Series: The Spellsong Cycle
Author: L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Publisher: TOR
ISPN: 0-812-54559-1
This was my second time reading this book. I recall my first time, about ten years ago, reading being a fast paced romp. I wish I could say the same on this read through. Instead I found myself growing agitated at the protagonist and putting off reading as it became a chore. But let's start at the beginning.
At its most basic the story is that a music professor from our world is yanked into a world where magic is music based and due to her immense training she is the most powerful sorceress there. So we have a fish-out-of-water, boy-meets-world scenario going. Okay, now we get complicated. The protagonist, Anna Marshall, is a heart-broken divorcee who also just recently buried her eldest daughter. Upon being transported to the new world she recoils at the politics and situations she has been thrust into, even more so at the medieval worldview at pertains to woman's role which is to say subservient and of less apparent worth. Anna is trapped in the new world and so begins plotting her survival and winds up saving a nation from invasion[1] on two fronts. In doing so she forces her worldview upon her new world; women are equal, central formalized education (at least for the elite), accounting, germ theory, et cetera.
One problem, the main one, I found on this reading was that it was more a vitriolic lecture on the chauvinism of men as a gender. At almost every turn Anna blames men for power games, politics, war and violence. She outright lectures supporting characters in exposition that seems more like the author lecturing the reader. She treats almost everyone as if they are intellectually inferior and morally. And yet in the end she was guilty of every crime she laid at the feet of men. I found her to be an overly judgmental female chauvinist and an “ugly American”.[2]
Oddly, I still like the story, however I don’t like the telling
of it. One person I discussed this book
with offered some interesting opinions; one in particular was worth looking
into: that the story was promoting feminism[3].
So I went to L. E. Modesitt’s website, via a quick web search, and he had a blog post on
the subject. He seemed a little befuddled that his portrayal of a woman in
a book “which depicts a woman in a
fantasy world fighting against situations such as [the one Anna finds
herself in], it’s called by some feminist
propaganda or ultra-feminist[4].“[5]
However, I don’t think it’s so much her actions that give the novel a ultra-feminist
bent, I think it is more her thoughts that tip the scales towards
ultra-feminism.
Numerous times, it appeared to me that Anna thought
that women were socially better than men. But in the end she was just as bad…
So yes it is a feminist, quasi-ultra-feminist novel.[6]
It occurs to me that I’m harping on the subject, so
I’ll draw to a close. It’s a good enough story, but it can be a trying read.
[1]
Okay technically she stops one invasion and one incursion or occupation.
[2] “an American in a foreign country whose behavior is offensive to the
people of that country” – definition courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com
[3] “the
belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities” –
definition courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com
[4] “Ultra-feminism
is like feminism but with the belief that women are better than men.” –
definition courtesy of Urban
Dictionary.com
[5]
Modesitt, L.E., “Feminist Propaganda?”, http://www.lemodesittjr.com/2011/04/22/feminist-propaganda/,
Paragraph 4, Retrieved: April 16, 2014
[6] I’d
give examples to support my ideas. But I didn’t take notes while reading and
finding specific examples for a review of a book and not an analysis just isn’t
worth the extra effort.
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