Book: A betrayal in winter
Aug. 13th, 2010 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Daniel Abraham
Details: (c) 2007 Daniel Abraham; Pub Tor 2008; ISBN 0-7653-5188-9
Verdict: A betrayal in winter is highly competent but didn't quite grab me.
Reasons for reading it: It's the sequel to A shadow in summer, which I enjoyed.
How it came into my hands:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rysmiel very kindly gave me both volumes for my birthday.
I have much the same feelings about A Betrayal in Winter as I did about the earlier volume: it's good on the diversity front, it does everything right from a technical perspective, and the world building is cool and original, but I just can't quite feel passionate about it. I really liked the fact that it takes up the story years later than the end of aSiS; lots of events such Otah's relationship with Maj and Maati's with Liat, and the political situation around the fall of Saraykeht, are simply outlined and left to the reader's imagination. I found that a really interesting choice, and one which makes aBiW a lot more its own book, not just a continuation of what came before. Plus, Otah and Maati are plausibly ten years older, which is a nice touch. Both are becoming increasingly interesting as their characters develop.
I still love the andat idea, and we get a different perspective on it with Stone-made-soft as opposed to Seedless in the first book. In aBiW we get some of a working poet's direct viewpoint, and that's really well done; I very much like Cehmai as a character. I loved the portrait of a new city, Machi, and how its climatic extremes affect its character. aBiW is rather more directly about political intrigue than aSiS, and therefore gives more insight into how the Khai system works. The problem is that I didn't quite care about the succession battle, and even though it has pretty blatant direct effects on Maati and Otah, somehow I wasn't as drawn in as with the first volume. Still, there are plenty of really dramatic and memorable and emotive moments, I don't deny that.
The other major new viewpoint we get is Idaan, whom I'm not sure about. She does sometimes seem to veer towards the trope of the modern feminist transplanted into a pre-modern society. Also, she's such an extreme character, both in the sense of being born a princess and in the lengths she goes to to break out of her gilded cage, which means that it's hard to relate to her as a plausible person. Although the narrative clearly wants to create sympathy for her, she does seem a bit of a Lady Macbeth character in some ways. Also, the fact that the story seems to have completely dropped Amat, Liat and Maj slightly undermines its laudable attempt to provide strong and diverse female characters; this omission makes it seem somewhat as if it's a story about men and only includes women as they affect the real people. I am also unsure about the relationship between Otah and Maati; is there meant to be romantic tension or are we supposed to read them as two straight men with a very strong bond? I don't think every strong relationship should be about sex, not at all, but at the same time I don't see why a same-sex pair should need so much more obvious cues to be read as romantic where it would be the first assumption if they were opposite sex. Maati in particular reads like a closet case to me; he keeps forming intense attachments to pretty much every man or male-appearing andat he meets!
Anyway, there are lots of good things in this series, and I'm not sure why I'm not wildly enthusiastic about them. Perhaps I'm just not quite in the mind-frame for this kind of story at the moment?
Details: (c) 2007 Daniel Abraham; Pub Tor 2008; ISBN 0-7653-5188-9
Verdict: A betrayal in winter is highly competent but didn't quite grab me.
Reasons for reading it: It's the sequel to A shadow in summer, which I enjoyed.
How it came into my hands:
rysmiel very kindly gave me both volumes for my birthday. I have much the same feelings about A Betrayal in Winter as I did about the earlier volume: it's good on the diversity front, it does everything right from a technical perspective, and the world building is cool and original, but I just can't quite feel passionate about it. I really liked the fact that it takes up the story years later than the end of aSiS; lots of events such Otah's relationship with Maj and Maati's with Liat, and the political situation around the fall of Saraykeht, are simply outlined and left to the reader's imagination. I found that a really interesting choice, and one which makes aBiW a lot more its own book, not just a continuation of what came before. Plus, Otah and Maati are plausibly ten years older, which is a nice touch. Both are becoming increasingly interesting as their characters develop.
I still love the andat idea, and we get a different perspective on it with Stone-made-soft as opposed to Seedless in the first book. In aBiW we get some of a working poet's direct viewpoint, and that's really well done; I very much like Cehmai as a character. I loved the portrait of a new city, Machi, and how its climatic extremes affect its character. aBiW is rather more directly about political intrigue than aSiS, and therefore gives more insight into how the Khai system works. The problem is that I didn't quite care about the succession battle, and even though it has pretty blatant direct effects on Maati and Otah, somehow I wasn't as drawn in as with the first volume. Still, there are plenty of really dramatic and memorable and emotive moments, I don't deny that.
The other major new viewpoint we get is Idaan, whom I'm not sure about. She does sometimes seem to veer towards the trope of the modern feminist transplanted into a pre-modern society. Also, she's such an extreme character, both in the sense of being born a princess and in the lengths she goes to to break out of her gilded cage, which means that it's hard to relate to her as a plausible person. Although the narrative clearly wants to create sympathy for her, she does seem a bit of a Lady Macbeth character in some ways. Also, the fact that the story seems to have completely dropped Amat, Liat and Maj slightly undermines its laudable attempt to provide strong and diverse female characters; this omission makes it seem somewhat as if it's a story about men and only includes women as they affect the real people. I am also unsure about the relationship between Otah and Maati; is there meant to be romantic tension or are we supposed to read them as two straight men with a very strong bond? I don't think every strong relationship should be about sex, not at all, but at the same time I don't see why a same-sex pair should need so much more obvious cues to be read as romantic where it would be the first assumption if they were opposite sex. Maati in particular reads like a closet case to me; he keeps forming intense attachments to pretty much every man or male-appearing andat he meets!
Anyway, there are lots of good things in this series, and I'm not sure why I'm not wildly enthusiastic about them. Perhaps I'm just not quite in the mind-frame for this kind of story at the moment?
