Yes these were my feelings about the trilogy as well--I liked them, but not as much as I expected to.
I did, throughout the whole read, keep finding myself thinking "This is like spinning silver except spinning silver did it so much better. Why am I not just rereading spinning silver instead." I had this reaction as well! Which is a bit unfair, but Spinning Silver had a ton of interesting and complex relationships between its female characters (and also just more female characters period), which I really missed here.
The other thing that bugged me quite a bit was the depiction of the Turco-Mongol/The Golden Horde. I really hated that pretty much every other character were written as nuanced and had depth (ex. Anna and Konstatin), but the Mongols were one note barbarian misogynist jerks who also threatened to rape Vasya repeatedly. I understand that given the setting being Russia breaking out of Mongol control and gaining independence means they had to be the bad guys, but not only is the depiction Not Good it's less interesting than it could have been! From what I remember (I could be getting the cultural timeline wrong? pls corrrect if so) the Mongols gave their women more power and freedoms than similar empires around that time. Other than warrior queens like Khutulun, Mongol women were expected to be able to ride a horse and shoot w/ bow and arrow since they were a nomadic people, and they were often involved in raids as well, usually handling logistics. It would have been much more interesting if Vasya was finally able to meet other women who were able to ride and fight like her and considered it a matter of course, but they were also the enemy.
no subject
I did, throughout the whole read, keep finding myself thinking "This is like spinning silver except spinning silver did it so much better. Why am I not just rereading spinning silver instead." I had this reaction as well! Which is a bit unfair, but Spinning Silver had a ton of interesting and complex relationships between its female characters (and also just more female characters period), which I really missed here.
The other thing that bugged me quite a bit was the depiction of the Turco-Mongol/The Golden Horde. I really hated that pretty much every other character were written as nuanced and had depth (ex. Anna and Konstatin), but the Mongols were one note barbarian misogynist jerks who also threatened to rape Vasya repeatedly. I understand that given the setting being Russia breaking out of Mongol control and gaining independence means they had to be the bad guys, but not only is the depiction Not Good it's less interesting than it could have been! From what I remember (I could be getting the cultural timeline wrong? pls corrrect if so) the Mongols gave their women more power and freedoms than similar empires around that time. Other than warrior queens like Khutulun, Mongol women were expected to be able to ride a horse and shoot w/ bow and arrow since they were a nomadic people, and they were often involved in raids as well, usually handling logistics. It would have been much more interesting if Vasya was finally able to meet other women who were able to ride and fight like her and considered it a matter of course, but they were also the enemy.