Yeah, I thought that Kit is treated a lot more like a sexual being than Nita, which is an interesting narrative choice, though one where the characters feel peculiarly sexless. I mean, I don't want multiple graphic sex scenes between Nita and Kit! That would be kind of weird given how the books have played out so far! But given that this was the book about Nita and Kit navigating their relationship and defining what being a boyfriend/girlfriend meant to them, including sex, it felt like not a lot of navigation was done, or definitions. I had really expected, flowing on from Lifeboats, a much more frank and consistent examination of their relationship. Maybe next book, I guess!
Lissa and Matt were kind of frustrating to me in the extent that representation is great, and the fandom has been clamouring for representation quite vocally since AWOM, but it felt like none of them got to be characters in this book outside of revealing to Nita that they're not straight. Lissa gets more as she gets the scene at the beginning, but given that DD's stated reason for not including LGBT characters in the past was because she didn't want it to be tokenism ... that is exactly what we got. This might be more on me; I would have liked them more tied to the plot. But I agree with you about what you said earlier about this cast being too large for the story, and so I can appreciate that some characters had to have minor roles. Just ... I wish they had minor roles that allowed them to do more! I also agree that the Special One talk was weirdly dictatorial, and based on a far more naive view of relationships. I guess it is a fairly accurate capturing of adolescent views of relationships! But given how much time is spent on it, it did feel like it was given the Authorial Seal of Approval.
I have to wonder whether in conception Mehrnaz was meant to be from a non-wizard family who were abusive and that her journey was meant to be how being given wizardry meant that she would have the tools to leave a family that could never change. Having her move out and leave in that context, as you say, would be a conclusion I would be on board with. I would find that satisfying. Instead, what's happened is this kind of limbo state where Mehrnaz can move out, but unless she cuts herself off entirely from the wizardry hierarchy in her area, she's still left answering to her own family who have made it very clear they have no interest in fostering her talents and abilities. I'm genuinely shocked at how a ridiculous dick waving contest between two adolescent guys who are explicitly caught in a hormonal surge will get you threatened with taking your wizardry away, but that decades of emotional abuse is condoned. It happened on Irina's watch, these are wizards, they are responsible to her. It's a very ugly scenario and one that I wanted explored because Irina's response was to me utterly unsatisfactory. The time spent on Lissa's Special One talk really could have gone to resolving this as honestly it was more important. Because how can you be a wizard if you are not at heart a good person?
ngl i am less interested in Penn so much as "the narrative trope of someone's identity being upended and them working out what that means", so I fully expect that in the next book he will be uninteresting to me from a canon perspective because it would be resolved. Mehrnaz I desperately want more about, not the least because she would be the first recurring teenaged female character since Carmela and I think the books need more young female wizards! She is super sweet! I want more about her and her moving out and dealing with her family's abuse and coming out stronger for it! I guess I will just have to stare intently at the YW fic fest I'm running and hope that someone writes that who is not me.
As for Nita's dreams, the only one I thought was necessary was the one with Carmela. /heretic. The rest, while creepy, didn't really seem to further the metaplot of the series! But i am super looking forward to the next book and what happens in it, because it sounds like it will have a fairly meaty theme, something that the "main" novels have been missing since WAW.
I'm hoping that Lifeboats is a return to form - it's a better story than GWP, it allows Kit to actually be the intelligent, clever, awesome character he is meant to be, and demonstrating why he is Nita's equal, rather than her sidekick. Also Kit with the sibik was adorable and I will fight anyone who thinks it wasn't necessary.
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Date: 2016-02-03 08:46 pm (UTC)Lissa and Matt were kind of frustrating to me in the extent that representation is great, and the fandom has been clamouring for representation quite vocally since AWOM, but it felt like none of them got to be characters in this book outside of revealing to Nita that they're not straight. Lissa gets more as she gets the scene at the beginning, but given that DD's stated reason for not including LGBT characters in the past was because she didn't want it to be tokenism ... that is exactly what we got. This might be more on me; I would have liked them more tied to the plot. But I agree with you about what you said earlier about this cast being too large for the story, and so I can appreciate that some characters had to have minor roles. Just ... I wish they had minor roles that allowed them to do more! I also agree that the Special One talk was weirdly dictatorial, and based on a far more naive view of relationships. I guess it is a fairly accurate capturing of adolescent views of relationships! But given how much time is spent on it, it did feel like it was given the Authorial Seal of Approval.
I have to wonder whether in conception Mehrnaz was meant to be from a non-wizard family who were abusive and that her journey was meant to be how being given wizardry meant that she would have the tools to leave a family that could never change. Having her move out and leave in that context, as you say, would be a conclusion I would be on board with. I would find that satisfying. Instead, what's happened is this kind of limbo state where Mehrnaz can move out, but unless she cuts herself off entirely from the wizardry hierarchy in her area, she's still left answering to her own family who have made it very clear they have no interest in fostering her talents and abilities. I'm genuinely shocked at how a ridiculous dick waving contest between two adolescent guys who are explicitly caught in a hormonal surge will get you threatened with taking your wizardry away, but that decades of emotional abuse is condoned. It happened on Irina's watch, these are wizards, they are responsible to her. It's a very ugly scenario and one that I wanted explored because Irina's response was to me utterly unsatisfactory. The time spent on Lissa's Special One talk really could have gone to resolving this as honestly it was more important. Because how can you be a wizard if you are not at heart a good person?
ngl i am less interested in Penn so much as "the narrative trope of someone's identity being upended and them working out what that means", so I fully expect that in the next book he will be uninteresting to me from a canon perspective because it would be resolved. Mehrnaz I desperately want more about, not the least because she would be the first recurring teenaged female character since Carmela and I think the books need more young female wizards! She is super sweet! I want more about her and her moving out and dealing with her family's abuse and coming out stronger for it! I guess I will just have to stare intently at the YW fic fest I'm running and hope that someone writes that who is not me.
As for Nita's dreams, the only one I thought was necessary was the one with Carmela. /heretic. The rest, while creepy, didn't really seem to further the metaplot of the series! But i am super looking forward to the next book and what happens in it, because it sounds like it will have a fairly meaty theme, something that the "main" novels have been missing since WAW.
I'm hoping that Lifeboats is a return to form - it's a better story than GWP, it allows Kit to actually be the intelligent, clever, awesome character he is meant to be, and demonstrating why he is Nita's equal, rather than her sidekick. Also Kit with the sibik was adorable and I will fight anyone who thinks it wasn't necessary.