more book ranting

[kaberett]

Captain Vorpatril's bloody Alliance (Lois McMaster Bujold) having been nominated for a Hugo, now seems as good a time as any to remind you all why I hated it so much I (metaphorically) threw it across the room before I'd managed to get five pages in, and spent much of the next 48 hours hyperventilating and shaking with nausea.

Baen never got back to me about that e-mail, even to acknowledge that it had got to them; I have no intention of ever giving Bujold money again.

Comments

[elialshadowpine]

I'm honestly not sure why that particular book got nominated. I enjoyed it but I didn't really feel like it was quite up to say, Memory. I'd be very surprised if it actually got the win, but I've seen pretty much the last several Vorkosigan books nominated almost as a matter of course. (And Cryoburn was not that great, IMO.)

I actually read the book with your complaint in mind, and something that occurred to me is that -- at least in the Vorkosigan books; I haven't read her others yet -- she tends towards writing a very deep third person. The third person narrative often is not authorial but slips into the character's thoughts. I've written in that style before, and it's limiting in that you can't slip in that you disagree with the character's perspective, as an author.

HOWEVER. I marathon read pretty much all the books from Brothers in Arms forward, and the Dono subplot as a whole was... upsetting, especially with the way that pretty much all the characters (sans possible Cordelia) treated him was discomfiting. Dono has been treated as a joke character. I wish there would have been more contrasting of, say, Cordelia's opinion, with the conservative Barrayarans, and the ones who are treating it as a joke, but she hasn't really done anything with this. So, all in all, I agree, and it's especially upsetting for me because Bujold is the second author that I have read a disability-positive narrative by (and the first that is a main character, not a side character). Argh.

[liv]

That Hugo nom feels like a kind of generic "fandom loves Lois McMaster Bujold" kind of situation more than a "Captain Vorpatril's Alliance is an awesome book" kind of situation. I'd be very surprised if it wins. My money's on the KSR, but honestly the whole shortlist is really slight this year.

There was a very cool panel on LGBTQ* characters in SF at Eastercon, which I shall attempt to write up, but basically it wasn't the content, it was several dozen people getting together and talking about representation in a nuanced, sensitive way. Nobody mentioned CVA for good or bad, but I'm somewhat helpful that there will be a trend away from nominating things that are full of fail just because the author is well-liked.

[kaberett]

Thank you lots, both for the analysis & for describing that panel! I have in fact just bought Queer Universes (mentioned in an update yesterday) so if you find yourself after borrowing it LMK - though obviously it's fine to wait until I've got around to reading & reviewing before expressing an opinion... ;-)

[elialshadowpine]

Yes, I agree re: generic fandom. I think I alluded to as much as in my comment. I've not read the KSR but Blackout really impressed me, esp. as an ending to a trilogy, and esp. for science fiction, which I have seen so very little innovation in. (Not to suggest that the book by KSR isn't innovative, because I haven't read it, but I certainly don't think that CVA or Redshirts have innovated much in the genre, or were especially good examples thereof. I was not able to get into and finish Throne before I had to return it to the library, but in some ways, I think I have seen more interesting things done with fantasy -- esp in YA -- than I have in SF for quite some time. /ramble)

I wandered over to your DW to see this post about the Eastercon panel, and much of what you have posted, at least on your front page, is interesting to me. May I friend you? :)

[liv]

Please do friend! My journal is really pretty rambly, but I always welcome new people to talk to.

I haven't got started on Mira Grant's stuff yet; I picked up Feed at the con itself so I'll see if it lives up to the hype. I was lumping Blackout together with the "fandom loves this author" set mainly because it's the third of a trilogy, I don't expect innovation there, but if it really is excellent in its own right I'd be very glad to be wrong.

[elialshadowpine]

Ambiened up and sending friend request... I will reply in more detail about the book later, when the room isn't spinning. Fwee.