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missroseroseI love stories with well-developed female characters who exercise their own agency. I love stories with fantastical elements, stories that feel like a fairy tale that nonetheless might have once had some basis in reality. I love stories with scamps and trickster archetypes. I love stories about people struggling to be better people in the midst of a world that only wants to drag them down. I love stories about the importance of stories to our species.
Needless to say, I loved this book.
The Careys have really pulled off a heck of a feat, here. Much like the Thousand Nights and a Night, there's an overarching tale being told, but it's told in small, often stand-alone short stories, often from different viewpoints, all woven together into a rich thick tapestry. It makes the events feel three-dimensional, less like they're being related by a single historian and more that they're being actively lived through by the people telling them.
Of course, such an approach would hardly be half so memorable if there weren't such compelling characters. Each one, most of them female, has their own history, their own motivations, their own values, and their own goals. (When I see authors whinge about how it's just so hard to write female characters with depth, from now on, rather than wishing I could force-choke them as I did before, I'm going to gift them a copy of this book. ) If there's one minor flaw, it's that there sometimes feels like there are gaps in the storytelling - I would have liked to see the "learning to support themselves through crafting" scene from a more personalized viewpoint, for instance - but these are generally fairly minor and more a matter of personal preference.
To be honest, I can't believe this book hasn't gained more popularity than it has. I have a feeling a lot of my friends are getting copies for Christmas presents this year. A++ with cherries on top
Needless to say, I loved this book.
The Careys have really pulled off a heck of a feat, here. Much like the Thousand Nights and a Night, there's an overarching tale being told, but it's told in small, often stand-alone short stories, often from different viewpoints, all woven together into a rich thick tapestry. It makes the events feel three-dimensional, less like they're being related by a single historian and more that they're being actively lived through by the people telling them.
Of course, such an approach would hardly be half so memorable if there weren't such compelling characters. Each one, most of them female, has their own history, their own motivations, their own values, and their own goals. (When I see authors whinge about how it's just so hard to write female characters with depth, from now on, rather than wishing I could force-choke them as I did before, I'm going to gift them a copy of this book. ) If there's one minor flaw, it's that there sometimes feels like there are gaps in the storytelling - I would have liked to see the "learning to support themselves through crafting" scene from a more personalized viewpoint, for instance - but these are generally fairly minor and more a matter of personal preference.
To be honest, I can't believe this book hasn't gained more popularity than it has. I have a feeling a lot of my friends are getting copies for Christmas presents this year. A++ with cherries on top
