Martha Wells, The Cloud Roads
Nov. 15th, 2020 07:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI read the first of the books about Raksura, and I dont think I'll get the rest.
There is an evil race. All the ones we meet and all the ones we hear of, all of them are evil. They do forced mating with other races and the offspring are evil. They kill other intelligent races and eat them. And that's all they do.
They're intelligent and have language, but dont seem to be using it for much. They're sort of telepathic and share memories between them, so why are they speaking? Just to manipulate other races? They can get in their heads and mind control them so that seems extra. We never see them use stuff either. They have no tools and dont use the things the races they kill leave behind.
They live in a world of abundant grass eating animals that let the neighbours survive by hunting, yet they hunt the neighbours instead. Armed neighbours. Who fight back.
I'm just not buying it. Intelligence is expensive, why evolve it if they're only going to use their teeth?
Also, primarily, main objection, big problem: evil races is racist. Dont care if it's orcs or Fell, just the framing of the thing as These People Always Evil? A problem.
This is the same author as Murderbot. I did not expect Evil Race Just Eats People For Funsies from the author of Murderbot. And I'm not sticking around to read more of it.
ETA: I read some other people's reviews and precisely zero complained about Evil Race Is Evil, but all the ones that gave it less than five stars complained about the protagonist being grumpy and whiny.
I feel the urge to leap to his defence.
Everyone he meets in this entire book wants to either kill him or mate with him, or mate and then kill. ... okay, some of the random traders turn out not to want that, but, everso many people try it. People he has lived with betray him in the opening chapter. Many new people have an agenda, and it involves breeding, but only some of them even ask his opinion about that. And it turns out that this is pretty much his life so far. People try and kill him, or they try and sleep with him, or they mix those up.
He's exactly as jumpy and grrr as seems proportionate to the situation.
Just... they're complaining they went from Murderbot to this but didnt like the growly standoffish epically traumatised guy? What did they like about Murderbot?
Leave Moon alone, nobody else ever has in his entire life.
... actually by the end leave Moon with people he actually gets a choice about. Is better.
Also I kept seeing people talk about the interesting gender roles in this, and I am puzzled. I think it's because the literal dragon ladies kill as many people as the literal dragon gentlemen. Or that every tasks seems to be done by both men and women. If this to them is novel and innovative I am... concerned.
I read the reviews and felt like I didnt recognise the book they were complaining about.
This one was solidly written and had characters and worldbuilding and chases and fights and adventure and all that necessary stuff.
Just also Evil Race.
Eating people.
*sigh*
There is an evil race. All the ones we meet and all the ones we hear of, all of them are evil. They do forced mating with other races and the offspring are evil. They kill other intelligent races and eat them. And that's all they do.
They're intelligent and have language, but dont seem to be using it for much. They're sort of telepathic and share memories between them, so why are they speaking? Just to manipulate other races? They can get in their heads and mind control them so that seems extra. We never see them use stuff either. They have no tools and dont use the things the races they kill leave behind.
They live in a world of abundant grass eating animals that let the neighbours survive by hunting, yet they hunt the neighbours instead. Armed neighbours. Who fight back.
I'm just not buying it. Intelligence is expensive, why evolve it if they're only going to use their teeth?
Also, primarily, main objection, big problem: evil races is racist. Dont care if it's orcs or Fell, just the framing of the thing as These People Always Evil? A problem.
This is the same author as Murderbot. I did not expect Evil Race Just Eats People For Funsies from the author of Murderbot. And I'm not sticking around to read more of it.
ETA: I read some other people's reviews and precisely zero complained about Evil Race Is Evil, but all the ones that gave it less than five stars complained about the protagonist being grumpy and whiny.
I feel the urge to leap to his defence.
Everyone he meets in this entire book wants to either kill him or mate with him, or mate and then kill. ... okay, some of the random traders turn out not to want that, but, everso many people try it. People he has lived with betray him in the opening chapter. Many new people have an agenda, and it involves breeding, but only some of them even ask his opinion about that. And it turns out that this is pretty much his life so far. People try and kill him, or they try and sleep with him, or they mix those up.
He's exactly as jumpy and grrr as seems proportionate to the situation.
Just... they're complaining they went from Murderbot to this but didnt like the growly standoffish epically traumatised guy? What did they like about Murderbot?
Leave Moon alone, nobody else ever has in his entire life.
... actually by the end leave Moon with people he actually gets a choice about. Is better.
Also I kept seeing people talk about the interesting gender roles in this, and I am puzzled. I think it's because the literal dragon ladies kill as many people as the literal dragon gentlemen. Or that every tasks seems to be done by both men and women. If this to them is novel and innovative I am... concerned.
I read the reviews and felt like I didnt recognise the book they were complaining about.
This one was solidly written and had characters and worldbuilding and chases and fights and adventure and all that necessary stuff.
Just also Evil Race.
Eating people.
*sigh*