soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2022-11-11 01:57 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2022-11-11 01:57 pm
Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, by Kai Ashante Wilson
Really not sure WHAT I just read or how to explain/describe it, but dang I was into it. It's kind of science fiction and fantasy at the same time, it doesn't do a lot of explaining what it's doing or how the worldbuilding works but just sort of presents it to you, and it is not linear. Its use of language - of languages - is fabulous, and the rhythm of the prose. I love how Wilson writes!!! And the way he can draw characters and worlds so well in such a short space.
And the whole thing is written with such confidence that it just carries you along through the things that don't make sense as an understanding is gradually built up in your mind of the things that matter.
The one issue is that I'm not quite sure how I feel about the ending.
Demane's love interest, the Captain, dies in the end, due to Demane's failures. Is this the right ending for the book? I really don't know! Demane could just as easily have been made to succeed at saving the Captain from the second jukiere, and it doesn't feel like whether the Captain dies or not is a relevant factor in the character arc of Demane growing into his powers and cementing his outsiderness. So it DOES kind of feel to me like the Captain's death is just, like, for the shock value? For the angst? Idk!! Even if what you want to do with the Captain's death is solidify the way Demane is cut off from the world of humans who don't have his background, you can still do this with what's been said about how Demane can no longer even walk upon the protected Road anymore and can only been in the Wildeeps - and the Captain cannot live safely in the Wildeeps. They're not going to be able to have a happy long-term ending together regardless. But the Captain didn't have to DIE!
Okay yes I have talked myself into disliking the ending!! Well, I was warned ahead of time that Wilson is not great at endings, so I was prepared! And I love everything else about the book SO MUCH that I am ok with just living with the ending we have (and maybe pretending that's not what happened).
The other thing is a technical issue with the ebook copy I have, which is a collection: In Our Own Worlds #2: Four LGBTQ+ Tor.com Novellas. And there are some footnotes in Sorcerer of the Wildeeps; not a lot, but the ones that are there are important. And they are placed at the end of each chapter with no link to take you from your current page to the footnote and back again. So when you get to the footnote you've entirely forgotten the context of what was being footnoted. This is highly unhelpful! I kind of want to reread in hard copy now. Or a better ebook.
And the whole thing is written with such confidence that it just carries you along through the things that don't make sense as an understanding is gradually built up in your mind of the things that matter.
The one issue is that I'm not quite sure how I feel about the ending.
Demane's love interest, the Captain, dies in the end, due to Demane's failures. Is this the right ending for the book? I really don't know! Demane could just as easily have been made to succeed at saving the Captain from the second jukiere, and it doesn't feel like whether the Captain dies or not is a relevant factor in the character arc of Demane growing into his powers and cementing his outsiderness. So it DOES kind of feel to me like the Captain's death is just, like, for the shock value? For the angst? Idk!! Even if what you want to do with the Captain's death is solidify the way Demane is cut off from the world of humans who don't have his background, you can still do this with what's been said about how Demane can no longer even walk upon the protected Road anymore and can only been in the Wildeeps - and the Captain cannot live safely in the Wildeeps. They're not going to be able to have a happy long-term ending together regardless. But the Captain didn't have to DIE!
Okay yes I have talked myself into disliking the ending!! Well, I was warned ahead of time that Wilson is not great at endings, so I was prepared! And I love everything else about the book SO MUCH that I am ok with just living with the ending we have (and maybe pretending that's not what happened).
The other thing is a technical issue with the ebook copy I have, which is a collection: In Our Own Worlds #2: Four LGBTQ+ Tor.com Novellas. And there are some footnotes in Sorcerer of the Wildeeps; not a lot, but the ones that are there are important. And they are placed at the end of each chapter with no link to take you from your current page to the footnote and back again. So when you get to the footnote you've entirely forgotten the context of what was being footnoted. This is highly unhelpful! I kind of want to reread in hard copy now. Or a better ebook.