The Shining Court by Michelle West

[meganbmoore]

Some of you may recall that my reaction to The Uncrowned King was along the lines of “Why is the book about this Valedan Guy? Where’s Diora? I like Valedan, but not at the expense of Diora. I want Jewel and Diora, not Jewel and Valedan. But Valedan can still stay.” I am pleased to say that Diora was back in the third book.

Some people (having poked around for reviews of the first two books) seem to be turned off by how oppressive and brutal the Annagarian society is to women. In all honesty, it’s a large part of why I like it. Now, if it were about being in a harem with the hunky lord and/or all about skanky sex, it’d be different. Those things, however, are completely absent here. Instead, that popular fictional environment is stripped of the romantic veneer, and the focus is on how women in that situation survive, but as individuals, and in terms of staying alive itself. Though they’re passive on the surface, they’re able to twist and manipulate the rules designed to enslave them to survive, and they become strong through their relationships with each other, even the rivals, and events that most high fantasy would use to make a woman a victim are used to make her a survivor. In The Broken Crown, both Diora and Teresa started down the path of gaining their independence, and their part of this book focuses on that path. It even allows Fiona, who would be portrayed as an evil, scheming villainess in another book, is able to get in on that a bit. When Diora finally confronts Sendari, the scene is absolutely magnificent.

Then there’s Jewel and Avandar.

From the first two books (and the first 150 or so pages of this one) I would have said that Jewel and Avadar’s relationship was the perfect example of how to write a master/servant relationship where it not only isn’t quite clear which is which, but also where it’s almost impossible to define exactly what kind of personal relationship and feelings they have. Then we learn that oh, hey, he’s actually kind of a war god who’s been living in disguise the last 15 years, and the only way to save her life is to teleport them to the palace that holds all his Deep Dark Secrets. That Avandar had some bad stuff in his past was something you could probably guess even before you knew who he really is, though not the extent.

And yet, it’s never quite made clear exactly how bad his past is. What’s real, what’s Jewel drawing conclusions and him not straightening them out, and what he’s blaming himself for. And, somehow, the outward dynamic remains much the same, with Jewel ostensibly in charge(but maybe not really), and Avandar her protector and self-proclaimed keeper. I wonder, though (I think this was hinted at, but not quite confirmed, but there was a lot going on here…) is Avandar became a domici specifically because of Jewel. Not that it did any good, as she’s too stubborn and strong willed for even him to control. And that’s even after she learns he’s a godlike being with many, many dirty deeds in his past.

I have to say, though, that I’m not quite comfortable by how Jewel seemed to be going around and slapping people a lot. I understand the stress level, but it seemed a bit much.

Jewel and Avandar’s relationship is also an interesting mirror of that of Evayne and Kallandras, only in reverse, where the god is the master, and the mortal the servant. I have to wonder if Jewel and Avandar will eventually share their relationship of hate/respect/devotion, or if it’ll take a different path.

There’s also the contrast between Jewel’s parting with the Terafin, and Diora’s with Sendari.. While the Terafin isn’t Jewel’s mother, she’s the closest thing there is to one. There, Jewel has always been the subordinate, but now she’s given equality, and the parting is bittersweet, but with hope. With Diora, her father is her chief oppressor, and spent much of the book passively aggressively punishing her for exhibiting free will and thwarting his plans to further exploit her. When she leaves his home, it’s a permanent (or at least, as far as they’re concerned) parting, with both speaking of hate and betrayal. Instead of equality being given and acknowledged, Diora has to wrest her freedom from Sendari, who uses every emotional weapon he has, including blaming her for her mother’s death. The two partings have equal importance and set the heroines down similar paths away from everything they’re familiar with, but are as different as they can be.

I’m not sure what I think about the Voyani yet. The characters and their plotline are very important here, especially the masks, and many final events involve getting the various players to them, but the characters don’t grab me as much as the characters from the first two books yet. 

Comments

off on a tangent

[estara.livejournal.com]

"how women in that situation survive, but as individuals, and in terms of staying alive itself. Though they’re passive on the surface, they’re able to twist and manipulate the rules designed to enslave them to survive, and they become strong through their relationships with each other, even the rivals, and events that most high fantasy would use to make a woman a victim are used to make her a survivor."

When I read that my mind leapt directly to Janny Wurts and Raimond Feists trilogy Daughter of the Empire, etc. set in the Tsurani (pseudo Japanese) homeworld. I like the women and the female protagonist in those books the most, I guess Feist can't write women protagonists on his own, the rest of his books have male protagonists.

Amazon quote:
Mara is taking her final religious vows when a messenger interrupts the ceremony to report the deaths in battle of her father and brother. Now Ruling Lady of the Acoma, the teenager must rally its depleted forces against many enemies, particularly Lord Jingu of the Minwanabi, who sent her menfolk to their demise.

Hampered though she is by the rigid traditions of her Oriental society, Mara replenishes her army with the masterless grey warriors and skillfully reaches a bargain with the cho-ja, insectoid aliens.

Her most dangerous gambit is a political marriage to cement an alliance. Deprived of overt status, she finds it difficult to manipulate her brutish but cunning husband. This full-bodied dynastic fantasy has the sweep and drama of a good historical novel about an exotic time and place.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Hey! I think I found you through the new dawbooks community. Good to meet you. And have you thought about posting this review over on that community?

I was also thrown slightly when book 2 focused on Valedan so much, but I settled into it. And I think Michelle West did great in creating two completely different societies to contrast against each other.

I won't say anything about the Voyani, since you haven't gotten seriously into their plotline yet. *grin*