Spasiba! (I Just Like That Word)

My vision has been slowly improving, which is a relief. Instead of magnifying the text on my computer 300%, I only need to increase it by 200%. Alas it is still far from perfect and it is also mid-year review season here at Ye Olde Corporate Hub, which means I have to pore continuously over pixelated screens while bashing my head trying to think of things to say. I’m trying to figure out which is worse: evaluating oneself or evaluating one’s bosses. (Both of which I have to do.)

The weather never seems to want to oblige me or my friends whenever we want to go skydiving. Two weekends ago, I took the inimitable Bex with me and Bear down to Williamstown, New Jersey but we were unfortunately deterred by overcast skies. After camping out for two days, we ended up taking ground school because we couldn’t jump. This weekend appears to be much the same: cloudy and inhospitable to people who want to dive out of perfectly good airplanes. Except this time in addition to Bex, Bear and I are bringing along our friends Rachel and Alex, as well as Bear’s friend Mickey (who is the freaking man because he tried out for Ninja Warrior) and Mickey’s friend. (Crap, I just realised I forgot my jump log book at home. I guess I’ll have to run back during my lunch break and grab it.) And it would be Bear and my first non-tandem jump, which I have been looking forward to for ages.

Little worries me about jumping alone (mostly because my instructor will still be holding on to my leg and will pull my parachute in the event I panic and I’m the most comfortable during freefall) but I am concerned about flying the canopy solo this time. There is a lot to keep in mind when you’re under the parachute: wind direction, altitude, location of the drop zone, etc. I’m terrified I’m going to be the girl tangled up in the power lines who has to be cut down by the fire department. However, I do think we’ll be communicating with our instructors via radio so hopefully that will prevent me from landing in a golf course or something.

There I things I love about skydiving. I love that it is the closest thing to flight a human body can achieve. I love the feeling of being weightless, of moving through the air and swooping and turning. I love the adrenaline rush, of feeling incredibly alive once you’ve planted your feet back on the ground. But I think what I love most of all about skydiving is the people. It sounds stupid and sentimental to say, but I don’t quite mean it that way. Skydivers remind me a bit of surfers back at home in Los Angeles: impossibly chill and laid-back, extremely helpful and friendly, and absolute fun just to hang out with on the ground to shoot some hoops, play some poker, or shoot back a few beers. It’s totally like the coolest, most awesome club you can think of comprised of world-travelling thrill seekers.

Here’s hoping the weather holds tomorrow. White-Harp says to the skies, “The power of cute compells you!”

(By the way, when–if, really–it comes times to purchase my own gear, I totally want a steampunk skydiving outfit. I really mostly just want a WWI aviator cap and goggles.)

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On an unrelated note, I tore through Jacqueline Carey‘s latest book in the Kushiel’s Legacy series last night. Although I love her work, I wasn’t willing to fork over the extra money for a hardcover, so I waited until Kushiel’s Justice was released in mass market before purchasing it.

Review of Jacqueline Carey’s KUSHIEL’S JUSTICE.

I find Imriel’s books less cracktastic than Phèdre’s, which is unfair of me to say because I think Imriel’s story is actually the more interesting one. Admittedly I started reading Kushiel’s Dart a few years back because it was about COURTESANS and KINKY SEX and BISEXUALITY and AWESOMENESS and because it was quick, fast read that required little thought in order for me to comprehend it. (I think I picked it up around the time of my senior midterms.) It was shallow and frivolous in all the ways that tickled my fancy but surprisingly intricate and subtle and deep in others, especially in Kushiel’s Avatar (which still remains my favourite). There are a lot of things about the world of Terre d’Ange that Carey created that made me scoff initially (if Phèdre said “We are D’Angeline after all” ONE MORE TIME I swore I’d throw it across the room), especially the twee Love as thou wilt idea that was Terre d’Ange’s spiritual motto. (I know, I know, it’s only a step away from Aleister Crowley’s Do as thou wilt, but still.) However, as the overarching narrative unfolded, it wasn’t a silly excuse for BISEXUAL AWESOMENESS anymore; it was a force to be reckoned with. (J. K. Rowling, take note.)

To recap, Phèdre and Joscelin rescued Imriel, son of the OMFG HOT traitor Melisande, from the clutches of the evil Mahrkagir (“an EEEEEVIL maharajah!”) in Daršanga, forging a family in the process. The heroes of the realm adopt him and he grows up into a brooding fellow, pondering on his mother’s crimes against his nation, trying to figure out who he is, and growing up under the shadow of his foster parents, whose shoes are incredibly difficult–if not impossible–to fill. In Kushiel’s Scion, he runs off to university in Tiberium, has an affair with a married woman, stumbles across a huge, almost unfathomable conspiracy theory that reaches across nearly all the known regions of the world, and gets entangled in a siege.

It was also sort of dull.

The thing is, I think Imriel’s bildungsroman and emotional journey throughout the book is handled extraordinarily well and the thing I applaud Carey for most was there was no “reset” button in her books: things have NOT returned to the status quo and the world has changed/is changing because of Phèdre’s actions. Phèdre is god-chosen, but Imriel is not, which made for a much more human story. I don’t like him as much as his foster-mother, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s incredibly well-writen and believable, even more so than the Comtesse de Montrève. However, the plot is less compelling. Imriel himself acknowledges and laments that his story will never be epic, not like his foster-parents, so the scale on which his narrative plays out is much more personal and intimate. Alas, I wanted INTRIGUE and DANGER and AWESOMENESS.

Kushiel’s Justice picks up where the previous left off: Imriel, having returned home, is preparing for his upcoming nuptials to Dorelai mab Bredaia. It’s a marriage of political convenience, arranged by his kinswoman Queen Ysandre for benefit of both Terre d’Ange and Alba, her husband Drustan’s kingdom. Because succession of power in Alba is matrilineal, Drustan and Ysandre’s daughters will not inherit and there is unrest in Terre d’Ange over the possibility of the lessening D’Angeline influence among the Cruithne with Drustan’s successor and nephew Talorcan. Therefore, Imriel is to be married to the Cruarch-to-be’s sister Dorelai, whose children will inherit Bryn Gorrydum. Their union is to ensure that Terre d’Ange will have a foothold in Alba in the coming generations. (If you read the books this makes much more sense.)

Imriel, however, is in love with Sidonie, the Dauphine and heir to Ysandre’s throne, a relationship that could never be due to his birth mother’s history and the prejudice against him at Court. Regardless, Sidonie and Imriel embark on a passionate affair that they end once the Cruithne arrive with Imriel’s prospective bride in tow. Imriel and Dorelai get married, move to Alba, and attempt to start a family.

My favourite sections took place in Alba, during which Imriel tries to be the best husband he can be to his wife, works at becoming accepted by the people of Clunderry as their lord, and realises the growing tenderness that blooms between himself and Dorelai, especially once he learns he is going to be a father. Imriel changes from being a brooding, self-absorbed Angst Muffin, to a loving husband and father-to-be and that emotional change is beautifully rendered. Unfortunately, it’s also rendered cheap because the only way he is able to love his wife is due to Alban sorcery.

There is an entire plot involving the Maghuin Dhonn, a fey werebear tribe of the Cruithne, who trap Imriel because they are fearful of the change he brings. Using his love and desire for Sidonie, they create a mannekin which they use to control him. In order to circumvent this, Alban ollamhs bind his emotions for her. So while his fondness and affection for Dorelai is real, it comes at the expense of his passion for someone else. I wish Carey had taken the harder route in this case.

I had a real problem with the Imriel/Sidonie love affair. Not a single bit rang true for me, which is disappointing because I believe every other relationship Carey has written (not just romantic/sexual ones, but friendship too). Thankfully it’s not a plot catalyst by any means, but I didn’t feel that he loved her. Lust, I understood. But the sort of love Imriel says he feels wasn’t there. He kept TELLING ME he loved her, but I didn’t see it. Their relationship was the only significant quibble I had, but unfortunately, it comprises a large part of Imriel’s psyche, and therefore a lot of the emotional fabric of the book.

However, there were many, many things I loved about this book. Jacqueline Carey knows how to do worldbuilding right and it’s always a real treasure to read her books for the fantasy travel aspect of it. In Kushiel’s Dart we got Skaldia (Germany) and Alba and Eire (British Isles and Ireland), in Chosen we saw La Serenissima (Venice), Illyria (Serbia/Croatia/Albania), and Kriti (Crete), and in Avatar we had Menekhet (Egypt), Khebbel-im-Akkad (um…Iraq-ish), Drujan (Persia-ish or Azerbaijan), Jebe-Barkal (Ethiopia/Eritrea), and Saba (geographically the Congo/Kenya, but culturally Habiru/Hebrew). In Scion we saw Tiberium (Rome) and now in Justice we have more Alba and Vralia (um…former Soviet Union, I suppose. They speak Russian, called Rus in her universe). I LOVE IT. Carey can definitely hit a lot of my kinks (heh), and one of those is alternate history. I’m just tickles to pieces that I can usually figure out which culture the country is referencing by the name, which often draws on historical sources. England used to be called Albion, Eire is obviously Ireland, La Serenissima is an old name for Venice (The Serene Republic), Jutland is Denmark, and on and on. God, I love this. It’s like playing games for the history/geography geek in me.

I also love that the (endearing) Mary-Sue qualities of Phèdre (and by extension all D’Angelines) were addressed. D’Angelines are beautiful due to their angelic heritage, but the reaction from other countries isn’t always positive. I like that standards of beauty are different everywhere he goes and Imriel has none of Phèdre’s snobbishness concerning his own countrymen’s beauty. I like that he has to struggle to pick up foreign languages because he doesn’t have Phèdre’s linguistic ear.

Best of all, I think, is that none of Carey’s villains are Evil. They are motivated by things other than Evilosity: greed, ambition, misplaced compassion, insanity, etc. Every single one has been sympathetic in his or her own way, even the Mahrkagir (who was OH HOLY SHIT SCARY AND EVIL AND INSANE). So while there is magic and fantasy in these series, all conflict arises from human interests. There is always another side to the story and I can’t wait until we see Melisande’s.

Very minor things: I WANTED TO SEE MORE OF THE NIGHT COURT, DAMMIT. Come on, Carey, indulge my shallow, oversexed side! In previous books we’d seen Cereus (ephemeral), Valerian (masochism), Balm (healing), and Gentian (mysticism) and in this one we get to see Alyssum (modesty) and Byrony (money). But the ones I wanted to see most (Dahlia–regality, Jasmine–pleasure, and Orchis–joy in laughter) weren’t shown and it doesn’t seem likely we’ll see any more. I would love it if she wrote a book about just the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. Related to this, the sex scenes in this book were sort of unnecessary. I know Carey built her fanbase based on her candid and open writing about sex and since Phèdre is a courtesan, most of the sex in the first three books furthers the plot. Imriel is not a courtesan, not to mention he has some lingering issues about sex (being as he was abused horribly in Daršanga as a child) so the sex was sort of extraneous. We saw more of the Night Court in Justice because he was determined to go through all of them alphabetically before he marries Dorelai, but then gets sidetracked by his passion for Sidonie. DAMMIT.

Similarly, while Carey makes it clear that homosexual love is accepted in Terre d’Ange, we never see any male-on-male intimacy. We get hints of lesbian love and a few characters are in gay relationships, but the main characters are staunchly heterosexual. I can forgive Joscelin because he was raised as a prude in his monkish order, but bisexuality is par for the course in Terre d’Ange. While Scion hints at the possibility of gay intercourse between Lucius (who is gay) and Imriel, it’s never realised. In Valerian House Imriel gets a blow-job from a man, but that’s about as far as it gets, which disappointed me. I’m a slash fan, certainly, but Phèdre generally slept with a lot of women when the opportunity arose (she is a courtesan, yes, but still) and there were a lot of opportunities for Imriel and he took up none of them.

Another small thing: I like Joscelin a lot better in Imriel’s books. He’s developed a sense of humour and foster-fatherhood suits him well.

Oh well. I’m going to wait until Kushiel’s Mercy is published in paperback as well, but I’m excited to read it because Melisande should be making another appearance. Huzzah!