Cashore, Kristin - Bitterblue
Wed, Jun. 13th, 2012 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceter(sequel to Graceling and companion to Fire, though I feel Fire is much more relevant)
Bitterblue is the young queen of Monsea, and she gradually learns that what she knows about her kingdom isn't quite what is going on.
Or: terrible synopsis trying not to spoil previous books.
As a summary, this book has many things I like, from ciphers to people learning how to handle their power to the process of recovering from trauma, both to individuals and to the entire country. It also has many of Cashore's other flaws, such as terrible, terrible naming and prosaic prose, along with some new ones in terms of pacing and character development. Bitterblue's character in particular suffers from the pacing; I was very frustrated when she would frequently have the same realization over and over and over. Which, realistic, but not particularly fascinating reading. There's also a bit too much bait-and-switch in the plot when Bitterblue is trying to find out who is telling the truth and who is lying, so much so that it makes some of the later reveals less shocking because you're so frustrated by the switching back and forth. The romance is also much less interesting than the ones in previous books.
I found the book very slow going until the last third or so, but I also think the last third is worth getting to, especially if you're interested in governance and recovery from widespread trauma. Still, it could have used much more editing.
Spoilers for all three books
Leck, even when dead, is still over-the-top villain, but I actually find him more believable in this book than in the previous two because we aren't seeing his OTT villainous thoughts, but rather seeing the effects he has had on people, even ten years after he is dead. And that actually makes him more horrific and villainous to me. Overall, I think the book does best when it is dealing with the aftermath of Leck's rule, from his abuse of individuals to questions about complicity and blame to how to deal with it on an institutional level.
Although I think Bitterblue the unaware queen is realistic, given that she assumes the throne at ten or so, I was frustrated by her early sweeping attempts to do good for her country without even knowing it. And though her exploring outside was a way to change that, I think I'm a bit tired of "royalty sneaks out to find out what commoners live like." I do like that when her identity is finally revealed, it's midway and there's a fair amount of stuff for her to deal with, but I mostly find the sneaking out a bit unrealistic? I was also bored with her commoner friends, particularly Saf, which makes many of their interactions later kind of dull. Bitterblue's various realizations about the power she has in comparison to Saf and Teddy are extremely frustrating, especially because she has these realizations several times. I also had a much fuzzier sense of her personality in comparison to Katsa's or Fire's, largely because of all the back and forth.
The book gets better after Bitterblue sneaking out has stopped and she can talk more with the people around her. Unfortunately, there is a bit too much of discovering that Advisor X has lied to her or Advisor Y is not saying something, then going back to trust X, then discovering they lied, then trusting, then... etc. Same with how the book varies between having an evil plot against Bitterblue vs. well-meaning people who do bad things, though I think this gets resolved better in the end.
The parts that were most fascinating to me was Bitterblue's attempts to find out what had happened during Leck's reign. I love the discovery of the journals and all the translation and deciphering, and I want Death's Grace of being able to remember what he's read and pattern recognition for myself. I love Bitterblue trying to remember her mother, and I really love what Cashore does with Bitterblue's advisors. The combination of their guilt, patronizing attitudes, pain, anger, apathy, and genuine goodwill was very believable and complicated and real, and I like that there are no good and easy answers. Thiel does terrible, terrible things, and he loves Bitterblue, and he hates himself, and he wants to be good, and he doesn't, and when he commits suicide, there's just pain and questions and confusion and rage and sorrow.
I also loved the acknowledgement that sometimes people need to know the truth, and sometimes there are things that are better left hidden. Sometimes the secrets Bitterblue discovers are crucial and important, and sometimes, like the bits of her father's journal, they are only cruel and harmful. I liked how complicated things were; no one is flat-out evil like Leck, but the various levels of complicity and brain fog and abuse make for painful decisions, and I like that there isn't a blanket pardon for the harm abused people cause others.
The bit with Lady Fire and the Dells at the end was a little too tidy for me, though I was very happy that Saf and Bitterblue reconcile but don't start a relationship. I love the acknowledgement that they are from different worlds and that Bitterblue can't not be queen, which I feel is something that isn't dealt with in a lot of books I read. And I want more conversations with Fire and Bitterblue, about growing up with their fathers, their own doubts about themselves, shouldering the burden of too many wounds and not knowing how to heal them.
And I love the reveal about Hava being her sister.
I also wondered if Bitterblue would step down as queen, given the Council's anti-monarchy trend, but maybe that's later...
Finally, I was happy to see a note in her author's notes about magically compensating for disabilities and Po's Grace. It's not fixed in this book, but just the thanks to the people who called her out on it was nice to see.
Recommended if you like books about people learning how to govern or books about individual and institutional trauma and recovery, though you do have to slog through a fair amount to get there.
Also, randomly, what books do people know and/or rec about people learning to govern? It's a theme I really like, and one that many things handwave after the Glorious Revolution. I find this frustrating because I'm much more interested in what happens after the new rule is in place. Most of the ones I can think of also involve female rulers, but that's probably just because I read mostly female protagonists. Mine: Laurie J. Marks' Elemental Logic series, Laura Kinsale's Shadowheart, Lloyd Alexander's The Beggar Queen, probably some of Ono Fuyumi's Twelve Kingdoms series (haven't read all of them), bits of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy and def. the Shadow Queen books, I think Michelle West's House series (haven't read), Megan Whalen Turner's King of Attolia, ... ?
Bitterblue is the young queen of Monsea, and she gradually learns that what she knows about her kingdom isn't quite what is going on.
Or: terrible synopsis trying not to spoil previous books.
As a summary, this book has many things I like, from ciphers to people learning how to handle their power to the process of recovering from trauma, both to individuals and to the entire country. It also has many of Cashore's other flaws, such as terrible, terrible naming and prosaic prose, along with some new ones in terms of pacing and character development. Bitterblue's character in particular suffers from the pacing; I was very frustrated when she would frequently have the same realization over and over and over. Which, realistic, but not particularly fascinating reading. There's also a bit too much bait-and-switch in the plot when Bitterblue is trying to find out who is telling the truth and who is lying, so much so that it makes some of the later reveals less shocking because you're so frustrated by the switching back and forth. The romance is also much less interesting than the ones in previous books.
I found the book very slow going until the last third or so, but I also think the last third is worth getting to, especially if you're interested in governance and recovery from widespread trauma. Still, it could have used much more editing.
Spoilers for all three books
Leck, even when dead, is still over-the-top villain, but I actually find him more believable in this book than in the previous two because we aren't seeing his OTT villainous thoughts, but rather seeing the effects he has had on people, even ten years after he is dead. And that actually makes him more horrific and villainous to me. Overall, I think the book does best when it is dealing with the aftermath of Leck's rule, from his abuse of individuals to questions about complicity and blame to how to deal with it on an institutional level.
Although I think Bitterblue the unaware queen is realistic, given that she assumes the throne at ten or so, I was frustrated by her early sweeping attempts to do good for her country without even knowing it. And though her exploring outside was a way to change that, I think I'm a bit tired of "royalty sneaks out to find out what commoners live like." I do like that when her identity is finally revealed, it's midway and there's a fair amount of stuff for her to deal with, but I mostly find the sneaking out a bit unrealistic? I was also bored with her commoner friends, particularly Saf, which makes many of their interactions later kind of dull. Bitterblue's various realizations about the power she has in comparison to Saf and Teddy are extremely frustrating, especially because she has these realizations several times. I also had a much fuzzier sense of her personality in comparison to Katsa's or Fire's, largely because of all the back and forth.
The book gets better after Bitterblue sneaking out has stopped and she can talk more with the people around her. Unfortunately, there is a bit too much of discovering that Advisor X has lied to her or Advisor Y is not saying something, then going back to trust X, then discovering they lied, then trusting, then... etc. Same with how the book varies between having an evil plot against Bitterblue vs. well-meaning people who do bad things, though I think this gets resolved better in the end.
The parts that were most fascinating to me was Bitterblue's attempts to find out what had happened during Leck's reign. I love the discovery of the journals and all the translation and deciphering, and I want Death's Grace of being able to remember what he's read and pattern recognition for myself. I love Bitterblue trying to remember her mother, and I really love what Cashore does with Bitterblue's advisors. The combination of their guilt, patronizing attitudes, pain, anger, apathy, and genuine goodwill was very believable and complicated and real, and I like that there are no good and easy answers. Thiel does terrible, terrible things, and he loves Bitterblue, and he hates himself, and he wants to be good, and he doesn't, and when he commits suicide, there's just pain and questions and confusion and rage and sorrow.
I also loved the acknowledgement that sometimes people need to know the truth, and sometimes there are things that are better left hidden. Sometimes the secrets Bitterblue discovers are crucial and important, and sometimes, like the bits of her father's journal, they are only cruel and harmful. I liked how complicated things were; no one is flat-out evil like Leck, but the various levels of complicity and brain fog and abuse make for painful decisions, and I like that there isn't a blanket pardon for the harm abused people cause others.
The bit with Lady Fire and the Dells at the end was a little too tidy for me, though I was very happy that Saf and Bitterblue reconcile but don't start a relationship. I love the acknowledgement that they are from different worlds and that Bitterblue can't not be queen, which I feel is something that isn't dealt with in a lot of books I read. And I want more conversations with Fire and Bitterblue, about growing up with their fathers, their own doubts about themselves, shouldering the burden of too many wounds and not knowing how to heal them.
And I love the reveal about Hava being her sister.
I also wondered if Bitterblue would step down as queen, given the Council's anti-monarchy trend, but maybe that's later...
Finally, I was happy to see a note in her author's notes about magically compensating for disabilities and Po's Grace. It's not fixed in this book, but just the thanks to the people who called her out on it was nice to see.
Recommended if you like books about people learning how to govern or books about individual and institutional trauma and recovery, though you do have to slog through a fair amount to get there.
Also, randomly, what books do people know and/or rec about people learning to govern? It's a theme I really like, and one that many things handwave after the Glorious Revolution. I find this frustrating because I'm much more interested in what happens after the new rule is in place. Most of the ones I can think of also involve female rulers, but that's probably just because I read mostly female protagonists. Mine: Laurie J. Marks' Elemental Logic series, Laura Kinsale's Shadowheart, Lloyd Alexander's The Beggar Queen, probably some of Ono Fuyumi's Twelve Kingdoms series (haven't read all of them), bits of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy and def. the Shadow Queen books, I think Michelle West's House series (haven't read), Megan Whalen Turner's King of Attolia, ... ?
I only mention books I like here:
Wed, Jun. 13th, 2012 10:19 pm (UTC)http://www.goodreads.com/series/55619-the-tales-of-nedao
Excellent trilogy about a girl (princess) having to save her population (but not her country) and dealing with new circumstances and growing into a queen (with respective king, I want to add). Has cat sidekick!
Also: Sherwood Smith's Senrid has Senrid learning to govern AND the young king of a neighbouring small country to contrast him with. Senrid is male.
Re: I only mention books I like here:
Wed, Jun. 13th, 2012 10:28 pm (UTC)Re: I only mention books I like here:
Thu, Jun. 14th, 2012 06:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Jun. 14th, 2012 02:29 am (UTC)I really liked a lot of the complicated plot confusion and the complexity of some of the issues Bitterblue was facing, and I liked a lot of the characterization going on enough to not mind the pacing. I ... thought Saf was interesting some of the time but not a serious love interest and I still feel like the book was trying to hint towards Gideon/Bitterblue as a potentially more long-term marriage borne of friendship while Saf was like a temporary infatuation-type fling.
I also liked that Raffin and Bann's relationship was textually acknowledged where I remember it being more subtextual in the first book (... I think? I read it a long time ago), that Fire showed up again, and in general I just appreciated seeing all my favorite characters again! :D
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 19th, 2012 07:24 pm (UTC)I also read Graceling years ago, so I had forgotten who nearly everyone was except for Po, Katsa, and Fire, which made it harder to figure out the other relationship reveals... i really need to reread.
(no subject)
Thu, Jun. 14th, 2012 11:13 am (UTC)I really love what Cashore does with Bitterblue's advisors. The combination of their guilt, patronizing attitudes, pain, anger, apathy, and genuine goodwill was very believable and complicated and real, and I like that there are no good and easy answers. Thiel does terrible, terrible things, and he loves Bitterblue, and he hates himself, and he wants to be good, and he doesn't, and when he commits suicide, there's just pain and questions and confusion and rage and sorrow. Yes to this, as well.
This is a good, insightful review. The series was quite impressive overall, and I am looking forward to reading more by the author.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 19th, 2012 07:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Jun. 14th, 2012 07:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 19th, 2012 07:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Jun. 29th, 2012 07:20 pm (UTC)Of course I feel I can't say they're awesome because it's been so long and because I read pretty much anything as a child. They were just the most important books I read, as I've never forgotten them or Anna.
(no subject)
Mon, Jul. 2nd, 2012 04:31 pm (UTC)