2015 is starting to look like it’s well underway. And may it live up to the best of all our hopes!
When it comes to thinking about books, though, I haven’t quite caught up to the new year yet. I’ve spent the past little while, in fact, dwelling on the kinds of books I’ve read (and reread) in the last year, and considering the kinds of books I would give a wisdom tooth to see more of.
When I like space opera, I really like it. But I’m picky. I love Ann Leckie’s books so much I’ve reread them at least five times each already, but apart from them, Elizabeth Bear’s Dust (which is only arguably space opera), and a couple of books in Susan R. Matthews’ rather harrowing Andrej Kosciusko series, the only novels I’ve reread to anything like the same degree are David Drake’s RCN series (With the Lightnings, etc). Every year around December for the last several years, I’ve reread that series, and wanted more like them.
With the Imperial Radch books, Leckie is using space opera to examine—in many ways quietly and intimately—questions of identity and relationships of power, and doing it with appealing characters and shiny Cool Shit ™. Drake is explicitly writing in a setting that uses the social mores of a combination of Roman and early modern Europe, telling stories that take a lot of their inspiration from swashbuckling naval exploits of the Napoleonic Wars and classical bits of political chicanery.
Drake’s books have their issues, and I perpetually want to argue with the way they present the world. But they’re about an extremely competent naval officer and an extremely competent librarian/spy kicking ass and taking names.
And I would really like to see more books like these. Because both Leckie and Drake have a narrative drive and energy, and a vibrancy of characterisation, that makes these novels a joy to return to again and again. (And they both, in their very different ways, portray a future with a more egalitarian approach to gender than the present.)
I’d especially like to see more books like these, because it seems to me as though there’s a dearth of space opera that’s really interested in taking on an operatic canvas—or in really swashing its buckles like Space Hornblower.
But like I said, I’m picky.
I’d give more than a wisdom tooth to see more novels like Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor. In a fantasy landscape that seems increasing filled with Crapsack World settings inhabited by people who must be ruthless simply to survive, reading about Addison’s protagonist is like getting… a hug from a friend. A warm blanket on a cold evening. A breath of fresh air in a stuffy room. Because here’s a protagonist who’s suffered cruelty in his life, and yet it has only made him determined to be kind, and to use the power that has come to him justly. He’s the opposite of vengeful, and it makes for an incredibly satisfying read.
I found it personally satisfying in much the same way as Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls is satisfying, as the kind of story featuring the kind of protagonist that so rarely crosses into my orbit. An emperor who’s decent without being unbelievably naive. A MATURE WOMAN doing things without being a caricature.
Stories in which I enjoy spending time with the protagonists. I don’t insist every book I read be filled with “likeable” people—but I’d like to have a larger array of fantasy novels whose main characters are decent people doing the best they can.
And if those novels can be as expansively, resounding mythic as Elizabeth Bear’s Eternal Sky trilogy, or as vibrantly, bewilderingly inventive as Max Gladstone’s Craft books, I would be very happy.
I would also like to see: more books like Michelle Sagara’s Chronicles of Elantra series, more books with queer people, particularly queer women, and more good caper plots, and oh, yes, more queer relationships in SFFnal books. And more female main characters doing interesting things, always, even if I do already have quite a lot of those.
These days, I particularly want more books I can read to cheer myself up, like Marie Brennan’s Memoirs of Lady Trent series, or Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman books.
I want more of everything I like. Terrible craving, that.
Liz Bourke is a cranky person who reads books. Her blog. Her Twitter.
To each their own I suppose, I really was looking forward to Ancillary Justice and The Goblin Emperor due to in part the hype on this site. I just could not get into either. I rarely will put down a book and not finish but I was strongly tempted in both of these cases. I can see and understand what they do different than most of what is available but that fact alone doesnt make them an enjoyable read though.
Yes, The Goblin Emperor is a warm blanket, exactly. I especially appreciate that it’s a functional imperial court. The protagonist might be in over his head but there are members of the court willing to help him learn how to swim. And they help him because its proper for them to do so, rather than for any advantage it might give them. Gettting back to the blanket, I’ve often thought of Elizabeth Bear’s short stories as warm blankets. As they are often stories about survivors, they tell you that it’s possible to keep going. So you can wrap them around yourself when you’re still a bit shocky or when you need to remember that sometimes ‘keep going’ means keep breathing and everything else is gravy. Of course, the blanket might be laced with porcupine quills and if it’s a bit sticky it’s because the blood hasn’t dried yet. No one ever said Bear’s work was safe. I want more stories about people who are not like me. About people I don’t understand but I could if I spent some time in their head.
That’s an interesting way to put it, because while it’s true in a way I choke at applying the word “egalitarian” to either the Radch or the Republic of Cinnabar. Both are sort-of-feudal societies where house affiliation and connections are the surest way to get ahead; it’s just that Cinnabar doesn’t arbitrarily limit what women can do and the Radch don’t really have genders.
I guess I’d restate this as “gender is not a limiting factor” in these societies, because neither one has much use for “equality” in its modern liberal sense. (I’m imagining anyone–anyone at all, really–claiming equality with Adele Mundy. I guess the way to tell if she believes you is if you end up facing her with a pistol at dawn rather than being unceremoniously beated to a pulp by her retainers?)
On another note, I’ve added The Goblin Emperor to my to-read list as you seem to have a similar taste to mine in these genres. Thanks for the rec.
I’ve been slogging my way through The Goblin Emperor. It’s not bad. It’s well written with an appealing protagonist. Just, well, nothing much is happening. I’m a quarter or so in and it’s been rather tedious with all the affairs of court. I’ll finish it, but it’s really not the sort of book so far that appeals to me. And I decided to read it because of good reviews and that I loved the books she wrote under a different name (Sarah Monette).
Commenting here is getting ridiculous. Took me around a dozen tries to get the captcha right.
@@.-@ – to paraphrase Horace Greeley, Go Grey young woman! Register and no more captchas.
I liked Goblin Emperor in large part because it defied expectations and tropes followed in most fantasy stories. It followed the main character on a micro level, through the ordinary developments that shaped his early efforts to operate and rule his household, with pieces eventually forming a complete picture of an Emperor who appears to be on the right track to rule well and justly, despite obstacles.
More? But Liz, you’ve already shown us the shelf after shelf of books you haven’t managed to read yet. To misquote A Few Good Men: “You want More? You can’t handle More!”
The Goblin Emperor is fantasy for policy wonks. If you like the process of ruling more than the conquest, you’ll like it (I did).
If you want a likeable hero who has to learn how to rule AND you want lots of fighting, try Steven Gould’s “Helm.” I reread that one every few years.
I’m halfway through Katherine Blake’s The Interior Life. It was published in 1990 and is very out of print (I got it used on Amazon) but I can already tell it’s going to be one of those books I go back to when I’m having a bad day. Given that the most recent book I felt the same way about was The Goblin Emperor, which I read based on your review. You might check it out.
My go-to cheer myself up books are the Twelve Houses books by Sharon Shinn. If you haven’t read them, you might give them a try. No idea if you’d like them or not.
I loved The Goblin Emperor, and had a similiar response to its protagonist. I figure, I’m going to be spending a minimum of two hours living in the protagonist’s head…I want to be able to like hanging around them – so if they’re not nice, they’d better be interesting enough to make up for it. :)
The books I’m dying for ‘more-like-this, please’ would also include Liz Williams’ Inspector Wei Chen books (Snake Agent, etc.) I desperately want some more fantasy-based procedurals.
@@@@@ 8. Lynnet1
Jo Walton reviewed The Interior Life on tor.com a couple years ago (?) if I remember correctly. I’ve been meaing to read it ever since but have never quite got around to it. Nice to hear another recommendation. Must move it up my reading list :)
If you say you like space opera, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have a good one going in their Liaden books.
@@@@@ CPJ That’s how I found it. I read Spin by Nina Allen (also great, for anyone who hasn’t read it) and it got me thinking about domestic fantasy, which I knew Jo Walton had discussed in several different reviews several years ago, and so I poked around until I found The Interior Life. I’m still not done with it. Reading it makes me want to be a more well-organized, productive person, so I’m parceling it out and doing the chores it motivates me to do. It’s a great New Years Resolution book in that way.