Smith, Sherwood - Inda

[oyceter]

Look! I have read an actual book that doesn't have pictures in it and isn't YA!

(not that there's anything wrong with manga, comics or YA, but it's really been a while since I've read anything outside of that)

I'm not quite sure how to summarize this, since the plot is very complex. Basically, Inda is the second son of a nobleman, and as such, he's expected to become the Shield Arm for his brother, which means his brother is supposed to train him and beat him into obedience. There's a very complicated system in which the older brother rules while the younger brother defends the land and the older brother's wife commands the forces that also defend the land while the older brother is away.

There's a sort of academy for training all the men and women, albeit separately, and there are wargames in which the boys and girls simulate war and attempt to defend or take over a castle, depending on which sex they are.

I really liked the world, which feels very complex and well-thought-out. There's a bit too much exposition in the beginning, to the point in which I was grumpy because I did not need to know that the servants were wearing a wool-cotton blend while I was attempting to figure out all the other important intricacies of the world. The separation of the sexes was intriguing, as was the entire system of brothers and wives defending. It was also neat to see that marriages were arranged very early on so that the to-be-wives could be fostered at their to-be-husbands' homes, probably so that their loyalties would lie in the right place. It's a really interesting look at two completely separate societies, one male and one female. The female world knows most of what is going on in the male world, but the male world usually doesn't much know what the female world is up to, which was very nifty.

One of the problems I had with the book was just that there was so much information to absorb. I think in and of itself, that would be ok, except a lot of the ranks in the book sound the same (ex. the title for the king, the king's brother and the king's heir all begin with "Sier-"). It makes perfect sense from a linguistics point of view, but from a trying-to-figure-out-who's-who point of view, I was incredibly confused. Also, when I had finally figured out exactly which title was which, the titles switched from the peacetime language to the wartime language, and I had to figure it all out again.

I wasn't that enamoured of Inda or Sponge, as they seemed to be too perfect for me, but I very much liked Inda's sisters, his betrothed, and his brother. And there are multiple Cool Bits involving intrigue and wargames and knife-throwing demonstrations.

It's also hard to say whether or not I like the book, given that it's the first in a trilogy. It does a very good job of setting up the world and the characters and putting them in interesting places, and I suspect that the next two books will have much more action and much less scene-setting. I'm definitely going to pick up the next book in the series when it comes out, just because there are interesting hints thrown in about how the society of this world will be changing, and I want to see what happens.

Links:
- jinian's review

Comments

[fiveandfour.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to gauge whether this would be a good one to give my daughter (she's 10) as a gift for Christmas. She's reading the Narnia saga right now so clearly enjoys stories in alternate worlds - I just haven't seen anyone who wasn't a big, pre-existing Sherwood Smith fan speak about it so it's been tough to decide if I should wait a year or two on this one.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I think ten is too young. It's pretty complex, and I think she'd get lost. Also, it has sex, though possibly that would go right over her head.

But I would definitely recommend Sherwood's Wren trilogy and Crown Duel for her if she hasn't already read them.

[oyceter]

I'd agree with Rachel and say that 10 might be too young. It's REALLY complex book, and I had a very hard time getting all the elements arranged in my head. Um, of course, this could be because my brain hasn't handled big plot lately, but this book has about twenty different things going on at once, plus complex and detailed world-building.

And if you care about that sort of thing, there is some non-graphic sex content, although I really like how it's handled, and some homosexuality, if you flag that (but again, handled well).

I'd definitely rec it for a slightly older kid though, along with Smith's other YA books.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Given the linguistics and wargames this sounds like it would be totally up my alley.

My personal cheapy hacky solution to having things start with the same sound is to reverse the language so it uses postfixes instead of prefixes, and have the same-sounds at the ends of words. In the world of Yoon this just requires some rejiggering of syntax/morphology, and possibly makes life easier for the reader. But I don't know that many writers would consider this an acceptable compromise.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I am stealing this idea now.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Totally! :-) I used to be a purist about these things (I was reasonably involved in the conlanging community back in college, etc.) but now? I am not above ruthlessly hacking my own conlangs to make them more parseable by the average reader. Just because I like playing with morphemes and word order does not mean all readers do.

[oyceter]

You should check it out! I also forgot to mention that there are three languages in Inda's country -- one is the peace-time language that was used by the natives of the country, one is the war-time language that was used by the conquerors of the country, and one is somewhat like an analogue to Latin (aka dead language used for scholarship, I think).

Your solution sounds good to me!

[kate_nepveu]

I bounced really hard off the opening first pages several months ago, which made me sad because I expect to like this a lot. One of these days when my brain is less tired I will try it again.

[oyceter]

The opening few pages have crazy amounts of exposition. It really does get better later, although there's still a pretty steep learning curve.

[camomiletea.livejournal.com]

Hi! I followed your review link from Goodreads, and I pretty much agree with what you have said here. The titles were confusing, though after they switched to the wartime language, it was easier for me to distinguish who is who. I liked Inda, but not Sponge particularly. I also am not sure whether I like this book, but I think I'll try to read the next one as well.

LiveJournal Six Degrees tool (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/sixdegrees.bml?from=camomiletea&to=oyceter) indicates we are linked through ursamajor and coffeeandink... Want to be friends? If not on LJ, then on Goodreads?

[oyceter]

Hi! Cool! I'm currently trying to keep my LJ reading list short, but Goodreads works ^_^. I think I friended you already on there?