West, Michelle - The Sun Sword, vol. 03-04

[oyceter]

(Individual books: The Shining Court and Sea of Sorrows)

Negative stuff first: I'm still not happy with the overall way Empire vs. Dominion is going. I think almost all the major Dominion characters that we sympathize with (Teresa, Diora, Valedan, etc. and even Sendari sometimes) wonder at one point or the other how much nicer it would have been if they were Northern instead of Southern.

Also, I am not exactly sure how the Winter Hunt played out. Southerners think the Lake is the Lady's, but the Winter Queen is a Northern figure, as she's one of the Firstborn of the gods. But the Winter Queen is shown to be real and to have ties to the Lake, which feels to me like ... I don't know. I suppose one could say the Winter Queen is a face of the Lady's, but it's rather irksome that she's not even a full god in her own right, but a child of the gods. I similarly was bothered by Diora's mention to Margret that their trip into Tor Arkosa made her think her wives weren't lost after all, and there's another comment by Healer Levec that Adam is close to the afterlife the Northerners believe in, even though Margret says they don't believe in it.

That said, I'm disturbed by the way she tries to make the seraf system not evil despite the Voyani and Northerners thinking it's immoral. I feel the narratives re: Ramdan edge too closely to the Gone With the Wind depiction of slavery for comfort, though at least, West's narrative implies that Ramdan is intelligent and not a child.

Also, it irks me that the demons basically are only paying attention to the Dominion so that they can get to the Empire.

I don't think any of this is deliberate, and I see West trying to address some of the issues (sometimes in ways I disagree with, see: serafs), but all these little bits add up and unfortunately line up with stereotypes of the dominant West and the backwards East in our world.

Further, less weighty negative stuff: Jewel still bores me, although she doesn't annoy me that much now that she's been separated from her den. wistfuljane's comments helped me figure out why Jewel and her den bother me, particularly because families of misfits are usually a fictional trope I enjoy. I think a lot of it is the sense that the family didn't just come together; Jewel selected everyone, and it's clearly Jewel in charge of the family. Because of that, we get very little of relationships inside the den that aren't Jewel/den-member. We get to see a little more of people's roles once Jewel leaves, which is probably why it gets more tolerable to me. Still, even by book 4, we don't see a lot of interaction among the den members or how they are different people with different den members. Instead, we get that Teller doesn't say much, but we already knew that, and that Finch is kind of nervous. Obviously, there may be additional relationships and background I don't know in the Hunter duology, but if so, West hasn't brought it into this series, unlike, say, the Ospreys, where I get a sense of relationships beyond their allegiance to The Kalakar or Duarte.

That said, the entire Jewel-and-Avandar on the road plot in book 3 bored me to pieces. First, I am terrible with dream sequences or realms of the mind to begin with. And then I could not for the life of me figure out where they were or why or what Avandar's past was, and although we got all these bits and pieces, I felt like I couldn't piece them together. It also cemented that I'm rather baffled by Jewel as a character, because she keeps doing things and I keep going, "Huh?" Such as her confronting the Winter Queen. I gather it is because she dislikes how the Queen and her riders use their steeds, but I wasn't entirely clear, and I'm still not entirely sure why Jewel faced down the Queen, why she succeeded in doing so, and why the stag and Celleriant go with her. Also, it is just a mythology that feels more familiar and used to me, and I'd rather have Southern theology and/or Voyani theology looked at more. Plus, I am not a huge fan of the Jewel-Avandar relationship, largely because it feels too close to the supernatural hero/powerful but still not as powerful heroine dynamic of current urban fantasies.

Okay! I have finished complaining! I say all this, but I loved book 4! (Book 1 is currently still my favorite because DIORA! TERESA! DIORA BEING AWESOME! But book 4 is pretty up there.) Book 3 felt more like a holding pattern. Or, er, I felt more like that because really I was focusing on Diora and how she didn't get to do much and was completely confused by the plot with the masks and the whole Winter Hunt thing.

But, yay Voyani! I initially disliked Margret for many of the same reasons I dislike Jewel: I'm not the biggest fan of characters who have no tact or subtlety and yet manage to succeed in places where it seems like they should be penalized for those characteristics but they instead win people over. But unlike Jewel, Margret is penalized quite often for her rashness and her lack of judgment, and it's particularly nice to have Yollana there as a counterpoint. I also love how large of a figure the dead Evallen is, and I especially like the gender inversion with Margret and her brother Adam.

I am also pleased that these books are so light on the romance. I didn't actually notice until I was further along in the books, but the two people who are most influenced by romantic attachments are Sendari and Nicu. Sendari lets his jealousy over Alora and Teresa's relationship cloud his judgment in many ways while also betraying his promise to Alora, while Nicu lets his desire to get Elena's attention turn him over to the Dark Side (of Patriarchy!).

I loved Diora's farewell to her father and her emotional turmoil over having stopped the Eduardo from killing him, but what makes book 4 so awesome for me is Diora among the Arkosan Voyani. I love love love how Margret hates her at first, because they really are so different, and Evallen stands between them, and watching the relationship between the two develop from dislike and misunderstanding to grudging respect to sisterhood makes me squee and flail and want to type in allcaps. I just... I love that it allows for more than one type of woman, and that they are both made of awesome without one taking away from the other. I've complained before about how much I hate it when books—often historical romances and fantasy—make the tomboy who wants to learn sword fighting the heroine while making the girls who are feminine and like embroidery the cheerleaders of teen high school movies. So I love that West gives us both, in a way, and that they are sisters of the heart! And it makes such sense that both Margret and Diora end up forming this unexpected bond, because they are both people for whom female relationships have been the center of their lives—Margret with her mother and Elena, Diora with her aunt and her wives. And because I heart Diora so much, I am so glad that Margret gives her something to look forward to past her revenge for her wives.

I should probably say smart and analytical things about the two of them, but I cannot because really! SO. MUCH. SQUEE.

(Well, one of the non-squee bits was the part with Diora's religion in the big flashback, as mentioned, as well as the reveal that the old Cities of Man were in cahoots with the demons.)

I am so sad that Teresa has cut all her ties with the Dominion, though. I mean, I know she will have more freedom of sorts among the Voyani, but she was so brilliant and so perfect as Serra Teresa di'Marano. I am guessing that Valedan assuming the throne may change that, given his more Northern views, but again, that ties back to why I am so uneasy about the depiction of the Dominion.

Speaking of the Voyani, I personally liked how West reimagined the Romani as a matriarchal people, possibly bypassing a stereotype of them as misogynistic and/or patriarchal? That said, I'm not knowledgeable enough about the Romani to say if overall the Voyani are offensive or not.

And finally, is the boy who will get a sword they're hinting at Valedan? I thought the subtext was that the boy wasn't born yet, or was very young, so I thought not, but am not sure. If so, is that a new series?!

Ahahaha, looking at all my confusion here, it is possible that plot brain has left me. Oh plot brain! It was an enjoyable month or so while you were here!

Comments

[inkstone]

Well, the Sun Sword... being the Sun Sword is meant to go to Valedan. So other swords will have to go to other people. ;P

I imagine that new series will be the End of Days series (or whatever she'll be calling it), which will come after West is done with House War, which is Jewel's series.

[oyceter]

I knooow! I was like, wait, what, more boys and destined swords?! It's like there's a shortage of them in fantasy!

[starlady]

Well, he does have an awesome female companion who is awesome, even though they're both like 12 atm. If you reread the section with Margret's vision, there's a really short description of him in it; they've also appeared in a short story published in some anthology somewhere.

Margret and Diora are So Awesome! (Though I tend to read the whole Tor Arkosa allying with Allasakar thing as being a consequence of Patriarchy. And I don't think all the Cities allied with the gods; some of them at least were destroyed by them, iirc?) Seriously, So Awesome.

IIRC, it's House War after The Sun Sword, which is in progress, and then I think the next series may be called the Black Gauntlet? But there's at least one more series between House War and The End of Days.

[inkstone]

Oh, that's right. So what's Black Gauntlet supposed to be about? I know Michelle said somewhere but I completely forgot. It's not going to be about the two aforementioned kids, is it?

[starlady]

It might be about them? I don't remember it too well, I'd have to go trawling in her LJ (probably the post announcing DAW buying more House War books) to see.

[estara]

I don't know if this bibliography is helpful but maybe you can find it here: http://msagarawest.wordpress.com/bibliography/

[starlady]

Thanks! But these books are unsold and unwritten as yet, which means we'll have to wait years for them. *sigh*

[estara]

The main thing is to keep buying the ones set in this world so DAW remains interested in putting out new ones. The fact that the Elantra series is doing okay for Harlequin must help a bit, too, I'm sure.

[oyceter]

That is good! I am just unsure because it seems like my like/dislike of West/Sagara's books are based a lot on if I am into the trope she is using or not, and I am not sure awesome female companion will trump boy + destined swords =(. I will have to dig up that short story to see though!

OMG Margret and Diora are AWESOME!

I was more annoyed at the allying with Allasakar as a consequence of Patriarchy because it fits into the South being more flawed than the North and the way it echoes with how white feminists often critique POC cultures for being misogynistic.

[starlady]

and the way it echoes with how white feminists often critique POC cultures for being misogynistic.


Yeah, I'd say that's definitely true (and so wrong, but that goes without saying).

I'm pretty convinced that Destined Boy is going to die, because Moorelas did too, so him being a boy is a wash in my book.

The short story is this one: "Sirius, the Dog Star contains Huntbrother, a story about Cynthia of Maubreche that takes place after Hunter’s Death." I should warn you that it will not make much sense without having read, and will spoil severely, The Sacred Hunt duology (which I would wager based on your reaction that you might not care for too much, since there's no Dominion in it at all practically. I love it to death because there is lots of Evayne, and so much demon whatnot--but I do think you can basically skip Hunter's Oath, I read them in reverse order after having read the first four Sun Sword books and it's pretty easy to piece together what's going on).

ETA: Reading your reviews and thinking about my experiences reading the books, I think these books basically imprinted their tropes on me, lol. I am in many ways still a captive audience to them! So thank you for posting these reviews, I might never have interrogated them from the perspective you are bringing, and they are making me think.

[oyceter]

Thanks for the info! Also, I have been wavering on the duology because I know young Jewel is in quite a bit of the second one, but... Evayne!

Also, thank you! I have been feeling kind of bad posting about them and possibly harshing people's squee. But I know what you mean about imprinting on early books. (Ha. I recently reread OSC's Speaker for the Dead and was like, "These are What These People Need Is a Honky books! D:")

[starlady]

If you like Evayne I'd argue for giving HD a try; it's a very tightly packed and fairly suspenseful narrative, unlike many of the Sun Sword books. And getting the story of what went down in Averalaan is fascinating (actually, House Name is going to cover some of the same territory, I'm excited).

:-)