Hooray, thanks for commenting, I always love talking Hugos with you!
I agree about Pinsker, I find her so hit-or-miss, but when she's on she's really on and with this story she is doing EVERYTHING I could possibly have wanted out of it and it delights me!
I think with the Harrow, part of what makes it work as a feel-good story for readers is having an emotional attachment to the idea of young children. Which I don't have? I can appreciate individual humans of whatever age (once they're old enough to have conversations with, lol) but the child in this story really felt to me like just The Idea Of A Child rather than a specific person I was given enough information to care about personally, if that makes sense.
I agree with you about the McGuire, that it felt more like performative wokeness than something naturally integrated into the story and the characters, which is something I feel like I've noticed in her books before. And like, better performative wokeness than to write stories that reject the reality of the complex constellations of real people's identities, but it's still not enjoyable to read.
no subject
I agree about Pinsker, I find her so hit-or-miss, but when she's on she's really on and with this story she is doing EVERYTHING I could possibly have wanted out of it and it delights me!
I think with the Harrow, part of what makes it work as a feel-good story for readers is having an emotional attachment to the idea of young children. Which I don't have? I can appreciate individual humans of whatever age (once they're old enough to have conversations with, lol) but the child in this story really felt to me like just The Idea Of A Child rather than a specific person I was given enough information to care about personally, if that makes sense.
I agree with you about the McGuire, that it felt more like performative wokeness than something naturally integrated into the story and the characters, which is something I feel like I've noticed in her books before. And like, better performative wokeness than to write stories that reject the reality of the complex constellations of real people's identities, but it's still not enjoyable to read.