Long live the e-book. And smart phones. And apps that make reading on smartphones such a seamless experience!
Provenance by Ann Leckie: At this point, it’s safe to say that I’ll probably read anything by Leckie. She knows how to plot, and yet there’s a quietness to her stories. By which I mean that her stories while being a page-turner also feel very personal, and intimate. Maybe because everything is told through the point of view of a single character? I’m not sure. I think the quietness has also got something to do with Leckie’s focus, or the focus of the story as it unfolds. I’m not EXACTLY sure why her books feel ‘quiet’ to me. Anyone wants to chime in?
Provenance is set in the same world as the Ancillary trilogy but it’s a self-contained story, working itself out in a different corner of that Universe. The protagonist for one, unlike Breq, is a fumbling youngling as compared to Breq’s solidity and maturity.
Identity is again at the forefront of this story but approached from a totally different angle as compared to the Ancillary trilogy. Provenance explores cultural identity, and planetary identity, and so by its very nature feels like an aspect of self that has deeper roots in one’s psyche. It also feels like a part of onself that one would tend to not be fully aware of. Leckie asks what happens when this part of one’s being-ness comes into question.
As always, Leckie’s story is full of meaty, substantive ideas. However, all of it unravels slowly in the middle of deliciously weird alien-races, plenty of action, and a coming-of-age tale. I have to admit it took me a while to warm up to both the main character as well as the plot which didn’t really seem to be going anywhere: the first 7-8 chapters were kind of slow-going. But as soon as that mark was crossed, I could not stop reading!
How about you? Have you read this one? Or anything else by Ann Leckie?
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The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Choskshi: I was cautiously optimistic about this one. A fantasy set against the rich mythology of Indian subcontinent? I was eager but also wary. Guess what? I was right to be wary!
I didn’t like the florid prose. And I do mean florid. I LOVE big, flowery sentences crammed with adjectively descriptions and adverbly actions. But the sentences in The Star-Touched Queen were a shade too purple for me; they were a little too weird and hallucinatory for my tastes.
Then the thing which threw me off completely EVERY single time it cropped up: the way Bharat is used in the story.
In Chokshi’s book, Bharat refers to a single nation-state which is surrounded by other nation-states. Only the Bharat and the other nation-states she talks about MAKE UP THE WHOLE OF BHARAT aka India in real life.
I’m not making much sense, am I? It’s like saying America is made up of the states of America, and California, and Washington, and Oregon, etc. etc.
As far as I’m aware, both in history and mythology Bharat has always referred to the whole of Indian nation, as opposed to a part of it taking that name for itself. (though I guess chest-thumping patriots MIGHT have proclaimed their very own state as THE Bharat State? Hmm.)
Anyway, this is a fantasy, and Chokshi can make her world up whichever way she wants (and maybe there’s some precedence for this in real life) but the usage was anachronistic enough that it just pulled me out of the flow of the story every single time it cropped up.
The world in Chokshi’s story is strange and different (I’m compelled to add: from what I’m used to), and before long I felt like I was being pelted with too much weirdness (that, again, was not to my taste). I ended up DNFing this about 30% of the way in I think. Oh, the insta-lust element of the story did NOT go well with me either. (I AM NOT A FAN OF INSTA-LUST (though maybe I should give those stories a chance to see how they unfold? Hmm)) So yes, that was that. I’d love to hear from folks who read and loved this! I want to know what worked for you! (maybe the same things that were off-putting to me?)
I would also very much like to read fantasies set in the Indian subcontinent (the region is TEEMING with mythology—the reason why I don’t have patience with European mythologies. TOO MUCH HAS ALREADY BEEN STUFFED INTO MY HEAD!) so if anyone has any recommendations, I’d love to hear ‘em!
Ok, so this turned out to be not so brief. I’ll get to the rest of the stuff later! I think those will be considerably briefer! Hope everyone’s having a good summer!