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Currently Reading - 6-May-2015
May. 6th, 2015 04:18 pmThe Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
The Discworld is supported on the back of four immense elephants, standing on the back of the Great Turtle A'tuin; there used to be five elephants, but one slipped off in pre-history, eventually impacting the Disc and leaving immense reserves of fat buried under Uberwald (which embarrasingly I hadn't realised is the direct Germanic equivalent of Transylvania until I real the L-space entry after finishing this). The Low King of the Dwarves is about to be crowned in Uberwald, while in Anhk-Morpork someone has stolen the replica of the Scone of Stone from the Dwarf Bread Museum. Ankh-Morpork needs a diplomatic representative at the Coronation, someone who can negotiate a continuing supply of Uberwaldian fat and tallow from the dwarf mines to keep the candle lights burning in Ankh-Morphork, so Commander Vimes finds himself despatched as the new ambassador, much to his disgust.
That leaves Carrot in charge of the Watch, but only until he realises Angua is missing. Everyone (including Angua), knew that if it ever came to a choice between the city and her, Carrot would choose the City, but it seems no one thought to tell Carrot. No sooner does he realise she's missing (the homing pigeon with a message for him was his first clue) than he's hot on her t(r)ail, with the help of Gaspode, the world's smelliest bloodhound. Of course that leaves the Watch in the incapable hands of Fred Colon, with predictably dire consequences.
As everyone homes in on Uberwald, the story resolves itself into a factional fight between reformers and traditionalists amongst the Dwarfs, with the vampires (Lady Margolatta, who may once have been the Patrician's lover), and the Werewolves (Angua's family) meddling. And a crime has been committed, a locked and guarded room mystery no less, and if he doesn't know the first thing about being an ambassador, Sam Vimes wrote the book on being a Discworld copper.
This is Pratchett looking at equality again, Cheery (Cheri) is part of Vime's honour guard, and even the reformist dwarfs are scandalized she is wearing a skirt. I'm starting to see Cheery's role as representing not just feminism, but also Trans issues (worryingly, so does Nobby, and it's difficult to construct anything but humour around Nobby in a dress). while the traditionalist dwarves, with their specific clothing and mores, seem to be a clear analogue for Orthodox Judaism. As that sets them in direct conflict with established characters it's a somewhat problematic decision. The Werewolves, meanwhile, are pure Aryan ubermensch types, with Angua's brother Wolfgang as the archetypal Nazi thug. (I notice two of Angua's relatives are named as Nancy and Unity - clearly the family are meant to represent the Mitfords). Ultimately it's Wolfgang whjo is the true villain, and that presents Pratchett with the problem of who gets to kill him: Carrot, Angua, or Vimes. Eventualluy he settles on Sam Vimes, but I can't help feeling that leaves Angua's arc with an unsatisfactory conclusion.
In coming back to the Discworld books after a period of years I find I still love them, but can now see flaws that I missed previously. I'm not certain if that's the passage of years allowing a less overwhelmingly enthused reading, or if I'm the one who has changed.
A Local Habitation, Seanan McGuire
Second in the Toby Day series, this, and the later books in the series, released in electronic format yesterday, and I was really pleased to have this to read last night. This time Toby is despatched by Duke Sylvester, her liege among the fae of San Francisco, to check up on his niece, January, who isn't returning his calls. January's independent Country is a DMZ between Sylvester's Duchy and that of his rival, Duchess Riordan, so politically he can't go himself, but he can send Toby, and teenage page Quentin.
What Toby finds in the County of Tamed Lightning is a Fae court masquerading as a computer company, or is that a computer company masquerading as a Fae court? So we have Fae stereotypes crossing with geek stereotypes, the crabby hardware genius is a Coblynau, January's ethereal daughter is a dryad, the head of personnel/seneschal is a Bannick with a cleanliness fetish, and in the middle of it all is a murder mystery, and the question of how that relates to January's belief that it her uncle who has stopped calling her, not vice versa. Toby is a little slow to get up to speed with some of this, especially when she finds her blood magic won't tell her who the killer is, but she's the only detective they have, and as the bodies start to mount it turns into a race to see whether Toby can figure out who the killer is before everyone in the cast is killed, including her and Quentin. And yet again Toby has to suffer for every answer she gets, though this time around the damage is mostly self-inflicted.
It's hard not to read this as a tragedy, a lot of people die, some shockingly. I know faery is traditionally dangerous, but I hadn't really appreciated how dark the Toby Day books are, they make a lot of other urban fantasy seem almost light and fluffy by comparison. But to my mind that's a strength, not a weakness. I'll be back for book 3 soon.
The Discworld is supported on the back of four immense elephants, standing on the back of the Great Turtle A'tuin; there used to be five elephants, but one slipped off in pre-history, eventually impacting the Disc and leaving immense reserves of fat buried under Uberwald (which embarrasingly I hadn't realised is the direct Germanic equivalent of Transylvania until I real the L-space entry after finishing this). The Low King of the Dwarves is about to be crowned in Uberwald, while in Anhk-Morpork someone has stolen the replica of the Scone of Stone from the Dwarf Bread Museum. Ankh-Morpork needs a diplomatic representative at the Coronation, someone who can negotiate a continuing supply of Uberwaldian fat and tallow from the dwarf mines to keep the candle lights burning in Ankh-Morphork, so Commander Vimes finds himself despatched as the new ambassador, much to his disgust.
That leaves Carrot in charge of the Watch, but only until he realises Angua is missing. Everyone (including Angua), knew that if it ever came to a choice between the city and her, Carrot would choose the City, but it seems no one thought to tell Carrot. No sooner does he realise she's missing (the homing pigeon with a message for him was his first clue) than he's hot on her t(r)ail, with the help of Gaspode, the world's smelliest bloodhound. Of course that leaves the Watch in the incapable hands of Fred Colon, with predictably dire consequences.
As everyone homes in on Uberwald, the story resolves itself into a factional fight between reformers and traditionalists amongst the Dwarfs, with the vampires (Lady Margolatta, who may once have been the Patrician's lover), and the Werewolves (Angua's family) meddling. And a crime has been committed, a locked and guarded room mystery no less, and if he doesn't know the first thing about being an ambassador, Sam Vimes wrote the book on being a Discworld copper.
This is Pratchett looking at equality again, Cheery (Cheri) is part of Vime's honour guard, and even the reformist dwarfs are scandalized she is wearing a skirt. I'm starting to see Cheery's role as representing not just feminism, but also Trans issues (worryingly, so does Nobby, and it's difficult to construct anything but humour around Nobby in a dress). while the traditionalist dwarves, with their specific clothing and mores, seem to be a clear analogue for Orthodox Judaism. As that sets them in direct conflict with established characters it's a somewhat problematic decision. The Werewolves, meanwhile, are pure Aryan ubermensch types, with Angua's brother Wolfgang as the archetypal Nazi thug. (I notice two of Angua's relatives are named as Nancy and Unity - clearly the family are meant to represent the Mitfords). Ultimately it's Wolfgang whjo is the true villain, and that presents Pratchett with the problem of who gets to kill him: Carrot, Angua, or Vimes. Eventualluy he settles on Sam Vimes, but I can't help feeling that leaves Angua's arc with an unsatisfactory conclusion.
In coming back to the Discworld books after a period of years I find I still love them, but can now see flaws that I missed previously. I'm not certain if that's the passage of years allowing a less overwhelmingly enthused reading, or if I'm the one who has changed.
A Local Habitation, Seanan McGuire
Second in the Toby Day series, this, and the later books in the series, released in electronic format yesterday, and I was really pleased to have this to read last night. This time Toby is despatched by Duke Sylvester, her liege among the fae of San Francisco, to check up on his niece, January, who isn't returning his calls. January's independent Country is a DMZ between Sylvester's Duchy and that of his rival, Duchess Riordan, so politically he can't go himself, but he can send Toby, and teenage page Quentin.
What Toby finds in the County of Tamed Lightning is a Fae court masquerading as a computer company, or is that a computer company masquerading as a Fae court? So we have Fae stereotypes crossing with geek stereotypes, the crabby hardware genius is a Coblynau, January's ethereal daughter is a dryad, the head of personnel/seneschal is a Bannick with a cleanliness fetish, and in the middle of it all is a murder mystery, and the question of how that relates to January's belief that it her uncle who has stopped calling her, not vice versa. Toby is a little slow to get up to speed with some of this, especially when she finds her blood magic won't tell her who the killer is, but she's the only detective they have, and as the bodies start to mount it turns into a race to see whether Toby can figure out who the killer is before everyone in the cast is killed, including her and Quentin. And yet again Toby has to suffer for every answer she gets, though this time around the damage is mostly self-inflicted.
It's hard not to read this as a tragedy, a lot of people die, some shockingly. I know faery is traditionally dangerous, but I hadn't really appreciated how dark the Toby Day books are, they make a lot of other urban fantasy seem almost light and fluffy by comparison. But to my mind that's a strength, not a weakness. I'll be back for book 3 soon.
