From LISTSERV@listserv.uic.edu Thu Aug 24 18:50:12 2000 Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 20:41:36 -0500 From: "L-Soft list server at University of Illinois at Chicago (1.8d)" To: Laura Quilter Subject: File: "FEMINISTSF-LIT LOG9911E" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 17:33:35 +1300 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Jenny Rankine Subject: Ring of Swords Comments: To: FSSF MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I tried to find the discussions about this book on the archive site, but couldn't work out how to do that. So I'll wade in relying on my terrible memory. I had to borrow it from the library, so have only just finished it. I really enjoyed this book. I really hope Eleanor can get a publisher for the sequel because I very much want to read it. s p o i l e r s I had trouble with two parts of it, but these are minor comments only and didn't stop me being absorbed in the story. One was Anna - she was a cipher - I didn't get a feeling for her as a character, merely an observer. She is a loner; quick-thinking, as shown by the message sent from the boat in the bay; self-sacrificing and dedicated to the cause of increasing knowledge about alien cultures, as shown by her willingness to avoid heterosexual relationships while living in the hwarhath space station; brave in the face of her own people's military intelligence (definitely a contradiction in terms) threats. But that is all I can say about her. I feel after seeing the world through her eyes for a longish book I should have a much clearer picture of her views, habits of thought and personality. But I don't. I wonder whether that's me or the style of writing. I didn't feel this ignorant after reading Ammonite, a similar story about a woman exploring a strange culture by herself. The other comment was the crux moment of the book, where Nicholas panics and spills the beans to Anna about the hwarhath's vulnerabilities to humans. I didn't get a strong sense of the danger the two were in at this point. I think this was because all Anna's discoveries and knowledge about the hwarhath is built from talking with them and Nicholas, rather than seeing their behaviour in action. For example, Nicholas tells her that the hwarhath outfight the humans, but we are not shown this. The decision-making of the Weaving is reported, not shown. So I had a sense of anti-climax or slight unbelievability at this point (when Nicky panics) because it didn't seem real. I found Ring of Swords an interesting comparison to Jaran (I think other people may have made this comment). The two societies were alike in the kinds of roles men and women occupied, with women running the administration and the peacemaking and men running the wars; and the kind of strong social control used to restrict them to those roles. I found the hwarhath's disgust at heterosexuality more believable than the Jaran's disgust at homosexuality, given the way they were both drawn. Speaking of comparing warrior cultures, I found the outskirters in The Outskirter's Secret the most egalitarian. Men and women were both warriors, and the children were cared for and the food cooked by mertutials, those not able to fight because of age, disability or inclination. Rulers were chosen from among the mertutials. What's happened to discussion on these lists, anyway - is it holidays in the US or something? It seems to have died and my e-mail reading is poorer as a result. Cheers, Jenny Rankine