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megwritesSo, the first of my Barnes & Noble giftcard buys: Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara.
After having gotten finished with the book - which I got through at an amazing pace because it was, if nothing else, a damnably quick and a fun read for me.
I think overall, the book gets a B+. It would have gotten an A, but I had a few issues with it. My big problem with it was that I felt, in a lot of places things were explained long after they should have been explained.
For instance, the history between Kaylin and Severn doesn't get fully explained until page 263, but she tries to kill him on page 21. I went through a lot of the plot really sort of frustrated that I wasn't being told the situation, and it didn't make it anymore dramatic for me. If anything, it made me more reluctant as a reader to invest in the situation between Severn and Kaylin, because I wasn't sure what it was or why it mattered.
While I don't mind having an explanation held back for the sake of plot or suspense, it really sort of aggrivated me that the story went along and I wasn't being told a lot of things that I think I should've been told.
Also, Kaylin's status with the Hawks, what her position was, and why she was being given her assignment were also explained later than I would've liked. It also wasn't made entirely clear to me, until much too late, why the Lords of Law who basically ignore the fiefs were sending Kaylin & Company out to the fiefs to investigate a series of deaths or why Lord Nightshade wasn't handling it himself.
I don't know whether it's an error or just the mark of how the fiefs contrast with the city, but the entirety of the Hawks were basically out looking for one foundling, but 40 some odd children get hacked (that's the total, IIRC) and the Lords of Law didn't get involved until after Kaylin showed them that they had a reason to care.
There were also places where Kaylin's trauma and childhood in the fiefs just didn't ring *true* to me. There's a scene where she's explaining to the Hawklord about what happened and I'm not sure how to explain it, but Kaylin's dialog is a little too...poetic(?) to really get the oomph. The thing is, she had a rotten childhood - and not wanting to talk about it makes perfect sense, but when she does talk about it, it just doesn't hit me.
It doesn't feel really real to me, and I realize that it's really hard for anyone to try to describe that kind of trauma without risking it sounding sort of fake.
But I felt that it suffered from the same prose-level issue that the novel did. On a sentence level there was a lot of *fluff*.
Let me give you an example:
"She heard Severn land. Cursed him; he was lighter on his feet than she had been, and he weighed a lot more." (pg 461)
The problem is that a) she curses people a lot, to the point where it become ineffective and sort of cliche in and of itself and b) given the situation, do we need to know this?
Yeah, she's probably thinking, "You suck" - but I didn't need to be told that. I know that Kaylin's got a 'tude. I've spent this entire novel hearing about Kaylin's 'tude. I got it. Get on with the action, please.
There are a lot of places where thoughts that Kaylin is thinking seem unneccesary to explain, especially later on in the book where, since we have such a clear idea of her character, we can just extrapolate that for ourselves.
The same goes for descriptions of Lord Nightshade. It seems like every smile/laugh is dangerous/not really a smile/as close to it as a Barrani gets. After the first few paragraphs of that sort of thing, I wanted to say, "Hey! I get it, he's dangerous and dark and spooky. All the Barrani are stoic and spooky and grim. You can let me fill that in for myself now."
And the phrase "pay the price" is kind of overused, I felt. Oh, and I found an outright typo.
"Frightened, because a madmn was running free in the fief. (pg 276)
For this, however, I do not blame the author entirely. Come on, I know y'all got copyeditors over at Luna. Use 'em.
Another *big* problem was that I'm not sure I buy that if Kaylin has the kind of power she does that they'd let her be a ground Hawk. Especially since much ado is made at the end of her powers and it's clear that the Emperor *knows* about them.
If I was the Emperor and I knew that somebody had that kind of mojo, I wouldn't let them run around as a *beat cop*.
And of course, the novel suffers from "Stay Tuned For the Sequel" syndrome, but not as badly as some I've read. *coughcoughMelusinecoughcough*. We get a fairly satisfying wrap up with a twinge of uneasiness at the end, which I enjoy.
The reason I get a little tetchy about this is because otherwise the novel is quite good. The characters are sharply and clearly defined, they feel very real for the most part and they were interesting to read about.
I enjoyed the major characters and the minor characters equally, and I'm particularly fond of Marcus - and I love that he's a lion. In fact, I loved all the Leontines in the book and I'd love to hear more about them.
I liked Kaylin, even though there were moments when she edged towards Mary Suedom. I particularly appreciated that she *wasn't* let off the hook for being messy/late, and I mostly really liked her because she was so determined to be a Hawk and be a good Hawk. It wasn't her tough attitude in the end, but when she got attached to the kids at the foundling hall that really made me feel for the character.
I think it's because whenever I see a character who turns something negative in their past into a positive, rather than moaning and angsting, it makes me really enjoy them.
Severn, Tiamaris, and Kaylin are like OT3 for me now, because it was kind of hilarious in some parts to think about Severn and Kaylin bickering like children and Tiamaris sighing and being exasperated.
Tiamaris got a little lost in the mix, though, and I really wanted to know more about him. 'cause you just *know* he had to be looking at Kaylin sometimes and thinking the Dragon equivalent of "bitch please". Plus, I adore characters who manage to be practical on the Machiavellian level without being evil.
I'm not sure if there's a Lord Nightshade/Kaylin 'ship in this novel or not. There were times when I got a 'shippy vibe, sometimes not so much with the 'shipiness.
There's also some moments of rather wonderful meta in this novel, particularly about the power of names and the idea of being *called* into being by your name. Interpellation is the formal, literary-type name for this sort of thing. I like that magic is used to play with the idea that when someone names you, they have a bit of power over you.
Because it's true on a very practical level. In our society, if someone knows your name they can google you and find out a heck of a lot more about you. Also, a lot of time the police can collect all the evidence they like - but it's worthless because even if they have DNA and fibers and evidence, they don't have a *name*. And when someone dies who's identity we don't know, we give them a name. We call them Jane/John Doe. It's as though we feel compelled to be able to *call* them, even though we'll never talk to them or summon them.
I also find it very meta-y, ironic, and kind of nice that Kaylin herself has two names - and that she hides her old one because it *does* have power over her, only to find that the new one has just as much.
There was also some meta, not as well developed, on language and what power language has. I liked the phrase Kaylin used about stuffing meaning into boxes.
It was a damn good book, and as soon as I get some more book money, I'm going hunting for the sequel.
Oh, and the author has an LJ. Go check Ms. Sagara out at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
msagara.
Next up to bat: Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear.
After having gotten finished with the book - which I got through at an amazing pace because it was, if nothing else, a damnably quick and a fun read for me.
I think overall, the book gets a B+. It would have gotten an A, but I had a few issues with it. My big problem with it was that I felt, in a lot of places things were explained long after they should have been explained.
For instance, the history between Kaylin and Severn doesn't get fully explained until page 263, but she tries to kill him on page 21. I went through a lot of the plot really sort of frustrated that I wasn't being told the situation, and it didn't make it anymore dramatic for me. If anything, it made me more reluctant as a reader to invest in the situation between Severn and Kaylin, because I wasn't sure what it was or why it mattered.
While I don't mind having an explanation held back for the sake of plot or suspense, it really sort of aggrivated me that the story went along and I wasn't being told a lot of things that I think I should've been told.
Also, Kaylin's status with the Hawks, what her position was, and why she was being given her assignment were also explained later than I would've liked. It also wasn't made entirely clear to me, until much too late, why the Lords of Law who basically ignore the fiefs were sending Kaylin & Company out to the fiefs to investigate a series of deaths or why Lord Nightshade wasn't handling it himself.
I don't know whether it's an error or just the mark of how the fiefs contrast with the city, but the entirety of the Hawks were basically out looking for one foundling, but 40 some odd children get hacked (that's the total, IIRC) and the Lords of Law didn't get involved until after Kaylin showed them that they had a reason to care.
There were also places where Kaylin's trauma and childhood in the fiefs just didn't ring *true* to me. There's a scene where she's explaining to the Hawklord about what happened and I'm not sure how to explain it, but Kaylin's dialog is a little too...poetic(?) to really get the oomph. The thing is, she had a rotten childhood - and not wanting to talk about it makes perfect sense, but when she does talk about it, it just doesn't hit me.
It doesn't feel really real to me, and I realize that it's really hard for anyone to try to describe that kind of trauma without risking it sounding sort of fake.
But I felt that it suffered from the same prose-level issue that the novel did. On a sentence level there was a lot of *fluff*.
Let me give you an example:
"She heard Severn land. Cursed him; he was lighter on his feet than she had been, and he weighed a lot more." (pg 461)
The problem is that a) she curses people a lot, to the point where it become ineffective and sort of cliche in and of itself and b) given the situation, do we need to know this?
Yeah, she's probably thinking, "You suck" - but I didn't need to be told that. I know that Kaylin's got a 'tude. I've spent this entire novel hearing about Kaylin's 'tude. I got it. Get on with the action, please.
There are a lot of places where thoughts that Kaylin is thinking seem unneccesary to explain, especially later on in the book where, since we have such a clear idea of her character, we can just extrapolate that for ourselves.
The same goes for descriptions of Lord Nightshade. It seems like every smile/laugh is dangerous/not really a smile/as close to it as a Barrani gets. After the first few paragraphs of that sort of thing, I wanted to say, "Hey! I get it, he's dangerous and dark and spooky. All the Barrani are stoic and spooky and grim. You can let me fill that in for myself now."
And the phrase "pay the price" is kind of overused, I felt. Oh, and I found an outright typo.
"Frightened, because a madmn was running free in the fief. (pg 276)
For this, however, I do not blame the author entirely. Come on, I know y'all got copyeditors over at Luna. Use 'em.
Another *big* problem was that I'm not sure I buy that if Kaylin has the kind of power she does that they'd let her be a ground Hawk. Especially since much ado is made at the end of her powers and it's clear that the Emperor *knows* about them.
If I was the Emperor and I knew that somebody had that kind of mojo, I wouldn't let them run around as a *beat cop*.
And of course, the novel suffers from "Stay Tuned For the Sequel" syndrome, but not as badly as some I've read. *coughcoughMelusinecoughcough*. We get a fairly satisfying wrap up with a twinge of uneasiness at the end, which I enjoy.
The reason I get a little tetchy about this is because otherwise the novel is quite good. The characters are sharply and clearly defined, they feel very real for the most part and they were interesting to read about.
I enjoyed the major characters and the minor characters equally, and I'm particularly fond of Marcus - and I love that he's a lion. In fact, I loved all the Leontines in the book and I'd love to hear more about them.
I liked Kaylin, even though there were moments when she edged towards Mary Suedom. I particularly appreciated that she *wasn't* let off the hook for being messy/late, and I mostly really liked her because she was so determined to be a Hawk and be a good Hawk. It wasn't her tough attitude in the end, but when she got attached to the kids at the foundling hall that really made me feel for the character.
I think it's because whenever I see a character who turns something negative in their past into a positive, rather than moaning and angsting, it makes me really enjoy them.
Severn, Tiamaris, and Kaylin are like OT3 for me now, because it was kind of hilarious in some parts to think about Severn and Kaylin bickering like children and Tiamaris sighing and being exasperated.
Tiamaris got a little lost in the mix, though, and I really wanted to know more about him. 'cause you just *know* he had to be looking at Kaylin sometimes and thinking the Dragon equivalent of "bitch please". Plus, I adore characters who manage to be practical on the Machiavellian level without being evil.
I'm not sure if there's a Lord Nightshade/Kaylin 'ship in this novel or not. There were times when I got a 'shippy vibe, sometimes not so much with the 'shipiness.
There's also some moments of rather wonderful meta in this novel, particularly about the power of names and the idea of being *called* into being by your name. Interpellation is the formal, literary-type name for this sort of thing. I like that magic is used to play with the idea that when someone names you, they have a bit of power over you.
Because it's true on a very practical level. In our society, if someone knows your name they can google you and find out a heck of a lot more about you. Also, a lot of time the police can collect all the evidence they like - but it's worthless because even if they have DNA and fibers and evidence, they don't have a *name*. And when someone dies who's identity we don't know, we give them a name. We call them Jane/John Doe. It's as though we feel compelled to be able to *call* them, even though we'll never talk to them or summon them.
I also find it very meta-y, ironic, and kind of nice that Kaylin herself has two names - and that she hides her old one because it *does* have power over her, only to find that the new one has just as much.
There was also some meta, not as well developed, on language and what power language has. I liked the phrase Kaylin used about stuffing meaning into boxes.
It was a damn good book, and as soon as I get some more book money, I'm going hunting for the sequel.
Oh, and the author has an LJ. Go check Ms. Sagara out at
msagara. Next up to bat: Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear.
