The Falling Woman, Pat Murphy

The Falling Woman is a slowish, atmospheric read which got hooks into me and wouldn’t let go. I love the setting — the archaeological dig, the tensions of the excavation team, even the awkwardness between the long estranged mother and daughter… It feels like the kind of site it is: laden with history, meaning, and maybe even ghosts. It’s hard to describe, and to do so would be a disservice if you want to read the book, I think; the whole point is the slow unwinding, the building of tension and uncanniness, even threat.

What’s also awesome is that this is a book populated with women — not all female characters, but still, a good proportion. And they talk to each other (about things other than men!), and work and get dirty and bitten by bugs and tired till they ache. They like or dislike each other, find it difficult to relate, enjoy one another’s company or avoid it, and it feels real. No tokenism here (though perhaps a bit of racial stereotyping around the boyfriends the younger women pick up during their time off), and no false utopia either. Things are complicated, sometimes things aren’t even solved, and Murphy handles it well.

Definitely don’t read introductions or summaries, for this one. Give it time to reveal itself to you — I think you’ll be glad if you do.

Rating: 5/5

Little, Big, John Crowley

I’ve had Little, Big on my reading list for sooo long, and it definitely sounded like something I could love — a house bordering on the otherworld, rich writing, a whole tangle of family and connections to the otherworld that isn’t understood by all characters, and indeed is revealed slowly to the reader as well… For a while, I was captivated, definitely. Crowley’s writing is lovely, made me almost smell the rooms of the house, the dew-damp ground outside, etc, etc.

In the end, it reminded me a little of my experience with Tam Lin, in that I was waiting for things to happen, waiting for the story to move. Unlike Tam Lin, by the time it did, though, I’d stopped hanging on. I wasn’t interested in the characters anymore — who was sleeping with whom and who was the father of whose child, or even what each character was interested in and what they believed about their part in the story. Smokey Barnable reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s Shadow in American Gods; a nebulous figure to whom the story happens (except Smoky isn’t nearly as central as Shadow).

In the end, I got too lost in the words to enjoy the plot; honestly, I’d find it hard to tell you what the plot of most of the book was (though more plot appeared later on). A lot of it seemed to be just about coexisting with the otherworld, without much reaching across the boundaries, without much conflict or drive. It felt like short episodes of life from a family saga which just happened to include an otherworldly link. It just didn’t keep my interest, despite the high recommendations from friends (and the fact that it’s one of the Fantasy Masterworks series).

Rating: 2/5

The Copper Promise, Jen Williams

The Copper Promise is a fun, relatively traditional fantasy — you step into the world and it’s like a well-worn shirt: you know more or less the shape of the continents, the kind of creatures that live on and beneath the earth, the kind of relationships people have to their rulers. It’s somewhat medieval, feudal; there are knights (who will kick out gay members of their number, of course), ancient gods, magic just coming back into the world… And it’s fun because of that feeling. You can just relax into it and enjoy the characters: the somewhat grim knight, the scarred and vengeful mage, the quick and lithe thief. (And also enjoy the fact that the latter is a woman, Wydrin, and she’s very good at what she does.)

There are a couple of hiccups in the structure; it was originally written in a serialised format, in four sections, and sometimes the joins show a little too much. Mostly, though, I just found it well paced and fun. I mean, it starts with raiding an ancient temple structure. Awesome.

At the same time, it’s not hidebound. One of the main characters is gay, and not in some obvious flouncy way, but just because that happens to be part of who he is. Wydrin is a woman, and yet never trivialised in battle or in planning or indeed anything else I can think of; she’s as much of a character as the others, and often brings refreshing snark.

It could be a little predictable at times, but again, that felt like part of the point — it felt like pretty pure escapism in a traditional fantasy world, and I’m all for that.

Rating: 4/5

The Door into Shadow, Diane Duane

While The Door into Shadow continues the overarching plot of getting Freelorn to his throne, the focus turns from Herewiss to Segnbora. Segnbora is a great character, her relationship with the dragons is fascinating, and the overall thrust of the story — of overcoming old trauma to really come into your power, even embracing the old trauma because it made you who you are — chimes with me quite well.

The only problem is, Segnbora’s character is built on that trauma, around her inability to open up — to magic, to people, to anything. The whole thing relies on her overcoming her trauma. Which, because she’s a female character, you can probably guess the origin of. There is something powerful here about acceptance and healing, but I could wish her story didn’t just reach for that convenient storyline. Particularly when it’s otherwise good about people living and loving outside the box, and at making that a totally natural part of the world.

I didn’t love any of the characters as much as Herewiss and Sunspark, and something about the structure of the plot didn’t work that well for me either. It felt like a series of pre-ordained episodes, taking Segnbora inexorably toward something she didn’t want to face, “for her own good”. I guess that fits with the way this world works, but it didn’t work for me.

Also, some of the language about the Goddess sometimes tips into being ‘too much’ for me, somehow. The Glasscastle section, however, is brilliant; atmospheric, urgent.

Rating: 3/5

Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue is a difficult and powerful read. It follows the character of Bitterblue as she grows into her power as the queen of Monsea, and it also follows the healing process of her fractured realm, dealing with all kinds of trauma inflicted by Bitterblue’s father, Leck. There’s a lot going on here, and while there are lighter moments like Katsa’s relationship with Po, there’s a lot of serious things going on. Bitterblue has her own trauma to recover from, related to the way her father treated her mother, and she finds that the people around her — people she thought she could trust — are damaged, and are willing to do anything to smooth over the terrible things that they did under King Leck’s rule.

Seriously: trauma. Of all kinds. A lot of it deals with issues of consent and control; Leck was capable of making people believe anything he told them to believe, so he came up with narratives that made people do terrible things. He got what he wanted, and what he wanted was dark and monstrous, and that’s what he made people.

It ties in with Graceling, of course, but also with Fire; it turns out that some of Leck’s motivations are to be found in the events and characters of Fire, and we see the main character of Fire herself come to speak to Bitterblue and ally with her. There’s a lot of interaction between all the three books — more than were apparent between Graceling and Fire, I think — and that means a major theme of Graceling is also explored: Po’s abuse of the trust of people around him because he is to some degree a mindreader. Giddon’s character is developed more, and honestly, I love him.

It’s not an easy read, and I haven’t covered the half of it — Bitterblue also has a sort of romance with Saf, a Lienid thief, and again there’s all kinds of issues of truth and trust there. There’s also the same respect for the female characters’ decisions as regards — well, everything, but including their decisions about sex and relationships. Bitterblue is a queen, but in this world she is not expected to be pure and chaste and sell herself off to the highest bidder. It’s kind of refreshing to find that in fantasy, along with the discussion of contraception used, etc.

I do recommend it, but tread gently if you have triggers; I think some of the descriptions of trauma are very on point.

Rating: 4/5