![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
The Lark and the Wren - Verdict
Oct. 19th, 2020 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalinaraSo, does the Lark and the Wren pass the test of time?
I think, with a big caveat, the answer is yes. I had a lot of fun reading it.
But let's talk about the elephant in the room: The portrayal of the Roma
Look, this isn't really something I'm equipped to weigh in on. I'm white, not Roma. I'm also American. There are Roma people in America, of course, but unfortunately, anti-Roma racism isn't something that really gets talked about here. I don't have a lot of independent knowledge about Roma people or customs. So I can't honestly tell you how racist this is.
I can say that the word "Gypsy" is prevalent throughout the book. In the excerpts, I've changed it to Roma. But the text says the G-word instead.
I can say that the Roma people seem to be portrayed sympathetically, and their culture described favorably in contrast to the pseudo-feudal Europe set up of the other characters. However, we do seem to occasionally drift into unironic stereotype about Roma people being thieves, which makes me uncomfortable. ("Caught a lightfingers? We invented that game!")
The Roma culture as described in the book appears to be complex and layered. They have their own language and history. I feel like a lot of thought has gone into making them more than just an exoticized other. But does this culture have any resemblance to the real deal? I don't know that.
As for Roma characters, a lot of them kind of fall into a sort of magical-supporting-character role. Even if they're not strictly magic themselves. Nightingale and Raven for example facilitate a lot of Rune's early success. The Roma society enables the Free Bards to function. Peregrine advises Talaysen and teaches him, and Rune by extension, how to utilize Bardic Magic. It's not until Gwyna, in the last quarter of the book, that we get a Roma lead character.
For what it's worth, every subsequent book in the series will have at least one Roma lead character, except possibly Four and Twenty Blackbirds, which I think is about Talaysen's cousin, Ardis. But I haven't read that. The sequel though is Robin and the Kestrel, and after that Eagle and the Nightingale. A Cast of Corbies is a side novel starring Raven. But again, I'm not really equipped to weigh in on that. I like the characters, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're good representation.
So I mean, in the end, I think the question of the racism in the book is above my pay grade. I'm just not qualified to judge it one way or another.
As for characters and plot:
Well, I said early on that in a lot of ways, I thought this series was a deliberate answer to the Harper Hall Trilogy. Particularly Dragonsong and Dragonsinger. I think I still stand by that. At least at the beginning of the novel.
Rune IS Menolly. Or at least she's the strongest parts of Menolly. She's tall, thin, pragmatic, ambitious, and of course, a prodigious musician. She's overcome a hostile family to pursue a career in a very male dominated field, she learned most of her skills from a supportive mentor who tells her the lay of the land before tragically dying, and she has a very close relationship with the man who is her mentor now.
Admittedly, she doesn't have fire lizards. But no one's perfect.
The thing about Rune that makes her a stronger character than Menolly, in my opinion, is that she gets to be flawed. She starts out the story quite judgmental, self-absorbed, angsty, and arrogant. She has one instrument that she plays very well, but a whole mess of skills she still has to learn. She's got a ways to go both as a musician and as a person. And because of that, it's easy to get invested in her journey. There's a clear progression, even if most of her actual learning takes place off page. And I never feel like things are just handed to Rune.
I suppose in a way, Kestrel is also very much like Menolly too. The son of a king vs. daughter of a lord holder, who learned from a very respected mentor at a very young age. Like Menolly, he basically learned most of his functional skills at like the age of twelve. Unlike Menolly, there are real gaps in his knowledge, though. Kestrel is also a bit more plot than character in this book, though I like him enough to care about the plot.
Since I talked about Kestrel, I'll segue to Gwyna here. Gwyna is a fun character, but she's kind of hampered by the fact that she only really becomes a lead in the last quarter of the book. She's kind of got the Mirrim/Audiva role of being the friend who isn't quite as good, which is frustrating because Gwyna's been performing all of her life. She also gets the single most horrifying plotline in her brief moment in the spotlight! But I do think that Gwyna is a vivid, likable and engaging character.
Really, though, both characters are very much SECONDARY leads. Which is why it's a good thing that they get their own book as a sequel. I remember the Robin and the Kestrel actually being my favorite book in the series. Since the characters are already adults and married, it's far less a coming of age story. But we do get to know both characters, and their relationship a lot more in depth. And we really get to see both characters shine.
But back to our leads, that leads us to Talaysen. If Rune is Menolly, then Talaysen is Robinton, and Ms. Lackey decided to cut out the middle-man to make them a romantic pairing. The age difference is not great, but they're compatible enough in personality that I'm willing to go with it. Talaysen is also a much more engaging and compelling character than Robinton in my opinion, not in the least because he gets to be wrong sometimes. Talaysen is idealistic and sentimental, judgmental, and impulsive. He makes a great contrast to Rune in that respect. He's blinded by privilege sometimes, but he tries very hard to help people. And I think Ms. Lackey does a pretty good job with balancing his experience with Rune's prodigious gifts. There are a few points where he takes over the story, but overall, I think the focus is appropriately split between them.
For plot, well, that's a bit more scattered. We have a coming of age story, then Rune becoming a Bard, then the single chapter or two one-shots, then the Kestrel story. It makes me wonder if, like Dragonflight, this was originally published as a number of short stories. (I THINK the Skull Hill Ghost segment was, at least.) The sequels are all single plot novels instead.
That said, I enjoy the progression. We have Rune as a kid. Rune growing into herself as both a person and a musician. Rune having her moment of triumph, getting crushed, and then rising above it as a Free Bard. Then the mini-story arcs which let us explore the nature of magic, before giving us a nice little adventure where our heroes actually get to use the power they've discovered. The pacing is a bit uneven, and the timeline is a fucking mess, but the general emotional arc is pretty satisfying.
So yeah, I think it's a passing grade. In the next day or two I'll have the Table of Contents up. Then I'll need to figure out what's taking the Sunday night/Monday morning slot now. I have a couple of potential candidates!
I think, with a big caveat, the answer is yes. I had a lot of fun reading it.
But let's talk about the elephant in the room: The portrayal of the Roma
Look, this isn't really something I'm equipped to weigh in on. I'm white, not Roma. I'm also American. There are Roma people in America, of course, but unfortunately, anti-Roma racism isn't something that really gets talked about here. I don't have a lot of independent knowledge about Roma people or customs. So I can't honestly tell you how racist this is.
I can say that the word "Gypsy" is prevalent throughout the book. In the excerpts, I've changed it to Roma. But the text says the G-word instead.
I can say that the Roma people seem to be portrayed sympathetically, and their culture described favorably in contrast to the pseudo-feudal Europe set up of the other characters. However, we do seem to occasionally drift into unironic stereotype about Roma people being thieves, which makes me uncomfortable. ("Caught a lightfingers? We invented that game!")
The Roma culture as described in the book appears to be complex and layered. They have their own language and history. I feel like a lot of thought has gone into making them more than just an exoticized other. But does this culture have any resemblance to the real deal? I don't know that.
As for Roma characters, a lot of them kind of fall into a sort of magical-supporting-character role. Even if they're not strictly magic themselves. Nightingale and Raven for example facilitate a lot of Rune's early success. The Roma society enables the Free Bards to function. Peregrine advises Talaysen and teaches him, and Rune by extension, how to utilize Bardic Magic. It's not until Gwyna, in the last quarter of the book, that we get a Roma lead character.
For what it's worth, every subsequent book in the series will have at least one Roma lead character, except possibly Four and Twenty Blackbirds, which I think is about Talaysen's cousin, Ardis. But I haven't read that. The sequel though is Robin and the Kestrel, and after that Eagle and the Nightingale. A Cast of Corbies is a side novel starring Raven. But again, I'm not really equipped to weigh in on that. I like the characters, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're good representation.
So I mean, in the end, I think the question of the racism in the book is above my pay grade. I'm just not qualified to judge it one way or another.
As for characters and plot:
Well, I said early on that in a lot of ways, I thought this series was a deliberate answer to the Harper Hall Trilogy. Particularly Dragonsong and Dragonsinger. I think I still stand by that. At least at the beginning of the novel.
Rune IS Menolly. Or at least she's the strongest parts of Menolly. She's tall, thin, pragmatic, ambitious, and of course, a prodigious musician. She's overcome a hostile family to pursue a career in a very male dominated field, she learned most of her skills from a supportive mentor who tells her the lay of the land before tragically dying, and she has a very close relationship with the man who is her mentor now.
Admittedly, she doesn't have fire lizards. But no one's perfect.
The thing about Rune that makes her a stronger character than Menolly, in my opinion, is that she gets to be flawed. She starts out the story quite judgmental, self-absorbed, angsty, and arrogant. She has one instrument that she plays very well, but a whole mess of skills she still has to learn. She's got a ways to go both as a musician and as a person. And because of that, it's easy to get invested in her journey. There's a clear progression, even if most of her actual learning takes place off page. And I never feel like things are just handed to Rune.
I suppose in a way, Kestrel is also very much like Menolly too. The son of a king vs. daughter of a lord holder, who learned from a very respected mentor at a very young age. Like Menolly, he basically learned most of his functional skills at like the age of twelve. Unlike Menolly, there are real gaps in his knowledge, though. Kestrel is also a bit more plot than character in this book, though I like him enough to care about the plot.
Since I talked about Kestrel, I'll segue to Gwyna here. Gwyna is a fun character, but she's kind of hampered by the fact that she only really becomes a lead in the last quarter of the book. She's kind of got the Mirrim/Audiva role of being the friend who isn't quite as good, which is frustrating because Gwyna's been performing all of her life. She also gets the single most horrifying plotline in her brief moment in the spotlight! But I do think that Gwyna is a vivid, likable and engaging character.
Really, though, both characters are very much SECONDARY leads. Which is why it's a good thing that they get their own book as a sequel. I remember the Robin and the Kestrel actually being my favorite book in the series. Since the characters are already adults and married, it's far less a coming of age story. But we do get to know both characters, and their relationship a lot more in depth. And we really get to see both characters shine.
But back to our leads, that leads us to Talaysen. If Rune is Menolly, then Talaysen is Robinton, and Ms. Lackey decided to cut out the middle-man to make them a romantic pairing. The age difference is not great, but they're compatible enough in personality that I'm willing to go with it. Talaysen is also a much more engaging and compelling character than Robinton in my opinion, not in the least because he gets to be wrong sometimes. Talaysen is idealistic and sentimental, judgmental, and impulsive. He makes a great contrast to Rune in that respect. He's blinded by privilege sometimes, but he tries very hard to help people. And I think Ms. Lackey does a pretty good job with balancing his experience with Rune's prodigious gifts. There are a few points where he takes over the story, but overall, I think the focus is appropriately split between them.
For plot, well, that's a bit more scattered. We have a coming of age story, then Rune becoming a Bard, then the single chapter or two one-shots, then the Kestrel story. It makes me wonder if, like Dragonflight, this was originally published as a number of short stories. (I THINK the Skull Hill Ghost segment was, at least.) The sequels are all single plot novels instead.
That said, I enjoy the progression. We have Rune as a kid. Rune growing into herself as both a person and a musician. Rune having her moment of triumph, getting crushed, and then rising above it as a Free Bard. Then the mini-story arcs which let us explore the nature of magic, before giving us a nice little adventure where our heroes actually get to use the power they've discovered. The pacing is a bit uneven, and the timeline is a fucking mess, but the general emotional arc is pretty satisfying.
So yeah, I think it's a passing grade. In the next day or two I'll have the Table of Contents up. Then I'll need to figure out what's taking the Sunday night/Monday morning slot now. I have a couple of potential candidates!