Well, I liked reading the book, it had some good battle scenes and kept me going. But "gender swapping Alexander the Great" is a little too literal. It reads like it is set on earth, in pretty much every way. We have modern references with Channel Idol (American Idol, get it?), and older references with descriptions of what is sumptuous (sandalwood incense). Instead of kings and sons we have queens and daughters, and broader sexual expression categories. But if those things are not explored (and they're not), the switch is just a bit flip and not signifying. I've read this story many times, in earthly fantasy, make-believe world fantasy, and galactic fantasy. It's not new or fresh and plays directly into the notion of someone having worth, merit and power because of their birth. Can we somehow get away from this?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Water Outlaws, by S. L. Huang
According to the introduction this book is intended to evoke "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (thought that title is not explicitl...
-
There are some interesting theories out there on what Gene Wolfe's "The Ziggurat" short story means . Indeed, Wolfe is heavil...
-
Michael Swanwick is an inspired author, and has some brilliant work out there. He has a series of very short stories called The Sleep of Re...
-
Mike Resnick's Kirinyaga series tells the story of Kikuyu who have given up life in modern Kenya to reclaim their ancestral lives in a s...
No comments:
Post a Comment