Rosenblum, Mary - Horizons

[oyceter]

Ahni Huang is searching for whoever killed her twin brother Xai when she stumbles into Dane Nilsson, secret political activist and protector of what seems to be a mutant strain of humans. Given that the only crime punishable by death in the world is the mixing of human and non-human DNA, Dane's been trying to keep aforementioned mutants away from the public eye.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this book. First, almost everyone we meet is multiracial -- Dane may be the whitest person in the book. I think he's majority European, with some black and American Indian mixed in. And Ahni is part-Taiwanese!!!! This made me very excited. I also liked that Asian culture was very clearly "normal" in the places in the book -- Taiwan (!!!!!), the US colony NYUp.

I have to admit, I twinged a bit at the Chinese people in the book; people will talk in the very formal, flowery language that I swear all fictional Chinese people talk in. And admittedly, formal Chinese is very hard to translate and to get a feel for, and it ends up sounding extremely flowery and effusive in English because you can pack huge amounts of meaning in four-word phrases. But I'm just tired of formal, ritualistic, hierarchical Chinese people. Also, I had real problems figuring out how Chinese culture of now ends up being like how it is in the book -- there are several ruling families, ergo the hierarchy and formality. We don't really get much of a look at other cultures, though, so it's hard to compare. I am handwaving in my head and pretending that all businesses have turned into family oligopolies and have this sort of weird formal structure.

That said, the above criticism really were just twinges. The villainy of a few of the Chinese characters would normally be enough to chuck a book at a wall, but because Rosenblum took such care in making her world multiracial and multicultural, because Ahni was the heroine, because Rosenblum took the time to develop other Asian characters as well, it was fine by me. And I would be a little squiffy with an Asian heroine hooking up with someone named "Dane Nilsson," except Rosenblum very much establishes that Dane is multiracial and Ahni goes to his rescue several times. I was also amazed when I put down the book and realized that I only remembered two white characters with speaking parts -- one was the president of the US, who comes in for a page and doesn't do much, and one is a man on a committee, who also doesn't do much.

The best thing is all of this is mostly in the background of the book. Some bits are a bit awkward; Rosenblum basically gives you every single person's racial breakdown. Sometimes this broke me out of the story, sometimes it didn't, and it did serve to remind me that even though the main conflict was about what is "human," racial Othering wasn't completely erased from Ahni's world.

Also, did I mention Taiwan? And that Ahni is from Taiwan? And that Taiwan is in a book?

I was very excited about this! I did want more details about how things came to be -- like, did China not bomb the living daylights out of Taiwan when it became independent in this world? Again, it was a bit weird, like the Chinese business families, because it felt more like a Taiwan that had evolved from some historical period, as opposed to modern Taipei in the future, but whatever. Taiwan!

And, acknowledgement of different accents of Mandarin and Taiwanese! And differentiation between Northern Chinese and Southern Chinese! Wow, it's like China isn't actually a monolith, what an idea!

The plot didn't grab me as much as I wanted, but that's what usually happens when I read SF. Still, I am glad I read this just because Taiwan! World full of POC! Amazing!

Comments

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

But I'm just tired of formal, ritualistic, hierarchical Chinese people.

I just find this hilarious when I see it in books, because okay, yes, hierarchy, but everything else is so unlike my experience of growing up with and, you know, being a Chinese person. For one thing most of the Chinese people I know, though lovely, are often very rude to people who aren't their family or BFF. And then they are rude to their family, because they are family and it doesn't matter if you are rude to them because of course you would do anything for them and vice versa, so it is A-OK to tell them they are FAT why are you so fat you eat too much! And just, not so much with the formality and ritual. We have traditions, of course, but so do Westerners.

But maybe it's just 'cos I grew up with peasants. *g*

[oyceter]

I know, exactly! I keep wondering where it is coming from. Maybe just the formal speech? Or... I have no clue. The culture also felt a little off in that it seemed to have grown out of some China and Taiwan (and Malaysia! There's a Malaysia Coalition in the book!) from the past, as opposed to where these places are today.

On the other hand.... I am so chuffed to find more than one Asian culture in a book and actual distinguishing between Chinese and Taiwanese and etc. that I feel bad critiquing.

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's the conflation of Japanese and Chinese culture, 'cos from what I've seen the Japanese do tend to be quite formal and polite and very conscious of what etiquette requires.

(Oh yay, Malaysia Coalition! Always a pleasure to see us mentioned in English-language books. :) )

[keilexandra]

I can personally attest that Chinese people are very rude--especially to close friends/relatives. And I include myself in the rude-people catagory, because it's ingrained in the culture. Save face, but say whatever you want behind closed doors (or behind people's backs).

It makes for uncomfortable culture clash.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read this book, it might interest you:
Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact of Culture, Power, and Migration on Changing Identities Brown, Melissa J.
Berkeley: University of California Press Copyright: 2004 ISBN: 0520231821

[oyceter]

Oh awesome, I will have to find that!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Ooh, want to read this!

[oyceter]

I feel sort of weird reccing it, because I really didn't enjoy the plot that much and I mostly felt meh about the characters. And yet.... Taiwan!

[jiawen]

Can you say a little about the plot anyway? It sounds pretty interesting, but if the plot doesn't hook me, I don't know if I'd be able to get into the other bits.

[oyceter]

So there are these colony-like space platforms, generally run by different countries (NYUp is the US's, I forget the name of China's, etc. etc.). The people on the platforms are currently agitating for independence because they don't feel much of a connection to Earth anymore, and this is exacerbated by the fact that kids born on the platforms are looking more and more inhuman.

Someone seems to be trying to mess up platform-earth relations by fanning the flames of independence in the platforms and provoking violent riots and the like that make the earth countries want to send troops up there. Ahni gets mixed in the middle of this, along with Dane, who's one of the key advocates for independence for the platforms.

Er. And then there are lots of chase scenes and Ahni helps Dane out and my brain sort of loses track of the plot here. It's not bad plot! It's just my usual disinterest with thriller-type plots.

[jiawen]

Hmm, sounds pretty cool. I will look for it. Thanks!

[oyceter]

Also, while it has a lesbian relationship, it's mostly very het-oriented, and I'm still not quite sure what I think about one of the bisexual characters. Will be interested to see what you think if you read it!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

The way I'm feeling lately, something sporkable about it causes my enthusiasm to wax considerably.

[oyceter]

Yeah, totally understand. I could spoil you if you wanted? Or you could just avoid the book all together.

[keilexandra]

Plot isn't much my cup of tea either, but I suspect I will have much the same squealing reaction to abundance of POC.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Books I have read recently in which at least half of the characters are chromatic:

Black Man by Richard Morgan (protagonists are Turkish and black-British)
Brasyl by Ian McDonald (protagonists are Brazilian, obviously)
Hunter's Run by George RR Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham (Mexican)
Spook Country by William Gibson (Cuban-American family)
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Chinese-American, Indian, and Latino)
Splinter by Adam Roberts (Mexican)

This list is very nearly identical to "books I have read recently". I'm not having to go searching for them, by any means.

[keilexandra]

I applaud you, then! I've never heard of any of those books except for RAINBOWS END, which is on my to-read list. I certainly haven't had your luck in reading books with majority chromatic characters without seeking them out specifically.

[oyceter]

Cool, thanks for the list! I think we must read very different things, because I've only read one of the authors listed (Martin) and only vaguely recognize the others from Torque Control. Clearly I am woefully undereducated in SF.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I should probably add that the reason I'm not looking for them is because they're being sent to me as a Clarke judge -- this is what is being published in the UK this year. But, you know, Rainbows End did just win a Hugo and all. :)

Brasyl is probably the least likely to annoy you.

[oyceter]

But, you know, Rainbows End did just win a Hugo and all. :)

*facepalm* I, er, didn't actually know that. Sooooo out of the loop!

Brasyl is probably the least likely to annoy you.

Hee! I will keep that in mind ;).

[oyceter]

Hee, yeah, I was sort of like "chase, thriller, chase, chase, intrigue, running, action, handwave, handwave." Not that it is badly done! It's just that that type of thing doesn't usually spark my interest.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Glad it had some good stuff in it!

[oyceter]

It did, and thanks for the book!

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Taiwan in a ...an english-language sf book? Excuse me, I need to find my library website RIGHT NOW kthxbai!

[oyceter]

I know! When oracne sent it to me saying that Taiwan was in it, I only expected a few brief mentions, as opposed to it being an actual setting. Very exciting.