The Robin and the Kestrel - Verdict
Aug. 8th, 2024 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalinara posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
i_read_whatSo, how was the Robin and the Kestrel?
All in all, I'd say it was pretty good! The characters are likable, and since we start the story with them as married adults, we don't have to waste a lot of time in build up and "will-they-won't-they" shenanigans. It's refreshing.
The plot is a pretty straightforward adventure. It holds together well, without major issues with pacing, and has both stakes but a realistic challenge level for our characters. They're not the kind of heroes that can liberate a nation. But they can deal with a small city, as it turns out!
I appreciated the character-driven subplot as well. These are characters that mean well and genuinely do love each other, but they're newlyweds from very different worlds and with very different traumas. It's realistic that they'd need to learn to communicate and work as a team better. And I appreciated that, except for the whole Patsono nonsense, neither of them were really "in the wrong" either.
But let's talk about the elephant in the room: the G-word issue.
I'm still not really the right person to talk about this. I'm white and American, and anti-Roma racism isn't really an overt thing here. I believe that Roma do face bigotry regarding a lot of their cultural practices, but I don't think the average white American looks at said practices and thinks "those are ROMA practices" specifically. If that makes sense.
I am, however, the reviewer that you've got. So I'll do my best.
We've got one plus over the Lark and the Wren, because Gwyna is one of the two main characters this time. We get a lot more information about Roma cultural practices and get a glimpse of the complex history and connections that even characters like Talaysen likely have no clue about. The relationship between the Roma and the Deliambren, for example, is really really interesting and seems to be fairly unique in the setting.
But then we have the Patsonos. The advantage of having many characters of a particular ethnic group, I think, is that you might be forgiven for accidentally slipping into a stereotype at times as long as you're not treating it as a universal trait. But what Lackey does here goes way beyond that. The Patsono Clan is every negative Roma stereotype that you can imagine, short of kidnapping children, and that's not cool!
It's still racism, even if you give us some "good" Roma too.
And I'm still rather bothered that the entire clan was apparently left to mob wrath at the end of the story. I accept that this wasn't intentional on the part of our heroes, and that they were thinking fast on how to deal with a scary situation. But I would have liked our AUTHOR to have considered what that looks like.
Do the Patsonos deserve consequences for helping dupe and abuse a city? Sure. But is there any chance that they'll be facing consequences that are fair and proportionate for their crimes?
But overall, I did like the book. And I insist that our heroes got their wagon back as soon as they got out of the city!
All in all, I'd say it was pretty good! The characters are likable, and since we start the story with them as married adults, we don't have to waste a lot of time in build up and "will-they-won't-they" shenanigans. It's refreshing.
The plot is a pretty straightforward adventure. It holds together well, without major issues with pacing, and has both stakes but a realistic challenge level for our characters. They're not the kind of heroes that can liberate a nation. But they can deal with a small city, as it turns out!
I appreciated the character-driven subplot as well. These are characters that mean well and genuinely do love each other, but they're newlyweds from very different worlds and with very different traumas. It's realistic that they'd need to learn to communicate and work as a team better. And I appreciated that, except for the whole Patsono nonsense, neither of them were really "in the wrong" either.
But let's talk about the elephant in the room: the G-word issue.
I'm still not really the right person to talk about this. I'm white and American, and anti-Roma racism isn't really an overt thing here. I believe that Roma do face bigotry regarding a lot of their cultural practices, but I don't think the average white American looks at said practices and thinks "those are ROMA practices" specifically. If that makes sense.
I am, however, the reviewer that you've got. So I'll do my best.
We've got one plus over the Lark and the Wren, because Gwyna is one of the two main characters this time. We get a lot more information about Roma cultural practices and get a glimpse of the complex history and connections that even characters like Talaysen likely have no clue about. The relationship between the Roma and the Deliambren, for example, is really really interesting and seems to be fairly unique in the setting.
But then we have the Patsonos. The advantage of having many characters of a particular ethnic group, I think, is that you might be forgiven for accidentally slipping into a stereotype at times as long as you're not treating it as a universal trait. But what Lackey does here goes way beyond that. The Patsono Clan is every negative Roma stereotype that you can imagine, short of kidnapping children, and that's not cool!
It's still racism, even if you give us some "good" Roma too.
And I'm still rather bothered that the entire clan was apparently left to mob wrath at the end of the story. I accept that this wasn't intentional on the part of our heroes, and that they were thinking fast on how to deal with a scary situation. But I would have liked our AUTHOR to have considered what that looks like.
Do the Patsonos deserve consequences for helping dupe and abuse a city? Sure. But is there any chance that they'll be facing consequences that are fair and proportionate for their crimes?
But overall, I did like the book. And I insist that our heroes got their wagon back as soon as they got out of the city!