Fletcher, Susan - Alphabet of Dreams

[oyceter]

Mitra and her younger brother Babak are currently living in the City of Bones, caves surrounding the poor part of Rhagae. They're of royal blood, but since their father attempted to overthrow the king, their entire family has been hunted down. Mitra is struggling to just keep herself and Babak fed, and she dreams of Palmyra, where she thinks she might be restored to her former lifestyle. Then, they discover that Babak will dream of someone's future if he sleeps with an item of theirs under his pillow.

This is a retelling of the story of the three Magi, only their story is rather incidental to Mitra's, but mostly, it's a story about dreams. The obvious bits are Babak's true dreams, but the driving force behind the book is Mitra's dream of finding her family again, along with safety, wealth and comfort. At one point in the book, Mitra and Babak wonder if Babak doesn't dream true, but only dreams what someone else strongly longs for and dreams of. In fact, Mitra and Babak end up accompanying the Magi precisely because they too long for something.

I am rather cranky today, so that may be why I was partly grumpy that a fantasy story starring a girl of color was a take on a Christian myth. That noted, the Nativity story takes place on the side; we never get to see Joseph and Mary, and Mitra could care less.

I very much loved Mitra -- she's strong and willful and often selfish, she looks after herself and her brother but not always well, she struggles between wanting what's best for Babak and wanting what may prove to be a way back to her old life. Not that many other female characters of note, though I also liked the wily, crafty, not-entirely-trustworthy Zoya from the beginning, who gets to be an old woman with a personality and an agenda.

I also love Fletcher's Persia and Roman Empire; it feels real. There are details galore on food (mmmm), buildings, clothes, and animals, and I particularly like that her cities are all different. This doesn't feel like a generic Persia copy-pasted from Arabian Nights. I also liked the details about Zoroastrianism in the book (all the Magi are followers) and about religion in general; the way people who weren't Magi believed in elements of Zoroastrianism as well as elements of other systems felt particularly real.

I'm a little sad that Mitra had to get thrown into a romance, though at least it wasn't an important plot point and more like a side note. I was also a little cranky about the resolution to Babak's dreams and how it weighted Christianity, but that's also a minor note that I am mostly handwaving.

Anyway, interesting, and am now looking for her other books, particularly Shadow Spinners.

Links:
- coffeeandink's review

Comments

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

that may be why I was partly grumpy that a fantasy story starring a girl of color was a take on a Christian myth

Of course, by current understandings Jesus and his family would probably be considered people of color. I mean, I take your point about wanting the story not to attach itself to a feature of a modern-day dominant culture, but certainly the story of the Nativity itself could be (and has been) very easily read as a minority-focused story. If anything, one reads harder against the grain to fit it comfortably into present-day majorities.

(Of course, then you can talk about the ways in which that very fact can feed into people feeling like a persecuted minority who aren't, but that's even farther off the topic of this post so.)

[oyceter]

Yeah, mostly my grumpiness is more about the Christian emphasis, particularly since Fletcher notes that the Magi are only mentioned brief in one of the New Testament books and only in later Christian mythology did people pin it down as three Magi (based on the gifts). And I tend to read the story as more Christian/European and less Jewish/Middle Eastern because the stories of the three Magi as Fletcher recounts it are from carols and retellings, not directly from history, if that makes sense. Ex. she talks about the sources she was using to use as a foundation of her story and about the original inspiration of her story, and both those sources are from white Christian culture.

I think what pinned down my annoyance was how much of the author's notes focused on the Christian background of the Magi myth and only then did it get into research on Persia and Zoroastrianism.

So... I think while you can read the Nativity story as a minority-focused story (and the society in the book portrays them as such), the overarching story of the Three Magi (particularly in this book) reads to me more as majority-Christian.

(edited because my wording is horrible and confusing)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Have you read Susan Fletcher's Dragon's Milk? I liked that one quite a lot, the other two in the "trilogy" slightly less, but still enjoyed.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I couldn't get into this book, even though I liked the idea that it was set in Persia. I'm still not sure why, when I should have loved it.

[sigh] I am often inarticulate about why books didn't work for me, or about why I adored them, and it drives me nuts.

[oyceter]

I haven't read any of her other books! Am going to the library today and hopefully will grab more.

[oyceter]

I am often inarticulate about why books didn't work for me, or about why I adored them, and it drives me nuts.

Gaaah, yes. I usually just want to write something like: *flail* Go read this I like it it's good really!

I'm better at writing about books that piss me off, eh heh heh, but I suck at writing about books that I didn't dislike but didn't work for me.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I'm better at writing about books that piss me off, eh heh heh, but I suck at writing about books that I didn't dislike but didn't work for me.


That's it, exactly.