I saw it as much more problematic, in that sense, than 'The Blue Sword'.
In 'The Blue Sword', the situation is a thinly camoflagued version of the British Raj. The racism of the British in the situation is acknowledged to at least some degree, and the 'Afghans' in the hills are allowed to be educated and intelligent, as well as being exotic to the British-born heroine.
And the mystical powers that the heroine develops turn out to be because she's part-Afghan, not because she's a foreigner. Furthermore, it's 'white woman and mixed group of native tribes and white men save white and native kingdoms from evil demons'. It's not as though the Afghans have no agency.
In 'The Hero and the Crown', the mystical powers seem to correlate worryingly closely with how white one's skin is. Aerin's family originally came from the North, and they have some power. Aerin's mother came from the North more recently, so she's a white-skinned red-head and she and her family members have much more power. The wizard, Luthe, has much more power than her family again, and he's even whiter than her, and blond.
Aerin and Luthe save Damar without Damar even being aware of the fact.
I was surprised, reading this thread, to find people who'd read Aerin's family as 'coded white', when there is explicit discussion of the skin colours in the book, although I suppose if one read it before 'The Blue Sword' and one skipped over a few passages, one might very well miss it.
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Re: Please clarify
Sat, Jul. 7th, 2007 04:28 am (UTC)In 'The Blue Sword', the situation is a thinly camoflagued version of the British Raj. The racism of the British in the situation is acknowledged to at least some degree, and the 'Afghans' in the hills are allowed to be educated and intelligent, as well as being exotic to the British-born heroine.
And the mystical powers that the heroine develops turn out to be because she's part-Afghan, not because she's a foreigner. Furthermore, it's 'white woman and mixed group of native tribes and white men save white and native kingdoms from evil demons'. It's not as though the Afghans have no agency.
In 'The Hero and the Crown', the mystical powers seem to correlate worryingly closely with how white one's skin is. Aerin's family originally came from the North, and they have some power. Aerin's mother came from the North more recently, so she's a white-skinned red-head and she and her family members have much more power. The wizard, Luthe, has much more power than her family again, and he's even whiter than her, and blond.
Aerin and Luthe save Damar without Damar even being aware of the fact.
I was surprised, reading this thread, to find people who'd read Aerin's family as 'coded white', when there is explicit discussion of the skin colours in the book, although I suppose if one read it before 'The Blue Sword' and one skipped over a few passages, one might very well miss it.