one-theme wonder
Dec. 15th, 2002 12:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraJust finished Diane Duane's new pulp fantasy novel Stealing the Elf King's Roses. Was rather annoyed; she's waving the same joys of mortality banner she did in the latest Wizard book that bugged me so much there... and then I thought, wait, and that's really what *three* was about, and, okay, *two*, and sort of *one* even, and it's not fair to be annoyed with an author for doing their thing when I really ought to know by now what her thing is. It's just, yeesh, propagandist for death, much? ::pausing, realizing no one else is going to have a clue what I'm talking about, going on anyways::
Reviewish sorts of stuff: the first scene of _Roses_ is great, and there's some interesting play throughout (and particularly in the climax) with the power of the objective/ifying gaze to remake by seeing. But for the most part I felt the first part of the book failed to set up the second part, and in particular the whole mortality thing (the climax is the immortal elves getting turned into mortals, which Gael Baudino touched on much, much better in _Gossamer Axe_) wasn't a natural answer to the problems such as they were (although they were somewhat vague anyways). Which is maybe why it struck me so much like Duane cramming in her pet cause. Sigh. Especially because it was Immortality Is Just Wrong Dammit and not the There Are Things Worth Dying For theme that shows up in the first three Wizard books, or especially the much more interesting (and palatable to me) We Got Suckered Into Death But At Least Can Make The Best Of It from _Deep Wizardry_.
Babble babble babble. But, given her bias, it's... *interesting*... to see the kind of plot contortions and elaborate multi-world conspiracies Duane still has to set up to justify consigning an ancient, beautiful, immortal people to death. And then how quickly she dispenses with it, and ends with her main character thinking about how she's enjoying seeing the untouchable elves brought down to the level of normal people... really a chilling moment, although it's supposed to be part of an "ain't the world beautiful" wrapup.
Reviewish sorts of stuff: the first scene of _Roses_ is great, and there's some interesting play throughout (and particularly in the climax) with the power of the objective/ifying gaze to remake by seeing. But for the most part I felt the first part of the book failed to set up the second part, and in particular the whole mortality thing (the climax is the immortal elves getting turned into mortals, which Gael Baudino touched on much, much better in _Gossamer Axe_) wasn't a natural answer to the problems such as they were (although they were somewhat vague anyways). Which is maybe why it struck me so much like Duane cramming in her pet cause. Sigh. Especially because it was Immortality Is Just Wrong Dammit and not the There Are Things Worth Dying For theme that shows up in the first three Wizard books, or especially the much more interesting (and palatable to me) We Got Suckered Into Death But At Least Can Make The Best Of It from _Deep Wizardry_.
Babble babble babble. But, given her bias, it's... *interesting*... to see the kind of plot contortions and elaborate multi-world conspiracies Duane still has to set up to justify consigning an ancient, beautiful, immortal people to death. And then how quickly she dispenses with it, and ends with her main character thinking about how she's enjoying seeing the untouchable elves brought down to the level of normal people... really a chilling moment, although it's supposed to be part of an "ain't the world beautiful" wrapup.
