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cahnFinally got around to Horizon (Bujold). Well, I liked it fine. It definitely reminded me of Cherryh a bit (though markedly less grim): the big bad was not defeated, or even understood, but a minor (well, relatively) part of the big bad is defeated, with the idea that it may now be easier to defeat the big bad entirely; and a culture is not changed upside down, but nudged, little by little, into a better shape.
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Bujold's publishers for splitting the book up and making me think I disliked it much more than I actually do? So I was rather annoyed at the last book when Dag turned out to be a total Gary Sue Expert In Everything. Well, okay, in this book it turns out that yeah, Dag is smart, but not actually so smart that he happened to stumble on something, all by himself without help, that people who, y'know, spent their lives studying didn't know about-- as happens in real life to smart people as well (as you may know, the title of this post refers to one of my favorite physics stories, Heisenberg's experience with Max Born when Heisenberg came up with a cool new way to talk about the mathematics of quantum mechanics). I have to say I laughed out loud when Arkady was all, "uh, yeah, of course I know about that stuff, and why do you do it so badly?"
The training of Dag, in general, was a lot of fun. Points for mentioning ectopic pregnancies, which I was relieved to see did not actually appear in the rest of the book, because, ick. I liked Arkady very much, and was very pleased at his arc. (Though was it just me, or was Dag just plain rude to him after Arkady basically lays his whole life on the line for Dag and all Dag can say is, "You'd better follow my rules"? How about, you know, "Thanks"?) Remo and Barr were fun to watch as well. Fawn's adventure at the end did give me chills, like it was supposed to (eek!), and Dag's confrontation after that was really rather immensely satisfying, even though it probably makes me a bad person to say that I found it so.
I did have one huge problem with the ending specifically. It seems like the whole book was bringing up these Cultural Issues (the status, or lack thereof, of half-breed children, the problem of Lakewalkers curing farmers and the riots when they can't) and then... poof... the epilogue happened and the problems all sort of magically disappeared. Apparently no one gives any of the half-breeds a second glance anymore, and Dag magically became a healer who has pretty much no problem with people wanting him to perform miracles he can't perform. Oh, there are some explanations given, and I suppose it is believable that living in a society where they are friends and neighbors, they aer able to coexist peacefully and in a friendly way (which, as well, is how Card's Worthing Saga glosses over the same issue)... but I still wonder, a bit, if it isn't glossing, and if Nattie-Mari will have problems, one day, when a boy wants to court her and his parents say he mustn't or they'll disown him, or if some crazy farmers from another town come and lynch Dag because he has gone over his maximum for dirty ground so he can't cure their daughter but it sure looks like he is malingering to them.
I also am still sort of worried about how idyllic Dag and Fawn's relationship is. I mean, I know, it's a romance, but... D and I have been married for three years now, and I feel our romance is pretty idyllic, and we've never had a knock-down drag-out fight (of the sort I have with people in my family every couple of years or so), but... you know... we have issues, occasionally. Very small ones, so far, but there are certainly days when life has gone badly for one of us and we are lashing out at the world, and the other one gets caught in the edges (never taking the brunt of it so far, which is good), with some disgruntlement ensuing. Dag and Fawn seem to understand each other perfectly always, which strikes me as a little... unlikely, given their extremely different backgrounds and extreme lack of common features (yes, I know some mixed-race/culture marriages that have done quite well-- I don't count my marriage as this kind of mixed-race/culture, though it certainly could count as one, because though we are of different races we are really from the same American-middle-class schema-- but only because they share some sort of major culture, like a fairly strong religion, or at least the experience of being from an immigrant culture). It's a far cry from the lifebonds I used to make fun of all the time, but it still seems to promote a slightly perniciously perfectionist view of marriage. (Compare Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon, where they did have to work out some things, though they also never really got into a fight.) But, you know, I'll let it slide, as it's a romance. (If it weren't a LMB book-- I really do expect her to be perfect-- I wouldn't even be bringing it up for a romance book.)
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Bujold's publishers for splitting the book up and making me think I disliked it much more than I actually do? So I was rather annoyed at the last book when Dag turned out to be a total Gary Sue Expert In Everything. Well, okay, in this book it turns out that yeah, Dag is smart, but not actually so smart that he happened to stumble on something, all by himself without help, that people who, y'know, spent their lives studying didn't know about-- as happens in real life to smart people as well (as you may know, the title of this post refers to one of my favorite physics stories, Heisenberg's experience with Max Born when Heisenberg came up with a cool new way to talk about the mathematics of quantum mechanics). I have to say I laughed out loud when Arkady was all, "uh, yeah, of course I know about that stuff, and why do you do it so badly?"
The training of Dag, in general, was a lot of fun. Points for mentioning ectopic pregnancies, which I was relieved to see did not actually appear in the rest of the book, because, ick. I liked Arkady very much, and was very pleased at his arc. (Though was it just me, or was Dag just plain rude to him after Arkady basically lays his whole life on the line for Dag and all Dag can say is, "You'd better follow my rules"? How about, you know, "Thanks"?) Remo and Barr were fun to watch as well. Fawn's adventure at the end did give me chills, like it was supposed to (eek!), and Dag's confrontation after that was really rather immensely satisfying, even though it probably makes me a bad person to say that I found it so.
I did have one huge problem with the ending specifically. It seems like the whole book was bringing up these Cultural Issues (the status, or lack thereof, of half-breed children, the problem of Lakewalkers curing farmers and the riots when they can't) and then... poof... the epilogue happened and the problems all sort of magically disappeared. Apparently no one gives any of the half-breeds a second glance anymore, and Dag magically became a healer who has pretty much no problem with people wanting him to perform miracles he can't perform. Oh, there are some explanations given, and I suppose it is believable that living in a society where they are friends and neighbors, they aer able to coexist peacefully and in a friendly way (which, as well, is how Card's Worthing Saga glosses over the same issue)... but I still wonder, a bit, if it isn't glossing, and if Nattie-Mari will have problems, one day, when a boy wants to court her and his parents say he mustn't or they'll disown him, or if some crazy farmers from another town come and lynch Dag because he has gone over his maximum for dirty ground so he can't cure their daughter but it sure looks like he is malingering to them.
I also am still sort of worried about how idyllic Dag and Fawn's relationship is. I mean, I know, it's a romance, but... D and I have been married for three years now, and I feel our romance is pretty idyllic, and we've never had a knock-down drag-out fight (of the sort I have with people in my family every couple of years or so), but... you know... we have issues, occasionally. Very small ones, so far, but there are certainly days when life has gone badly for one of us and we are lashing out at the world, and the other one gets caught in the edges (never taking the brunt of it so far, which is good), with some disgruntlement ensuing. Dag and Fawn seem to understand each other perfectly always, which strikes me as a little... unlikely, given their extremely different backgrounds and extreme lack of common features (yes, I know some mixed-race/culture marriages that have done quite well-- I don't count my marriage as this kind of mixed-race/culture, though it certainly could count as one, because though we are of different races we are really from the same American-middle-class schema-- but only because they share some sort of major culture, like a fairly strong religion, or at least the experience of being from an immigrant culture). It's a far cry from the lifebonds I used to make fun of all the time, but it still seems to promote a slightly perniciously perfectionist view of marriage. (Compare Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon, where they did have to work out some things, though they also never really got into a fight.) But, you know, I'll let it slide, as it's a romance. (If it weren't a LMB book-- I really do expect her to be perfect-- I wouldn't even be bringing it up for a romance book.)
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Date: 2009-06-16 10:38 pm (UTC)I'm not really questioning either of their dedication/commitment so much as I question that they necessarily are always able to make it work without at least small misunderstandings or emotions getting in the way... But you make a very good point; I could see how keeping your temper with a bunch of unruly patrollers is good practice for keeping it with a spouse.