Grr

[ladyofastolat]

Grr! I wrote a post this morning, but didn't finish it. Since LJ now saves drafts, I was able to finish it at work, but couldn't post it, since I often can't update from work. I'm home briefly now, before going to a meeting in Cowes, and went to post it from the saved draft. I did indeed post it... then noticed it had posted the incomplete saved draft from this morning, not the draft of the completed version. I deleted it... and now it's lost the draft, too, so I'll have to start again from scratch.

Or not bother. Summary was: musings about book sequels, with mentions of Robin Hobb, and Tehanu. Talk about "The King of Attolia", that I read yesterday. A review of "The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner (the book that "The King of Attolia" is the second sequel to.) Key message: Great book! Not so great sequel. Great second sequel. Read it!

There. A two page post summarised in three lines. Off to my meeting now.

Comments

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I agree about the feminism. I read some of the things LeGuin said about her reasons for writing Tehanu as she did, and she makes a lot about the irreconcilable differences between men and women, which I just don't agree with. People are people. Some characteristics are a little more likely to be found in women, and some a little more likely to be found in men, but I think people should relate to others as humans first and foremost, with gender, race and everything else pushed far into the background.

Female fantasy leads don't bother me per se (except when they insist on wearing chainmail bikinis on the front cover.) I can deal with female leads, as long as the blurb also makes clear that there's going to be an interesting male character featuring strongly, too.

My preference for male leads derives from shallowness, pure and simple. If a main character is running around with a sword, saving the world and doing cool magic, I want them to be someone I can fall in love with. I can fall in love with male heroes. Female heroes I can't. (And, yes, I realise I am totally hypocritical, given what I've just said about reacting to people as humans first and foremost, but fiction is different from life.)

I do, though, also get annoyed by the anachronism that's behind a lot of strong female leads in historical novels. So many novels end up showing a medieval woman in a medieval, patriachal society who is "strong" - i.e. uses a sword, answers back, and does things that just wouldn't have been done in that sort of society. That just annoys me. A pet hate of mine is modern values being imposed on the past. I prefer female characters, in historical settings, to be strong within the confines of their society, not "strong" in a way defined by the values of 2006, that doesn't fit in with their own world.

(If that makes sense at all...)

As for Atuan... I read it at 11, so maybe I was a bit different in my reactions then. I do remember, though, that it was my least favourite of the three, and on re-reading it, I was often tempted to skip to the bits where Ged appeared.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I should add that when I said "if a fantasy novel has a female lead, I don't even read it", that's an exaggeration. It's more a case of, "if a fantasy novel has a female lead, I'm less likely to read it, and will check first to make sure it also has an interesting-looking male co-lead."