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beccaelizabethsequels are annoying. I liked 'Sabriel' so I bought 'Lirael', both by Garth Nix. But whilst the quality of the writing remains the same and the world is just as well drawn, the philosophy seems to me inverted.
In 'Sabriel' she saved the world by proper application of long training. In 'Lirael' the protagonists keep on doing very stupid things, not telling anyone about them even though the results put many lives at risk, and then not only surviving but profiting from them. That shouldn't work, and it is backwards of what the last one was about.
There is still a lot about how valuable knowledge is, but it is acquired after the big mistakes, and alone, without teachers. Actually so far the only teacher has appeared just long enough to go insane and be locked up.
The title character is a librarian, but in a very peculiar library, and again even though she is the most junior apprentice librarian she ends up doing all her research alone and unguided, and then apparently figures out enough to know more than anyone around her. Really, not. It is backwards of the school book, where misfit kid finds practical applications of lessons they thought were boring at the time. It is more misfit kid turns out to be more right than the rest of the world, and while I'm sure there are teenagers who want to read that story, it is not actually a good idea to encourage them.
Also both the main teenagers seem to be mentally ill, and no one around them either notices, cares or helps. This is unpleasant. I mean okay, in a fantasy setting having a girl who only talks to her dog is perfectly reasonable, because the dog talks back and is a good friend. But she doesn't talk at all to anyone else, and really someone out of the thousands of people around her should notice something is not right with her, not just leave her alone a lot. And the other one is a boy who's father noticed he had an 'injury of the spirit' and then just left him alone to deal with it himself. Which, it being both magical and psychological, the poor kid really cannot. It is plausible in the plot, but *annoying*.
I realise the story is probably going to be about how the two kids overcome their problems and find their strength and blah blah blah, but mental illness isn't something that gets fixed by picking up and deciding to do better. It isn't something a teenager should be left to deal with alone. And leaving them to read a book and sort themself out is just wrong. Yeah, there's a lot of library dwelling people who would like the idea. But actually living people can, oddly, have the knowledge that they then pour into the books, so why not have a few of them in the story too?
I'm only half way through. It is possible that the things that are annoying me will be sorted out before the end. But really, I'm not hopeful. So far the obvious and correct and absolutely bloody necessary thing to do has been 'tell a responsible adult expert' several different times, and at no time is that what actually happens. The teenage librarian is storing up trouble for her entire clan/city/country by keeping some of this stuff to herself, but the way she keeps going from strength to strength and getting all kinds of magic doodad rewards just seems to undermine the idea that acting this way is, in fact, wrong. I'm at the point where I'm thinking the only way to salvage the logical point of view is to have her fail hugely and miserably and make a mistake big enough she can't cover it up and realise what an arrogant ass she has been being so far. But, her being the title character, I rather do not think that is going to happen. I guess I'll see.
*sigh*
In 'Sabriel' she saved the world by proper application of long training. In 'Lirael' the protagonists keep on doing very stupid things, not telling anyone about them even though the results put many lives at risk, and then not only surviving but profiting from them. That shouldn't work, and it is backwards of what the last one was about.
There is still a lot about how valuable knowledge is, but it is acquired after the big mistakes, and alone, without teachers. Actually so far the only teacher has appeared just long enough to go insane and be locked up.
The title character is a librarian, but in a very peculiar library, and again even though she is the most junior apprentice librarian she ends up doing all her research alone and unguided, and then apparently figures out enough to know more than anyone around her. Really, not. It is backwards of the school book, where misfit kid finds practical applications of lessons they thought were boring at the time. It is more misfit kid turns out to be more right than the rest of the world, and while I'm sure there are teenagers who want to read that story, it is not actually a good idea to encourage them.
Also both the main teenagers seem to be mentally ill, and no one around them either notices, cares or helps. This is unpleasant. I mean okay, in a fantasy setting having a girl who only talks to her dog is perfectly reasonable, because the dog talks back and is a good friend. But she doesn't talk at all to anyone else, and really someone out of the thousands of people around her should notice something is not right with her, not just leave her alone a lot. And the other one is a boy who's father noticed he had an 'injury of the spirit' and then just left him alone to deal with it himself. Which, it being both magical and psychological, the poor kid really cannot. It is plausible in the plot, but *annoying*.
I realise the story is probably going to be about how the two kids overcome their problems and find their strength and blah blah blah, but mental illness isn't something that gets fixed by picking up and deciding to do better. It isn't something a teenager should be left to deal with alone. And leaving them to read a book and sort themself out is just wrong. Yeah, there's a lot of library dwelling people who would like the idea. But actually living people can, oddly, have the knowledge that they then pour into the books, so why not have a few of them in the story too?
I'm only half way through. It is possible that the things that are annoying me will be sorted out before the end. But really, I'm not hopeful. So far the obvious and correct and absolutely bloody necessary thing to do has been 'tell a responsible adult expert' several different times, and at no time is that what actually happens. The teenage librarian is storing up trouble for her entire clan/city/country by keeping some of this stuff to herself, but the way she keeps going from strength to strength and getting all kinds of magic doodad rewards just seems to undermine the idea that acting this way is, in fact, wrong. I'm at the point where I'm thinking the only way to salvage the logical point of view is to have her fail hugely and miserably and make a mistake big enough she can't cover it up and realise what an arrogant ass she has been being so far. But, her being the title character, I rather do not think that is going to happen. I guess I'll see.
*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2004-12-18 04:09 pm (UTC)I still think the Clayr brat hasn't earned her skills, and should be paying for them harder. Still not been called on the whole endangering thing. Yeah, she risked her life to get it fixed, and yeah, she spent some time in an infirmary first, but she still kept it secret when it was necessary data, and she basically got away with it. She only hurt herself, not got hurt. Is stupid.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-18 08:29 pm (UTC)Also, her punishment for being stupid all through the book is... to find herself with ever more power and magical gewgaws. All controlled by stuff she learned out of a book. In one reading. The value of experience and training is being completely ignored throughout.
Sabriel's plot depended, on the whole, on people acting in an intelligent but opposing fashion. Lirael is about stupidity from the hero and intelligence from the villain. At this point I'm left rooting for the bad guy, except for the part where said bad guy is insane and probably dead already.
I'll read the last book in the trilogy, but so far I am very much irritated. Sabriel was a good book, Lirael really was not.