Bishop, Anne - Shalador's Lady

[oyceter]

After the events in The Shadow Queen, Cassidy is tentatively set up in Dena Nehele, but the delicate new balance between her and her First Circle is thrown off when someone new comes in...

I reread the original trilogy and The Invisible Ring after reading this, and I'm a bit sad how the hints of how a powerful Queen and her court balance out has been domesticized and made into a lot of fussing and whatnot as each successive book goes on. There are some very interesting undercurrents going on through Bishop's Black Jewel books, such as the male need to serve or the way female anger works, but sadly, Bishop either doesn't seem to be aware of the bits that push the envelope, or she shies away from them and buries them under more typical gender roles.

This book, as with the rest, has a similar dichotomy. I like how the Black Jewel books always include female friendship, and I was especially glad to see Cassidy nurturing and training a younger Queen. But I dislike how the evil women are always portrayed as sluts and bitches. I'm glad in this case, the villain isn't as unredeemable as the villains in the Black Jewel books, but I wish the world's sexual dynamics were less virgin/whore.

Still, Bishop at least managed to tone down Jaenelle and the boys' appearances; they're still a bit distracting here, but at least they serve only as supporting characters to Cassidy's plot as opposed to having plot of their own. And it's always awesome to see Karla again.

I also liked how the ending mirrors The Invisible Ring, though Bishop's handling of racial minorities in the form of the Shalador people isn't exactly subtle.

And there are hints that her worldbuliding is just not that well thought out—coffee shops and bustling downtowns make the world feel unexpectedly modern in a way that feels unintentional instead of purposeful.

Still, because there are those hints of interesting-ness (I still love the focus on the lighter Jeweled people), I keep reading the Black Jewels books. Mostly, though, I want some fanfic writer to go in and completely re-envision it to make things darker and to really shake up the gender roles. Frex, how does homosexuality or transgendered-ness work in a world so focused on male vs. female?

Comments

[inkstone]

Yeah, I liked the focus on lighter jewels rather than dark and I definitely liked how Jaenelle & the boys were toned down. Still too much presence but not as annoying as in The Shadow Queen.

I do wish the books would deal more with LGBT characters. I mean, they do have queer characters like Karla and Rainier so why not? Trans characters would definitely be interesting to explore in this setting, given the stark dichotomy between male and female powers.

I did think the antagonist was a little too over the top caricature though. I was like, "Really?" It was a bit 2D.

[jonquil]

And the solution was weird. Selfish woman, selfish to the core, and cruel. And the solution is to make her ugly? WTFing F? All she is likely to learn from being not-pretty is that people are MEEEEN to her and they should STOP. Dumb. (Of course, she'll probably come back, worse than ever, and this is the author's clumsy way to achieve this. But it's dumb. God knows Saetan has killed people for less.)

[inkstone]

I know. It wasn't her beauty that was the problem; it was her personality that was bad. And if we're supposed to draw the conclusion that beauty = bad personality, then that causes Jaenelle and her BFFs to fall apart!

[oyceter]

(Sorry! Esp. since this comment is late. But am trying not to use "dumb" and etc. in comments.)

The solution was so bad! What I'd be interested in is if she actually did end up changing and was still kind of petty and childish but growing. But then, I have a soft spot for that type of character...

[jonquil]

You are so very right about "dumb", with its horrid origins. I have mostly gotten "lame" out of my vocabulary, so I'll put "dumb" on the list.

Actually, the next book with her actually slowly getting a clue would be awesome. But unfortunately Bishop *really* doesn't write that way; as you say, there's Jaenelle, and then there's everybody who opposes her or her people, who is EEEEVIL.

I kind of miss the Jaenelle who took on her old girls' school. Corpses everywhere.

[oyceter]

Yes! I feel like after the trilogy, all Jaenelle has to do is be domestic and cute. I miss the corpses and the Jaenelle who got so angry someone ended up in pieces!

[jonquil]

Exactly. It's as if Witch was the only interesting part of Jaenelle. Which... really doesn't go with the child-Jaenelle we saw.

[oyceter]

The antagonist was so bad! So boring! Now I want an Anne Bishop book in the Black Jewels world in which the heroine is selfish and flirty and etc. and still manages to be a good Queen.

[inkstone]

We both know Anne Bishop doesn't have the writing chops to do that. ;)

[oyceter]

So sad, but so true!