37. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (Fantasy)
I don’t remember much about my initial reaction to this book, since I actually read it on February 14, but never got around to writing about it here. I did mention it on my livejournal, though:
I read Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint last night, and it was very enjoyable. I’m looking forward to checking out the sequels. I was bothered by the way she writes women, though. Only two of the main characters are women: one an irritatingly expert manipulator, the other fairly weak and a bit of a fool. It’s not that their characters aren’t perfectly well-drawn and plausible, but maybe if all the POV characters weren’t men, we’d get a more balanced view of women as a whole. It’s not something that stopped me from liking the book a lot, but it’s something I’ve noticed myself becoming highly conscious of in a way I never used to be.
I do know that I was impressed with her world-building, and that I enjoyed both the plot and the characters. It was nice that two of the main characters were gay, and even nicer that the plot had nothing to do with their sexuality.
Books read: 37/300
Pages read: 9,553/75,000
