenings. Easily. I would go insofar as to rename the title of this book to DIANORA instead of TIGANA. Because Dianora's inner turmoil even eclipses Alessan's cause to restore Tigana's name and drive the tyrant sorcerers out of the Palm.
Dianora is from Tigana, you see, 13 or 14 at the time Tigana falls to Brandin the Tyrant, and subsequently decimated. Dianora hears of her father's death, watches the glorius city of Tigana destroyed, people killed, her mother go insane, and her brother and friend Nadoo beaten. After her brother Baerd comes upon a riselka and leaves home to find Alessan, the last surviving heir to Tigana, Dianora watches the flames of a fire die but twinning snakes emerge in her heart - twins of memory for what she's seen and witnessed, and hatred for the man who did it, hatred for Brandin the sorcerer. After her brother Baerd leaves, Dianora makes it her life mission to kill Brandin in her own way. She grows into a very beautiful woman and at 19, she's captured on one of Brandin's Tribute Ships which wisks away women for Brandin's harem, his saisan, from his conquered provinces. Dianora is successful in getting taken away on one of these Tribute Ships given her astounding beauty.
As fate would have it however, Dianora falls in love with Brandin. The overwhelming love for this powerful man (Brandin) eventually subdues the twinning snakes of memory and hate in her heart. The same powerful man who conquered her home, destroyed her kingdom, and killed her father. She eventually hopes against all hope that she can live with this man, continue to love this man, and that at the same time, she can somehow restore Tigana's name. Oh and by the way, despite abducting women from his conquered provinces, cruelly torturing people in sickening ways, putting people to death on wheels, and laying Tigana to waste, Brandin isn't really a bad guy. In fact, Brandin is very affectionate, very compassionate. Over time, just as Dianora comes to love Brandin, so too does Brandin come to favor Dianora's wit and humor, so too does the reader receive a glimpse into Brandin's compassion, his good through Dianora's eyes.
Obviously, Kay wants to demonstrate some good in evil and the ambiguity of human nature, not the straight forward good vs. evil we often find in this genre. Further, Kay invites us to see how love in a character can help conquer their past.
Well that would be all well and good if Dianora wasn't so torturous to read. And the upshot of all of her pages? Love isn't enough. That's right, love isn't enough. Thank you and good night. I think a soap opera would be less torturous to watch than read about Dianora's emotional angst over her divided heart. For my part, I don't even see a contest. Kay doesn't really spend time on how Dianora came to love Brandin, only that it happened gradually over 15 years. We're spared of any love making scenes between Brandin and Dianora and there really aren't any scenes between the 2 which would constitute as "romantic." So given the text we have to go on, I'm just not compelled by this overwhelming love Dianora feels for Brandin. For my part, I would have killed Brandin long ago, but Kay points that may shift the balance of power in the Palm to Alberico, and we're led to believe that she's doing us a favor by loving Brandin and saving him from assassination attempts. At one point, Dianora is thinking in her mind to Brandin: LET GO, to something Brandin is saying. Obviously a plea to let go of the past and his hatred of Tigana for killing his beloved son, set Tigana's name free, so she can love him with her whole heart, not just half.
I have to address the Night Walker storyline which comes out of no where, and again reinforces Kay's lesson about letting the past be in the past. Apparently the Night Walkers are cultish group of people with magic, persecuted before the sorcerors conquered the Palm, and executed by the provinces of the Palm for following a religious orientation outside of the accepted the Triad. Baerd travels to another dimension with the Night Walkers to help defeat a nameless enemy - the Others - for a battle over the land, over soil and food. The whole chapter seemed like something from another dimension, which didn't really belong. Ironically enough, it is these same persecuted people of magic which help Alessan's assembled wizards against Brandin's powerful and overwhelming sorcery. That's right, there's a lesson in there. Let the past be in the past!
Kay classifies TIGANA as a romantic adventure, but I would call it anything but. Possibly a romantic tragedy read in a class to analyze, scrutinize and learn. But not simply to read. The most notable "romance" is that between Dianora and Brandin, but it is hardly adventurous. When Devin leaves Alienor after a vicious, but meaningless night of love making, he says something to that effect; that is, maybe we don't feel anything because we think this is all we deserve. The way Kay presents it, there's another lesson in there about sleeping around without any substance. As if our singer boy has stumbled upon some startling revelation for us all to take away. In a couple pages each, we're treated to sparks of romance between some other characters: Devin and Alais, Baerd and Elena, the Night Walker, and finally, between Alessan and Catriana. The final pairing I found very unsatisfying and incongruous, especially since we never receive a perspective from Alessan which would lead us to to the professed love Alessan claims for Catriana. Kay pairs them up but there's hardly any romance really or substance here to these supposed romances. If there wasn't any substance between Devin and Alienor in their feral sex, there certainly isn't any substance in the one page we see Devin kiss Alais towards the end. Substantive romance isn't what Kay is interested in anyway, at least not in TIGANA.
Unimaginate, average and otherwise torturous characters, lessons in every plot and story and an overabundance of worldbuilding. That just about sums up my experience of Kay's TIGANA.
Some concluding thoughts about the finale of TIGANA, with a plethora of magic all at once in a book that uses magic very subtly for the most part. Finally in the end, Brandin does let go of the past and his hatred of the province of Tigana which killed his beloved son. But by then, as Alessan notes from Devin's perspective, it is way too late. In the end, Brandin unleashes everything all the magical power he possesses to kill the rival tyrant sorcerer, Alberico, in a battle that Alessan deftly maneuvers to craft. After Brandin is fully spent, the magic which prevents anyone from hearing or saying Tigana is also released. Brandin also liberates control of his court fool, Rhun, who turns out to be Prince Valentin enslaved and tortured all these years by Brandin's hatred for killing his beloved son. Valentin promptly remembers who he is and kills and Brandin after Brandin is completely spent. Valentin is slain by Brandin's loyal guard, D'Eymon. D'Eymon, seeing how Brandin is killed, plunges the sword in his own body while Dianora promptly plunges into the water to drown after her love Brandin is killed.
There's supposed to be wedding between the new Prince of Tigana, Alessan, and Catriana. The End. I've read some unsatisfying endings, but this is right up there. I'm not sure I got anything out of this than torturous lesson I really didn't need.
A Review, SPOILERS galore. Considered by many as revolutionary in epic fantasy storytelling, here's my take on Kay's TIGANA (1990) which I read some time back.
3/10
9/10, if you teach a literature class, and you want your students to write an essay for purely instructional purposes.
If you were ever to create Top-10 list of fantasy novels replete with emotional angst, misery and malaise, you must include Kay's TIGANA in this list. I found TIGANA so unsatisfying, so uninspiring, so emotionally draining, I would be reluctant to pick up another Kay novel ever again. There's a story here, but it isn't meant to entertain. Its central intent? To teach, to share wisdom. Like many others, I have to finish a book I start, and with TIGANA, I felt as if I was being forced to read this book so I can write an essay for a class way back in high school or college. I was begging for some Terry-Goodkind preaching after this novel.
Even not having read Kay's afterword, the reader can sense there's some themes, some lessons, that Kay wants to ascribe to the reader. The didactic prose of the book drips into the farthest recesses of your mind while you're reading this.
Clearly, Kay wanted to teach some lessons in TIGANA, as he explains in the afterword of his Tenth-Anniversary edition of TIGANA. Kay wanted to impart -- emotionally and spiritually and relentless in his prose, in his diction -- what it means to refuse letting the past be in the past. Through the binding between the Alessan and the wizard Erlein, Kay also wanted to teach what it means to use unwilling instruments (people) as tools in your quarrels, in order to raise questions to the legitimacy of the plight. This theme also takes root in Alessan's mother cursing his son on her deathbed for not doing anything about the past, at least not in her eyes. The one person - Dianora - who begins to conquer her past with a promise of love commits suicide by plunging into the water, because in the end, she could not escape her past, her history.
The other central theme Kay wants to drum out mercilessly: the duplicity, the ambiguity, and the divided loyalties of human nature. This is also best represented in Dianora's character, although there's traces of it in Alessan. Obviously, Kay wants to show the good in evil, and the evil in good in a genre, as he says, "tends not to work that way." Well thank you, Guy Gavriel Kay, for shedding some of my naivety, I happened to be waiting for you to do it.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Kay's witty humor and political intrigue. In the bar scenes, whether in the beginning in The Paelion, or towards the end, in the inn Solinghi. When Kay isn't edifying us and torturing us with emotional angst, he's certainly readable.
The prose isn't bad, though the messages very repetitive at times. The opening 100 pages or so were, for the most part, fun, witty and full of political intrigue. Then, Kay does a 180 and brings to home what he really wants to talk about when Dianora's perspective starts appearing in waves and waves. Kay often times repeats things over and over again just to fill the pages, about Devin's cursed memory (again and again), about Devin thinking about Alessan's burdens (again and again), about Dianora's life line leading to this moment, to this path (again and again and again in different words). Furthermore, although I enjoy worldbuilding, Kay takes worldbuilding to insufferable heights. For a stand-alone ~650-page epic fantasy novel, Kay is explaining about the history of this province or the history of that ritual or the gods more than 500 pages into it! And it length! Unacceptable, if you ask me.
Also, George R.R. Martin (GRRM) does this too, but I find it acutely unreadable the way Kay leaves the import of the action off-screen. For example, when Dianora returns to Brandin after seeing a riselka for her path made clear, a humanoid creature with green hair and blue veins, Brandin divulges his plans. The reader never hears about the plans, and Kay leaves words to the effect that Dianora listened and cried and listened. Brandin's plans are divulged much later when Alessan, Erlein and Devin visit Alessan's dying mother at Eanna's Sanctuary (one of the goddesses in the Triad of TIGANA).
The Story.
Some 20 years ago, a very powerful sorcerer - Brandin - conquers the western provinces one by one in a peninsula called the Palm. One of the last provinces to fall - proud Tigana - fought back mightily as Prince Valentin of Tigana slays Brandin's beloved son, his youngest son. Brandin brings the absolute and titanic wrath of his awesome power down upon Tigana, decimating everything and killing most everyone in the province. With his sorcery, Brandin also strips the name Tigana from everyone in the Palm not born in Tigana before its fall, calling the province Lower Corte thenceforth. This expropriation of the name Tigana from the Palm serves as the catalyst and underlying impetus of the entire story. I was very unmoved by this underlying energy which drives the characters we read about.
In the beginning we read about the Duke Sandre staging his own death so as to bring together enemies of another sorcerer Tyrant, this time from the eastern Palm, a sorcerer called Alberico, weaker than Brandin. The Duke's plot goes awry when he's betrayed by one of his grandsons, resulting in the death of everyone from his family and other noble families in the Duke's province Astibar. Here we also meet one of the two main perspectives comprising the bulk of the story, our talented, young 19 year-old singer, Devin. Devin serves one purpose and one alone in Kay's story: Devin is our eyes and ears into Alessan, Prince Valentin's youngest son who manages to escape Brandin's carnage of Tigana. Alessan is older now, in his mid-30s and has made it his life-long mission to excavate both Tyrants from the Palm, Brandin from the western palm and Alberico from the eastern palm. In this singular goal, Alessan and Baerd (Dianora's brother) are building contacts throughout the eastern Palm sympathetic to Alessan's cause and against both Alberico and Brandin and everything the tyrants represent.
Returning to Devin, he is a gifted singer touring in the eastern palm, and he discovers he was born in Tigana right before it was destroyed. While most cannot say or hear the name Tigana because of Brandin's magic, those born in Tigana before the destruction can say and hear the name Tigana. My first thought: so Brandin has so much power, but can't vanquish the name Tigana from everyone, including those born in Tigana before the destruction? I guess we wouldn't have a story otherwise. In any case, Alessan does remember the name, as does others born there before Tigana's fall, people like Devin and Baerd and Catriana.
I have many problems with focusing the story on Alessan's side from Devin's perspective. First, I hate it when authors use insignificant characters of no import or impact simply to magnify the mysticism, the intrigue and power of another character. Devin is bewitched by Alessan and Alessan's cause and to return Tigana's name to the hearts and minds of everyone in the Palm, expunging the two tyrant sorcerers in the process. Kay relentlessly makes Devin oooh and aaaah at everything Alessan says and does, as Devin incessantly notes the burdens Alessan has to deal with. Devin is not only bewitched by Alessan, but Devin is constantly thinking what Alessan may be thinking at a certain time! Since Alessan is the last surviving heir of Tigana and obviously very significant, why not just focus on Alessan's perspective?!? Why force the story from Devin's perspective? Devin does little to add to the story (and Alessan's cause) on his own merit, except possibly for Kay to show us that Devin his plagued with an impeccable memory. Devin's memory is his curse, Kay tells us (many times in the beginning). Again, getting back to Kay's lesson of letting the past be in the past.
I believe one of the biggest reasons to read speculative, escapist fiction is to read about characters that go above and beyond the normal, the average. That can do more, that are more. Devin is nothing if not ordinary through every fiber of his being, there is nothing interesting about him, all the intrigue lies with the puppetmaster forcing everyone to dance to his pipes, Alessan. For all of Kay's beliefs in find the good in the evil and the evil in the bad, what happened to letting us inside the head of powerful characters, or a puppetmaster like Alessan? Especially in this genre. Devin is a character that's less than useless, other than to highlight Kay's history lesson.
For all of Devin's impeccable memory and intuition, Devin never really does catch on that Dianora is Baerd's sister. All of the hints are there for him in plain sight too. Before Devin passes out in a barn after severely injuring his leg, he hears of Baerd's childhood friend Nadoo ask about Dianora, and how 14-15 years ago, she disappeared. Then shortly thereafter, Devin and the reader consantly hears about this girl from Certando province brought to Brandin on one his Tribute ships for his harem. And how she almost started a war because Certando is one of Alberico's provinces, not Brandin's. Even when Devin sees her in person and hears more about her in Chiara when they visit the province Brandin holds court, he doesn't connect the dots. Please, for someone as cursed with memory as he's supposed to be, he sure does miss out on a lot of information. At one point, Alessan dismisses the Certando woman having the same name as Baerd's sister as coincidence. Even though the timing of when she was taken on the Tribute ship fits perfectly. For all the connections Alessan and Baerd gather in the 15-16 years throughout the Palm following Tigana's destruction, you're telling me they couldn't trace her? Or find this woman's name which bears the same name as Baerd's sister oddly interesting? The woman who almost started another war with the other Tyrant sorcerer when she was taken to Brandin's harem? Not even Devin's flawless memory can put together all the pieces here? I thought that was Devin's purpose? To absorb information and slowing connect the dots. Okay, I was mistaken Devin is _much_ less than useless, not just less than useless.
Which brings us to the other major perspective comprising the bulk of the story, Dianora. Dianora's heart-wrenching chapters and emotional angst represent the crux of the story and a key lesson Kay wants to teach us. I wouldn't exactly call Dianora's perspective fun, not by any stretch of the imagination. Dianora's character lies at the heart of Kay's story though, and easily eclipses other characters and other happenings. Easily. I would go insofar as to rename the title of this book to DIANORA instead of TIGANA. Because Dianora's inner turmoil even eclipses Alessan's cause to restore Tigana's name and drive the tyrant sorcerers out of the Palm.
Dianora is from Tigana, you see, 13 or 14 at the time Tigana falls to Brandin the Tyrant, and subsequently decimated. Dianora hears of her father's death, watches the glorius city of Tigana destroyed, people killed, her mother go insane, and her brother and friend Nadoo beaten. After her brother Baerd comes upon a riselka and leaves home to find Alessan, the last surviving heir to Tigana, Dianora watches the flames of a fire die but twinning snakes emerge in her heart - twins of memory for what she's seen and witnessed, and hatred for the man who did it, hatred for Brandin the sorcerer. After her brother Baerd leaves, Dianora makes it her life mission to kill Brandin in her own way. She grows into a very beautiful woman and at 19, she's captured on one of Brandin's Tribute Ships which wisks away women for Brandin's harem, his saisan, from his conquered provinces. Dianora is successful in getting taken away on one of these Tribute Ships given her astounding beauty.
As fate would have it however, Dianora falls in love with Brandin. The overwhelming love for this powerful man (Brandin) eventually subdues the twinning snakes of memory and hate in her heart. The same powerful man who conquered her home, destroyed her kingdom, and killed her father. She eventually hopes against all hope that she can live with this man, continue to love this man, and that at the same time, she can somehow restore Tigana's name. Oh and by the way, despite abducting women from his conquered provinces, cruelly torturing people in sickening ways, putting people to death on wheels, and laying Tigana to waste, Brandin isn't really a bad guy. In fact, Brandin is very affectionate, very compassionate. Over time, just as Dianora comes to love Brandin, so too does Brandin come to favor Dianora's wit and humor, so too does the reader receive a glimpse into Brandin's compassion, his good through Dianora's eyes.
Obviously, Kay wants to demonstrate some good in evil and the ambiguity of human nature, not the straight forward good vs. evil we often find in this genre. Further, Kay invites us to see how love in a character can help conquer their past.
Well that would be all well and good if Dianora wasn't so torturous to read. And the upshot of all of her pages? Love isn't enough. That's right, love isn't enough. Thank you and good night. I think a soap opera would be less torturous to watch than read about Dianora's emotional angst over her divided heart. For my part, I don't even see a contest. Kay doesn't really spend time on how Dianora came to love Brandin, only that it happened gradually over 15 years. We're spared of any love making scenes between Brandin and Dianora and there really aren't any scenes between the 2 which would constitute as "romantic." So given the text we have to go on, I'm just not compelled by this overwhelming love Dianora feels for Brandin. For my part, I would have killed Brandin long ago, but Kay points that may shift the balance of power in the Palm to Alberico, and we're led to believe that she's doing us a favor by loving Brandin and saving him from assassination attempts. At one point, Dianora is thinking in her mind to Brandin: LET GO, to something Brandin is saying. Obviously a plea to let go of the past and his hatred of Tigana for killing his beloved son, set Tigana's name free, so she can love him with her whole heart, not just half.
I have to address the Night Walker storyline which comes out of no where, and again reinforces Kay's lesson about letting the past be in the past. Apparently the Night Walkers are cultish group of people with magic, persecuted before the sorcerors conquered the Palm, and executed by the provinces of the Palm for following a religious orientation outside of the accepted the Triad. Baerd travels to another dimension with the Night Walkers to help defeat a nameless enemy - the Others - for a battle over the land, over soil and food. The whole chapter seemed like something from another dimension, which didn't really belong. Ironically enough, it is these same persecuted people of magic which help Alessan's assembled wizards against Brandin's powerful and overwhelming sorcery. That's right, there's a lesson in there. Let the past be in the past!
Kay classifies TIGANA as a romantic adventure, but I would call it anything but. Possibly a romantic tragedy read in a class to analyze, scrutinize and learn. But not simply to read. The most notable "romance" is that between Dianora and Brandin, but it is hardly adventurous. When Devin leaves Alienor after a vicious, but meaningless night of love making, he says something to that effect; that is, maybe we don't feel anything because we think this is all we deserve. The way Kay presents it, there's another lesson in there about sleeping around without any substance. As if our singer boy has stumbled upon some startling revelation for us all to take away. In a couple pages each, we're treated to sparks of romance between some other characters: Devin and Alais, Baerd and Elena, the Night Walker, and finally, between Alessan and Catriana. The final pairing I found very unsatisfying and incongruous, especially since we never receive a perspective from Alessan which would lead us to to the professed love Alessan claims for Catriana. Kay pairs them up but there's hardly any romance really or substance here to these supposed romances. If there wasn't any substance between Devin and Alienor in their feral sex, there certainly isn't any substance in the one page we see Devin kiss Alais towards the end. Substantive romance isn't what Kay is interested in anyway, at least not in TIGANA.
Unimaginate, average and otherwise torturous characters, lessons in every plot and story and an overabundance of worldbuilding. That just about sums up my experience of Kay's TIGANA.
Some concluding thoughts about the finale of TIGANA, with a plethora of magic all at once in a book that uses magic very subtly for the most part. Finally in the end, Brandin does let go of the past and his hatred of the province of Tigana which killed his beloved son. But by then, as Alessan notes from Devin's perspective, it is way too late. In the end, Brandin unleashes everything all the magical power he possesses to kill the rival tyrant sorcerer, Alberico, in a battle that Alessan deftly maneuvers to craft. After Brandin is fully spent, the magic which prevents anyone from hearing or saying Tigana is also released. Brandin also liberates control of his court fool, Rhun, who turns out to be Prince Valentin enslaved and tortured all these years by Brandin's hatred for killing his beloved son. Valentin promptly remembers who he is and kills and Brandin after Brandin is completely spent. Valentin is slain by Brandin's loyal guard, D'Eymon. D'Eymon, seeing how Brandin is killed, plunges the sword in his own body while Dianora promptly plunges into the water to drown after her love Brandin is killed.
There's supposed to be wedding between the new Prince of Tigana, Alessan, and Catriana. The End. I've read some unsatisfying endings, but this is right up there. I'm not sure I got anything out of this than torturous lesson I really didn't need.
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