Isles of the Forsaken
Sep. 26th, 2011 12:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ann_leckieIsles of the Forsaken by Carolyn Ives Gilman
So, I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, because I got an advance copy. But I'm remarkably bad at summarizing and describing books, honestly, I never know where to start.
But I think this book deserves a mention, and readers. Full disclosure--Carolyn is a friend of mine, which is where I got my advance copy. Still, you should read this book.
So it's like this. The (British analogue naval power) Innings control the distant Forsaken Isles--there are actually two different ethnic groups in the Forsaken Isles, the Torna and the Adaina, with a history of prejudice and friction between themselves, which of course the Innings have used to their advantage, setting up the Torna to administer the isles for the Innings. That's really awfully cool, IMO, so often in fantasy novels territories or nations or what have you are occupied by single monolithic groups.
One of our POV characters is Harg, an Adaina who's made officer in the Inning navy--the only Adaina to have done so. He's quit and gone home, where most of the Torna he meets flat out don't believe he was ever a navy officer. We've also got Nathaway Talley, a do-gooder Inning rich kid who's come to the Forsaken Isles to "bring civilization," particularly his idea of the impartial justice of the Inning legal system.
And then we have the Lashnura, who are people with healing abilities, who also play a part in keeping a balance between the extremely powerful magical forces that will, if unbalanced and unleashed, destroy the universe. The healing thing involves a ritual called bandhota, which requires the blood of a Lashnura, and binds them and their patient to each other in a sort of combination of love and addiction. And it's not like any Lashnura can avoid doing it--they have to, to live. Our third POV character is Spaeth, a young and in some ways very naive Lashnura woman.
Though the Lashnura aren't all female, I was struck by the very (to me) gendered nature of their obligation--they have to bleed for someone, have to care for them, have to love them. It put me in mind very strongly of the pressure for women to be caretakers, the expectation that that caretaking is the central purpose of women's existence.
The Innings have just won one war, and the admiral who won it for them (Nathaway Talley's far more ruthless and shrewd elder brother) has turned his attention to the Forsaken Isles. The Torna leader is nominally working for the Innings--but she's got ideas of her own, and so does Harg. If they can get the various factions of the Torna and the Adaina working together, they'll be a real threat to Admiral Talley's ambitions. And the right Lashnura--the Heir of Gilgen--has the potential to be a sort of kingmaker in a way that would attract the support of most of the islanders. Admiral Talley has taken the Heir of Gilgen out of play--or so he thinks.
This is the first of two volumes. Ison of the Isles will be out next year, but you should go ahead and read this. It's got naval battles, and political intrigue! The fate of the universe is at stake! Read it!
And if you haven't already, you should read Halfway Human, which made the Tiptree shortlist in 1999.
So, I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, because I got an advance copy. But I'm remarkably bad at summarizing and describing books, honestly, I never know where to start.
But I think this book deserves a mention, and readers. Full disclosure--Carolyn is a friend of mine, which is where I got my advance copy. Still, you should read this book.
So it's like this. The (British analogue naval power) Innings control the distant Forsaken Isles--there are actually two different ethnic groups in the Forsaken Isles, the Torna and the Adaina, with a history of prejudice and friction between themselves, which of course the Innings have used to their advantage, setting up the Torna to administer the isles for the Innings. That's really awfully cool, IMO, so often in fantasy novels territories or nations or what have you are occupied by single monolithic groups.
One of our POV characters is Harg, an Adaina who's made officer in the Inning navy--the only Adaina to have done so. He's quit and gone home, where most of the Torna he meets flat out don't believe he was ever a navy officer. We've also got Nathaway Talley, a do-gooder Inning rich kid who's come to the Forsaken Isles to "bring civilization," particularly his idea of the impartial justice of the Inning legal system.
And then we have the Lashnura, who are people with healing abilities, who also play a part in keeping a balance between the extremely powerful magical forces that will, if unbalanced and unleashed, destroy the universe. The healing thing involves a ritual called bandhota, which requires the blood of a Lashnura, and binds them and their patient to each other in a sort of combination of love and addiction. And it's not like any Lashnura can avoid doing it--they have to, to live. Our third POV character is Spaeth, a young and in some ways very naive Lashnura woman.
Though the Lashnura aren't all female, I was struck by the very (to me) gendered nature of their obligation--they have to bleed for someone, have to care for them, have to love them. It put me in mind very strongly of the pressure for women to be caretakers, the expectation that that caretaking is the central purpose of women's existence.
The Innings have just won one war, and the admiral who won it for them (Nathaway Talley's far more ruthless and shrewd elder brother) has turned his attention to the Forsaken Isles. The Torna leader is nominally working for the Innings--but she's got ideas of her own, and so does Harg. If they can get the various factions of the Torna and the Adaina working together, they'll be a real threat to Admiral Talley's ambitions. And the right Lashnura--the Heir of Gilgen--has the potential to be a sort of kingmaker in a way that would attract the support of most of the islanders. Admiral Talley has taken the Heir of Gilgen out of play--or so he thinks.
This is the first of two volumes. Ison of the Isles will be out next year, but you should go ahead and read this. It's got naval battles, and political intrigue! The fate of the universe is at stake! Read it!
And if you haven't already, you should read Halfway Human, which made the Tiptree shortlist in 1999.
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Date: 2011-09-26 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-27 06:06 am (UTC)I share your frustration with fantasy settings in which nation=single ethnicity or in which all dwarves (or whatever) are part of a single culture.