On reading "The Lies of Locke Lamora"

[marycrawford]

You know, I am really tired of fantasy novels where all the heroes and villains and almost all of the colorful side characters are men, except for


one secret mastermind who is revealed to be, OMG, a woman. The perfect disguise! Nobody would ever have suspected!

I did like the bit where she stabbed the hero in the neck with her poisoned knitting needles. Of course, then he managed to escape her by hitting her in the face and jumping out the window, because the secret mastermind decided not to have any backup for a meeting with her known enemy.

Rar.

Going back to reread naominovik's Empire of Ivory, which I recommend, and wherein both men and women are capable, clever and interesting, and some of the best minds belong to the dragons. *g*

Comments

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

Who is that by? I don't think I've heard of it.

And yes, some of us would be more than happy to read Empire of Ivory, but some of us have to wait another week. :stares accusingly at you:

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

It's by Scott Lynch, and his first novel. Apparently six or seven other books in the series are planned. I bought it because I read a good review and the premise appealed to me - a thief/trickster/conman hero in a Venice-inspired setting. I really wanted to like it, and there's some interesting worldbuilding in spots, but the characters never made that leap from the page to the place where I actually care whether they live or die. (That I was cheering on the woman who stabbed Our Hero in the neck is, I think, a bad sign...)

And yes, some of us would be more than happy to read Empire of Ivory, but some of us have to wait another week. :stares accusingly at you:

Hey, I went all the way to Amsterdam for that! And paid twelve euros for the paperback instead of $6.99 as it says on the back! So there. You could come over and borrow it from me, though. ;-)

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

PARTY AT MARY'S HOUSE!!!!!!!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

HEE. I have tea and chocolate and Indonesian food! Come over!

[nightwalker.livejournal.com]

TEN MORE DAYS! *stares at B&N special order notification* Maybe if I stare hard enough, it'll come in early...

Sadly, in a great many fantasy novels it seems that the women are either window dressing or plot devices.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

I hope it does come in early, you never know!

Sadly, in a great many fantasy novels it seems that the women are either window dressing or plot devices.

*nods* The thing that annoys me is that there are women writing great male characters in fantasy and SF, and the reverse still seems incredibly thin on the ground.

[trickofthedark.livejournal.com]

I read that because of the great reviews, too. And my reaction was similiar. The cool woman mafiosa that was the only character I was liking died horribly and then it was a bunch of stupid guys, many of whom died and/or kept all their eggs in one basket, durrrr. Nice world building though. Eh.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one; I do feel kind of like a wet blanket when I can't get into a book many others are enjoying.

The cool woman mafiosa that was the only character I was liking died horribly

Yeah, that was another thing that really bothered me. It felt like a terrible waste of a character, especially since she was the only woman who mattered in the plot so far.