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rachelmanija Dec. 3rd, 2018 11:02 am)
rachelmanija Dec. 3rd, 2018 11:02 am)I took a break from the series after The Scarab Path and just picked it up again, so this isn't a review, just some flaily notes inspired by having just dived into the series again.
I'm glad I'm reading it right now, because the themes of doing your best in incredibly dark times and trying to make the right choices when it's not at all clear what is the right choice, is really something I want to read now.
It's a series largely about war, and without being very gory/gruesome, doesn't sugarcoat it at all. It's emotionally rough, but not despairing. So far at least, it's actually very hopeful about the good in humanity, and is that rare fantasy war series in which the characters who want peace and think it's possible to negotiate with the enemy are not presented as naive morons.
The brutality of the war is also offset by the sheer glee and exuberant inventiveness of the world. I fucking love the kinden, and every time a new one is introduced I share in the author's obvious delight. There's an especially good one in The Scarab Path.
Please don't spoil me for any new kinden introduced after The Air War! Especially, the nature of what's under the seal, which has not yet been confirmed. I love discovering them for myself.
I am not big on bugs in real life, but I admire and enjoy Tchaikovsky's obvious enthusiasm for all things insectile. Can you imagine his room as a young boy? It would be like my parents' cabin only on purpose.
Also, once I got over the hump of the Apt/Inapt divide being 1) essentially magical and so not based on Earth logic like how one defines a machine, 2) being based more on time period, i.e., people from the Bronze Age existing at the same time as people from the Industrial Revolution, than on literally how machines work, it became really fascinating and I love how he's exploring it and introducing new aspects of it.
I've read through book 8 (The Air War) by now, and my book notes include spoilers through that. Please no spoilers past that point! I am delighting in not knowing WTF is going to happen next.
Salute the Dark: I generally have loved the characters individually and the platonic relationships in this series, and the romantic/sexual relationships have almost universally left me cold. My one exception was Tisamon/Felise - you could see what drew them together, which was they were so similar. Luckily for me, I did not expect them to have a happy ending. In fact I expected something more or less like what happened, which was at least the sort of ending they wanted.
...I expected it to happen in book ten.
I also expected them to be honored as honorable heroes and mourned by their friends/family, and for that to be the end of their stories. Rarely have I been quite so wrong.
The Scarab Path. This was such a fascinating concept - Che getting an Aptitude reversal, and the whole weird city. So atmospheric and intriguing.
SLUG PEOPLE. The magnificent, decadent, scary, godlike remnants of the race that once ruled the world are SLUGS. That was the best reveal.
I'm glad I'm reading it right now, because the themes of doing your best in incredibly dark times and trying to make the right choices when it's not at all clear what is the right choice, is really something I want to read now.
It's a series largely about war, and without being very gory/gruesome, doesn't sugarcoat it at all. It's emotionally rough, but not despairing. So far at least, it's actually very hopeful about the good in humanity, and is that rare fantasy war series in which the characters who want peace and think it's possible to negotiate with the enemy are not presented as naive morons.
The brutality of the war is also offset by the sheer glee and exuberant inventiveness of the world. I fucking love the kinden, and every time a new one is introduced I share in the author's obvious delight. There's an especially good one in The Scarab Path.
Please don't spoil me for any new kinden introduced after The Air War! Especially, the nature of what's under the seal, which has not yet been confirmed. I love discovering them for myself.
I am not big on bugs in real life, but I admire and enjoy Tchaikovsky's obvious enthusiasm for all things insectile. Can you imagine his room as a young boy? It would be like my parents' cabin only on purpose.
Also, once I got over the hump of the Apt/Inapt divide being 1) essentially magical and so not based on Earth logic like how one defines a machine, 2) being based more on time period, i.e., people from the Bronze Age existing at the same time as people from the Industrial Revolution, than on literally how machines work, it became really fascinating and I love how he's exploring it and introducing new aspects of it.
I've read through book 8 (The Air War) by now, and my book notes include spoilers through that. Please no spoilers past that point! I am delighting in not knowing WTF is going to happen next.
Salute the Dark: I generally have loved the characters individually and the platonic relationships in this series, and the romantic/sexual relationships have almost universally left me cold. My one exception was Tisamon/Felise - you could see what drew them together, which was they were so similar. Luckily for me, I did not expect them to have a happy ending. In fact I expected something more or less like what happened, which was at least the sort of ending they wanted.
...I expected it to happen in book ten.
I also expected them to be honored as honorable heroes and mourned by their friends/family, and for that to be the end of their stories. Rarely have I been quite so wrong.
The Scarab Path. This was such a fascinating concept - Che getting an Aptitude reversal, and the whole weird city. So atmospheric and intriguing.
SLUG PEOPLE. The magnificent, decadent, scary, godlike remnants of the race that once ruled the world are SLUGS. That was the best reveal.
