373 pages
English language
Published Sept. 11, 2002 by Tor Fantasy.
The first in a four-book series. Epic fantasy, broadly explores colonization and its impacts, including genocide of indigenous peoples. Multiple LGBT2Q+ characters.
Am Anfang lange Durststrecken aus Kriegsszenen, aber die Figuren unkonventionell und sehr gay ❤️ Ich bin sehr gespannt auf die Fortsetzung.
Cons: A bit of a slow start, occasionally muddy action/motivation. Pros: satisfyingly surprising, delightfully normalizing of queer relationships, and a wonderfully readable adventure tale- can't wait for the next one. The enemy starts out fairly one-dimensional, but there are subtle nuances that hint at the eventually-more-fleshed-out understanding of them. There are also some nicely descriptive aspects of different cultures, though not all of them get that level of detail; the people surrounding the final element to be encountered in the book were caricatures compared to the other cultures described, though this arguably be due to the rarity of that element and the language barrier. I was delighted to find that Laurie Marks thanked Rosemary Kirstein in the acknowledgements-- another author whose work I've recently and very thoroughly enjoyed. I could happily read another ten books in this series, but am happy to have three others to look forward to.
This series is a hidden gem. Highly recommend.
** 2019 reread, on a Laurie J. Marks binge.
this was utterly captivating and i don't know what i was on about with not being able to get into it -- i started reading it at the gym and accidentally did 40+ minutes on the treadmill.
deeply emotionally-driven, and its strength is in what's often left unsaid. deals with not just the trauma of war, but racialization and colonization in ways that were lost on me ten years ago. ALSO extremely and unapologetically and delightfully gay, and btw i recently read that Marks realized she was a lesbian at age 29, in the course of writing a novel (which novel, she doesn't say.. maybe this one??).
original review follows **
It took me a couple tries to start this one, but once I did, I was hooked. It's nothing like what I was expecting, which I suppose was something like …
** 2019 reread, on a Laurie J. Marks binge.
this was utterly captivating and i don't know what i was on about with not being able to get into it -- i started reading it at the gym and accidentally did 40+ minutes on the treadmill.
deeply emotionally-driven, and its strength is in what's often left unsaid. deals with not just the trauma of war, but racialization and colonization in ways that were lost on me ten years ago. ALSO extremely and unapologetically and delightfully gay, and btw i recently read that Marks realized she was a lesbian at age 29, in the course of writing a novel (which novel, she doesn't say.. maybe this one??).
original review follows **
It took me a couple tries to start this one, but once I did, I was hooked. It's nothing like what I was expecting, which I suppose was something like Children of the Triad and something like your typical epic fantasy novel. It's darker and grittier than Children of the Triad (or at least, than I recall that series being).
My one gripe is that it was hard to get a sense of the characters' inner worlds. It took me until halfway through the book to figure out that Zanja herself largely acts (or reacts) on instinct and doesn't understand her own motivations for things.
Tempted to say more, but I can't really beat this review: "Gritty elemental fantasy with a focus on interesting, well-developed female characters who happen to be queer? Sign me up, yo."
