Among Others- Book Review

Among Others, by Jo Walton, is a hard book to describe.  I guess the easiest way is to say that it is the winner of both the Nebula and the Hugo awards.  I don't know if it is deserving of the award as I have not read the other nominees as of this writing.  It is very interesting and it is in a diary type format, but I think the best way to describe it is as a coming of age story...for girls.  It has fairies and boys and father issues; yep, definitely a coming of age story for girls. 

Plot-  We meet young Mor on an adventure with her twin and then we are transported to a future where Mor is alone and her sister is dead.  Mor is leaving the Magical Welsh countryside and is stuck in a very unmagical boarding school.  It is kind of like Harry Potter in reverse.  Along the way we get to hear about all the wonderful science fiction and fantasy books that she is reading, some(most) of which, we still haven't read.

Characters-  I don't know how much to say here as I don't want to ruin anyone elses raw interpretation of the book.  Finish the book and then email me and we can talk about Mor.  Mor is really the only developed character.  Mor sees the other characters as fulfilling roles and they aren't established beyond these roles, this works as the book is a diary. 

Overall-  The book left me conflicted.  It has some action I guess, but that is always secondary.  It is more of an exploration of Mor and her coming of age story.  Thankfully the writing is good and it is very easy to be consumed into Mor's world.  I should have known it wasn't going to be a normal story as the narrator tells someone along the way that he is looking at things as if they were a story and that stuff doesn't happen in real life.  I was not, however, satisfied with the ending. 

I am not sure who to recommend this book to.  I am letting my 11 year old read it, knowing that there are some adult situations in the book and talk of sex, pregnancy, abortion, incest, and homosexuality.  She knows about all these things, but they are presented a bit differently in this book than what she may be used to and that we may discuss afterwards.  it was good, but I don't know if it was great. 

Left Hand of Darkness - book review

Ursula K Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness is an experiment in world building.  The reader will quickly realize that every aspect of this world has been thought out.  Le Guin is able to take the climate and physiological characteristics of her characters and create a society that builds and play off of them. 

Genly has been sent by the Ekumen to bring the world of Winter into the Ekumen as a trading partner.  Winter was apparently populated long ago by some gene hacking experiments.   The people of winter are neuter for most of the month, but then can go into heat (paraphrasing) and can be either male or female for a few days of uncontrollable sex.  The desire for sex is so strong that society have developed Kemmer (heat) houses where people can go and hook up with someone else that is also in kemmer.  Genly, is and alien and always male, so they look at him as some kind of pervert. 

The plot of the novel, while not bad although somewhat slow paced, takes a back seat to the effects of a never ending winter and gender non identification would have on a people.  For instance, A king's heir must be born from the king.  The king has to give birth to the heir.  Also, because the planet has no flying birds native, the people have no concept of flight.  It is a very interesting thought experiment.

The books downside is that all of this history and world building requires a lot of exposition,  most is inserted as part of the dialogue, but it slows the story down quite a bit.  I will admit that the book had a tendancy to put me to sleep  at  some points as it was almost like reading a text book on the people of Winter's culture.  It was a slow, dense read but quite enjoyable. 

I compared it to a text book and maybe it is; a text book on world building.  If you are going to build a world, this is the kind of attention to detail that you need to employ.  Maybe you don't have to reveal every detail about your planet, but preparing those details and knowing them can make the story flow better and seem less like things are coming out of no where.  For example I bring you the many ways of travel in the Wonderful World of Harry Potter, every year it seamed that there was a new way to get around that everyone used.  First there was the flu, then port keys are all the fad and the only way to travel, then you have people aspirating all over the place with hardly a mention of Flu's or portkeys as actual transportation.  It is obvious that Rowling hadn't really planned this out. 

Anyway, it was good book with great world building.  If you are old enough to stick with this book you are old enough for the content which isn't graphic at all.  I can see why this one is a classic.  It won the Hugo and Nebula.