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books2013-08-18 12:16 pm
angel_negra) wrote in books2013-08-18 12:16 pm
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Book Review: Kynship by Daniel Heath Justice
So, one of the drawbacks of well established ideas of mythological creatures is that they often get repeated, with little to no variation. Elves are a great example of this; there seem to be three general flavours, the Tolkein/Fae variation - which is almost always a medieval setting, even if it clashes with the real world, the Santa/Harry Potter variation, where they tend to be cute little servants, and the myth variations, where they're drawing more heavily from either Celtic or Nordic legends.
I think one of the reasons I enjoyed Kynship, first of a trilogy called 'The Way of Thorn & Thunder', so much is that it turns the general variations on their ear in a way I haven't seen before.
Kynship follows a young elf warrior named Tarsa, who has mystical powers unlocked when she helps to battle a monster that was destroying villages. She is taken in by an aunt who was exiled when Tarsa was a baby and they are called to a council in the largest city in her homeland to talk about the increasing invasions of Man into their world.
What makes this novel, and its idea of elves, so unique is that the author bases the culture of the Elves on his Cherokee culture and the invasion of Man into the Elves' world is similar to the colonization of America. The story is mainly told from the point of view of the invaded, rather than the invaders, which really sets it apart from other colonization/explorer stories I've read. And with basing the Elves, or Kyn as they call themselves, on Cherokee culture, rather than just using Native American traits as window dressing, really breathes a whole different level of life into the story.
The Kyn aren't a monolithic people, though there are shared values between the different tribes. Tarsa's tribe comes from the trees and has different practices from the tribe Tobi, a guide they befriend, comes from, which identify more with specific animals. There's also a faction growing within the Kyn of people who are turning away from the old ways and embracing a very strict and spartan religion. Justice even gives us a point of view character from that faction.
The story shifts through various points of view, and while I certainly didn't agree with any of the antagonists, Justice does such a wonderful job of showing both their reasonings and their character. Neranda, the antagonist from the new spartan religion, for example; as much as I want to see the character thwarted - and give her a good shake for being wrong - Justice does a wonderful job showing just why she believes she's doing the right thing and how she thinks she's helping her people.
Justice also does a wonderful job of showing the prejudices and horrors that the Kyn are facing from Men. There's nothing outright graphic, but some of the implied horrors are pretty bad and if you're squeamish, I'd recommend bracing yourselves when chapters come up which mention characters coming across Men. I didn't find it too horrible to read, well, it was horrifying in that sense of knowing just how evil humans can be and believing that they'd totally do this, but it's not focused on in a torture-porn way.
One thing I hadn't expected in the book, which was a wonderful surprise, is Justice's treatment of Two Spirit Kyn and homosexuality. There were two separate Two Spirit Kyn characters in the first book, both referred to with the general zhe/hir pronouns, and both were considered normal, as were the other mentions of Zhe-Kyn. One was Tarsa's old lover before the events of the book had her exiled from her town and the other is married to the Kyn's male Governor.
And the homosexuality, which I'm not going to spoil with which characters, but was between two female Kyn is also treated normally. It popped up near the end of the book, with the promise of more in the sequels, and is treated no different than if it has been between a male and female character who'd just seen someone they were very much attracted to.
And speaking of female Kyn, another thing I enjoyed about this book was the sheer number of female characters we got. Not just as point of view, but in the Kyn culture as a whole. There were several tribes with a matriarchal structure, Tarsa's warrior caste was all female and she was raised by her aunts before that, and for point of view characters, I think we had about 2 to 1, with more women than men.
On the whole, this novel was just such a refreshing change on so many different levels and I highly recommend it.
I think one of the reasons I enjoyed Kynship, first of a trilogy called 'The Way of Thorn & Thunder', so much is that it turns the general variations on their ear in a way I haven't seen before.
Kynship follows a young elf warrior named Tarsa, who has mystical powers unlocked when she helps to battle a monster that was destroying villages. She is taken in by an aunt who was exiled when Tarsa was a baby and they are called to a council in the largest city in her homeland to talk about the increasing invasions of Man into their world.
What makes this novel, and its idea of elves, so unique is that the author bases the culture of the Elves on his Cherokee culture and the invasion of Man into the Elves' world is similar to the colonization of America. The story is mainly told from the point of view of the invaded, rather than the invaders, which really sets it apart from other colonization/explorer stories I've read. And with basing the Elves, or Kyn as they call themselves, on Cherokee culture, rather than just using Native American traits as window dressing, really breathes a whole different level of life into the story.
The Kyn aren't a monolithic people, though there are shared values between the different tribes. Tarsa's tribe comes from the trees and has different practices from the tribe Tobi, a guide they befriend, comes from, which identify more with specific animals. There's also a faction growing within the Kyn of people who are turning away from the old ways and embracing a very strict and spartan religion. Justice even gives us a point of view character from that faction.
The story shifts through various points of view, and while I certainly didn't agree with any of the antagonists, Justice does such a wonderful job of showing both their reasonings and their character. Neranda, the antagonist from the new spartan religion, for example; as much as I want to see the character thwarted - and give her a good shake for being wrong - Justice does a wonderful job showing just why she believes she's doing the right thing and how she thinks she's helping her people.
Justice also does a wonderful job of showing the prejudices and horrors that the Kyn are facing from Men. There's nothing outright graphic, but some of the implied horrors are pretty bad and if you're squeamish, I'd recommend bracing yourselves when chapters come up which mention characters coming across Men. I didn't find it too horrible to read, well, it was horrifying in that sense of knowing just how evil humans can be and believing that they'd totally do this, but it's not focused on in a torture-porn way.
One thing I hadn't expected in the book, which was a wonderful surprise, is Justice's treatment of Two Spirit Kyn and homosexuality. There were two separate Two Spirit Kyn characters in the first book, both referred to with the general zhe/hir pronouns, and both were considered normal, as were the other mentions of Zhe-Kyn. One was Tarsa's old lover before the events of the book had her exiled from her town and the other is married to the Kyn's male Governor.
And the homosexuality, which I'm not going to spoil with which characters, but was between two female Kyn is also treated normally. It popped up near the end of the book, with the promise of more in the sequels, and is treated no different than if it has been between a male and female character who'd just seen someone they were very much attracted to.
And speaking of female Kyn, another thing I enjoyed about this book was the sheer number of female characters we got. Not just as point of view, but in the Kyn culture as a whole. There were several tribes with a matriarchal structure, Tarsa's warrior caste was all female and she was raised by her aunts before that, and for point of view characters, I think we had about 2 to 1, with more women than men.
On the whole, this novel was just such a refreshing change on so many different levels and I highly recommend it.
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:D
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Sorry. >.> They don't have this in my main bookstore, I looked today. :(
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This is why I tend to order from the online stores myself. *nods* If all else fails, I could always mail you a copy. :D
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Heh, true. Amazon probably has it, I should check there. And yes, yes you could. XD
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