Shapechangers - Book Three - Chapter Seven

[kalinara]

So the one thing about doing two books at the same time is that I sometimes end up with very strange juxtapositions. It was interesting, for example, reading Bloodlist and Crystal Shard at the same time, because in both cases about three quarters of the book passes without a significant female presence, but in my opinion, Bloodlist very much makes up for that in its final quarter, where Crystal Shard basically peters out in that respect.

Here, reading Dragonsong and Shapechangers at the same time makes for another interesting comparison. Alix is seventeen years old in Shapechanger, only two years older than Menolly. But where Menolly ends her book by embarking on a new journey, pursuing education in a new career, with new friends, and all sorts of possibilities ahead of her, Alix has been isolated from everything she's ever known, married to an abusive and dismissive rapist almost twice her age, and is pregnant to boot.

I'm so sorry, Alix. You deserve an adolescence. You deserve a future.

( And now I've utterly depressed myself. Let's see if the book can make me feel better or worse )