Ringworld, Larry Niven

Read this for the Cardiff SF/F book club! I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, since it’s in the SF Masterworks list — and deservedly so, I think. Some of the attitudes to the female characters grossed me out, and there is a casual rape joke thrown in — basically a recurring theme is that it’s a woman’s job to keep the men on her team from going nuts. By having sex with them. Still, the main female character does have an arc of her own through the story which is all tied up with her character and everything else in the book; we’re very much given the impression that all of it is happening because of her.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff here, really: the idea of the Ringworld, the idea of breeding a population for luck (and the exploration of the effects that would have), the aliens’ interactions with one another… There’s a lot of background here that the book uses, without flinging it all at you at once. The style is pretty immersive: you’re right in there with the main character, using the technology of his world, etc. The science is mostly in the background; I gather this was intended to be hard-SF and then gets mocked for some issues, but that isn’t obtrusive for a layperson at all.

It’s also pretty readable, partly because the science is mostly kept in the background, partly because the set-up is interesting enough to make up for frustrations with the characters (and even then, their interactions are interesting, and it’s not as if they don’t call each other on their bullshit).

Given all that, I’m not all that enthused about reading more of Niven’s work. It’s nice to read the classics sometimes, but I tend to prefer character-driven stories, with human motives driving it; this was definitely not that, as many of the things that happened were ginormous coincidences that only happened for plot reasons. People didn’t have much free will of their own, this way.

For taking an idea and following it logically through, I originally gave this four stars, but after discussion with the SF/F group, I decided to revise it down. Louis is basically a Sad Puppy; this is the kind of fiction the puppies laud, and a lot of it doesn’t sit well with me. It got past my defences because when I read something from the 70s, I automatically give it an of its time tag in my head. Which is a bit silly when it’s being republished in the Masterworks series now as still relevant. Still, the ideas themselves and the consistency of them worked for me, and it was in no way a chore to read (unlike, say, the sequels to Dune, sigh).

Rating: 3/5

Graceling, Kristin Cashore

I’ve read Graceling before, and I wasn’t quite sure what to think of it then. The anti-marriage plot and Katsa’s rejections of femininity didn’t sit well with me then; not because I’m that vociferously pro-marriage or that insistent on anyone being feminine, but I think I was looking for someone more like Celaena back then. Someone who could fight and survive and still be a woman, and not view feminine pursuits or interests as weak. Katsa isn’t that at all: she’s a woman who has been mostly forced to act as a thug, who is only beginning to learn that she can take control of her own life, and that has included being paraded for the marriage market and forced to pretty herself up, despite her lack of interest in both.

The issues of marriage and contraception… Well, to an extent they still feel a little bit incongruous to me, but I’m also impressed that they’re included in a YA book. It’s positive about sex and Katsa’s right to do what she wants with her own body, positive about finding a compromise that works for both you and your partner. And in a world where ineffective abstinence is about all that’s taught in schools, there’s definitely no harm in YA drawing attention to the existence of contraception, and it’s a valid part of the worldbuilding that it’s something which Katsa is aware of and can use.

I think I enjoyed it more this time because I appreciated those things more, and I knew they were coming. It left me more time to focus on other aspects like the worldbuilding. I’m still not sure about some of the place names — Middluns as the name of a kingdom? Really? But I did like other things like the whole idea of Graces, the idea of how kings and rulers would use that, how it would effect families. The exploration of how women were expected to rely on their male family members for protection, and yet that protection often failed them. I liked that Graces aren’t straightforward; they can evolve and change, they can surprise you, because all the time you thought you were Graced to do [x] and it turns out just to be a side effect of [y].

I’m not sure how I felt about Po’s Grace compensating for the injury. It’s represented as something different, not a straightforward replacement, though, so I think it steers clear of handwaving the disability away — and it’s definitely hinted at ahead of time.

The mindreading and mind control Graces creep me out as much as they do Katsa. They’re pretty closely aligned in my mind; it’s interesting how Po’s Grace is explored, but how the antagonist’s Grace is only ever condemned. It’s not as if people can help their Graces, only what they do with them. It’d be interesting to see someone with a similar Grace who struggles not to misuse it.

Rating: 4/5