Shapechangers - Book One - Chapter Nine
Oct. 27th, 2019 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo we've reached the last chapter of the first "book" (or part) of Shapechangers. Last chapter, we learned that the entire race of Native American allegories are either rapists or rape-apologists. I also lamented, yet again, that this book somehow still has a four star rating on Goodreads.
Anyway, this should be a sort of climax, given that it's going to take us into the second part.
So this chapter starts with the Cheysuli band on the move again. Cai gives them warning that there are men coming, they're wearing the Mujhar's colors and they're half a league away. Wow. How the fuck slow are you guys traveling, that Carillon can go home and back with a bunch of armed men?
Also wasn't this the sort of thing Finn was supposed to prevent? Or at least slow him down a little?
For her part, Alix is overcome by a multitude of voices. The men don't notice, of course, because why would they bother to pay attention to a woman that they've kidnapped? Duncan hands Alix over to Finn, ignoring her protests. Duncan believes that the soldiers will look at her and only see a Shapechanger woman and hurt her.
Finn never passes up an opportunity to be awful of course:
Finn grinned down at her. "Do you see, mei jha? The clan-leader passes you back to me."
Dude, that's your sister. Remember? Anyway, Alix says she'll have none of him, but it's very hard for her to speak through her psychic confusion. She accuses him of sorcery, taking her mind away from her. Finn initially thinks she's talking about horses, and is puzzled when she mentions voices. He doesn't hear them.
Look, obviously she's hearing the lir. Which raises the question of why hasn't she heard them before now? Are they always silent? Do they generally talk too softly for her to hear, until they're distressed? I feel like I remember lir talking more in the later books, but I might be misremembering other telepathic animal books instead. Still it seems weird that she's never heard them ALL talk before.
The voices gradually become less incapacitating, but Alix's strength is spent. She doesn't fight Finn as he leads her deeper in the woods, because why should Alix get to show any fight at a time where it might actually matter?
"Finn pulled her down under cover of a broken tree trunk leaning drunkenly against another. Quickly he set deadfall over them, weaving a rapid shelter. When it was done he pushed her down on her stomach and knelt beside her. Alix, still shaken from the silent voices, watched from a distance as he loosened his belt-knife and effortlessly nocked a yellow-fletched black arrow to his compact, powerful bow."
Wait. What? Does Finn have three hands? Why is he loosening his belt-knife before he's getting ready to shoot his bow and arrow? Doesn't he need two hands to shoot?? I feel like if Finn had three hands, we should have heard about that by now.
(For amusement factor, I showed this paragraph to my ex-roommate, who actually practices archery. She also thought this made no sense. So it's not just me being clueless.)
Anyway, Alix longs for "the security of her father's croft". I sympathize, Alix, but I feel like maybe you could be DOING SOMETHING? Carillon's men are right THERE.
Meanwhile, Finn's still an asshole, as he tells her to watch his back because he has no time for women's fears. This (understandably) angers Alix, and she notices that his back is to her, "presenting an excellent target for a furious fist". Okay, then do it. Please. Hit him. Be useful.
Alas, apparently "the precariousness of their position was uppermost in her mind." It's precarious because these dudes kidnapped you. I wish you'd remember that. Instead we go into a litany of Alix's aches and pains. She has a headache, her body aches with the "indignities that she had been forced to endure", and she has sores from riding, and general bruises. She's exhausted and notes that [F]or all they insisted they would do her no harm, the Cheysuli had accounted for more pain and fatigue than she had ever thought possible."
Then RUN, please!
It'd be one thing if Alix were portrayed as being too terrified to run. If she were frozen in terror or something. But she's not. She seems to be perfectly rational here. She's just passive as fuck, and it's really frustrating.
Of course the narrative has to vindicate Finn and Duncan here, and a man-at-arms in black and red comes crashing toward them with his sword drawn. Alix is initially relieved but then realizes he's going to kill her, because he thinks she's a Cheysuli woman.
But does she look like a Cheysuli woman? Really? Carillon met her before and hadn't thought so. We know she is darker complected but lacks the hair and eyes. I don't recall mention that she's wearing Cheysuli clothing. And surely when Carillon led these people out here, he would have warned them that the Cheysuli had another hostage, right?
On the other hand, I would imagine that Alix understands a tiny bit better about what it's like to be subjected to genocidal hatred, so it might not be all bad.
This scene doesn't make much sense to me though. The guy raises his sword, Alix is transfixed, then she lunges backward into Finn, who turns sharply, sees why she moved, and then shoots the guy in the throat.
How slow was this guy moving that all that could happen in the time that it took him to swing his sword? I admit, this isn't the sort of thing I'd probably notice under normal circumstances. But I'm already inclined to be annoyed at the book.
Oh, and he's on a horse as well. Somehow Mr. Forest Dude managed to not hear a HORSE coming up behind him and Alix, until she lunged into him.
Anyway, Finn's now fighting hand to hand with another guardsman, and Alix is watching in horror. He stabs the dude in the stomach, but the dude gets Finn in the rib cage, then Finn goes wolf mode and bites out the guy's throat. Alix flees, with Finn calling after her.
ANOTHER guard accosts her, calling her a "Shapechanger witch" and says she won't live to bear more of the demons. Alix gets to be marginally more useful here, diving for the ground and then running for the horse. Finn, in wolf form, attacks the guard, taking him off his horse. While they fight, Alix grabs the guy's arm. He knocks her off, but the distraction gives Finn enough opportunity to turn human again and stab him in the throat.
I'm always inclined to like a character more after a little badassery, but Finn (who is battered and bloody from his injury) quickly ruins it for me by grinning at Alix and saying that she feels enough for him to risk her life.
Alix tells him that she wishes death on no one, not even him. I sigh, because she calls him shapechanger again. Look, I hate Finn too, Alix. But you were almost killed by genocidal racists using that term against you. Can you PLEASE knock it off?
Then Carillon shows up. Finally. Dude, is there a reason you didn't tell your men there'd be a hostage with the Cheysuli? Anyway, Carillon doesn't have his sword drawn. Finn wants to know if he'll kill him, but Carillon ignores him and urges Alix to climb up behind him.
Finn calls after her, calling her "mei jha" again, and seriously dude. a) she's your sister. b) she doesn't like you. c) you've been threatening to rape her while using that term. That's not going to convince her to stay.
And indeed, Alix says she's going with Carillon. Carillon, "smiling oddly" taps his sword and tells Finn, "Another time, shapechanger." Really dude? I'm generally all for a burgeoning bromance, but you're both kind of terrible.
So they head back. Alix is horrified by the carnage, and Carillon excuses it as Mujhar's vengeance. Alix notes that she only sees slain guardsmen. Which does make me laugh a little. Then she's distracted by his sword, realizing that her father made it.
Then a hawk comes to disrupt the proceeding. It's the smaller one she met earlier. Alix is a dimwit and doesn't realize who it is, of course, even as it startles the stallion to the point where she falls off. Wow. Smooth, Duncan. It urges her to stay, saying "I ask, small one. I am not Finn, who takes.".
No, you're just a rape apologist. Also you kidnapped her, dude.
Alix FINALLY clues in that it's Duncan. He reminds her of the prophecy that means literally nothing to her, since she was raised by Homanans and hasn't even been told what it is. She says that it's not her prophecy or her tahlmorra. Go, Alix.
She tells Carillon that she goes with him, "If you can keep your horse in check, I will stay aboard." Which seems a little unnecessarily bitchy. It's not his fault that a hawk decided to play grabby with the horse. She tells Duncan that if he would stop her, he must do as Finn would and that would earn him her enmity.
Alix. He kidnapped you already. I...I give up.
Anyway, Duncan ends up flying away. Alix tells Carillon he can take her to Homana-Mujhar and to Shaine. Carillon reminds her that he warned her about what Shaine might feel. Alix will take that chance. She notes that Shaine had raised a willful daughter, so "let him see how that spirit serves Lindir's child."
Seriously? Seriously?
a) Why is this necessary at all? You've been rescued. I can understand not feeling safe at the croft, since the Cheysuli raided it once already. But why not just stay in Homana-Mujhar WITHOUT telling the king who you are?
b) I can understand the urge to reconnect to family, but your grandfather literally ordered a purge to wipe out every member of your father's race.
c) He KNOWS you exist. Or at least did. At any point, he could have kept you with him or brought you to him. Or you know, STOPPED THE FUCKING GENOCIDAL PURGE.
d) Shaine reacted so well to his daughter's willfulness that he ORDERED A FUCKING MASSACRE WHICH IS ONGOING FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.
I suppose I can be grateful that this chapter had a little bit of action and some decisions coming home to roost. But I still find Alix's passivity very frustrating. If Ms. Roberson is attempting to portray a character that's reacting to fright and trauma by freezing up, I don't think it's coming across very well to me. And while I appreciate getting a first hand look at the qu'mahlin at work, I feel like Carillon would have or should have told them there was a female hostage present. If these people are so full of hatred that they see a woman with the Cheysuli and assume she's one of them, okay, but I feel like that should have been stated more overtly. Carillon could have apologized on behalf of his men, or looked horrified and worried, or something.
Oh well, at least the chapter's over. And we're entering into a new "book" (titled "Mei jha", ugh.) that hopefully means we've finally seen an end to the repetitive scenes.
Maybe we'll actually meet a character that doesn't fill me with rage! One can only hope.
Anyway, this should be a sort of climax, given that it's going to take us into the second part.
So this chapter starts with the Cheysuli band on the move again. Cai gives them warning that there are men coming, they're wearing the Mujhar's colors and they're half a league away. Wow. How the fuck slow are you guys traveling, that Carillon can go home and back with a bunch of armed men?
Also wasn't this the sort of thing Finn was supposed to prevent? Or at least slow him down a little?
For her part, Alix is overcome by a multitude of voices. The men don't notice, of course, because why would they bother to pay attention to a woman that they've kidnapped? Duncan hands Alix over to Finn, ignoring her protests. Duncan believes that the soldiers will look at her and only see a Shapechanger woman and hurt her.
Finn never passes up an opportunity to be awful of course:
Finn grinned down at her. "Do you see, mei jha? The clan-leader passes you back to me."
Dude, that's your sister. Remember? Anyway, Alix says she'll have none of him, but it's very hard for her to speak through her psychic confusion. She accuses him of sorcery, taking her mind away from her. Finn initially thinks she's talking about horses, and is puzzled when she mentions voices. He doesn't hear them.
Look, obviously she's hearing the lir. Which raises the question of why hasn't she heard them before now? Are they always silent? Do they generally talk too softly for her to hear, until they're distressed? I feel like I remember lir talking more in the later books, but I might be misremembering other telepathic animal books instead. Still it seems weird that she's never heard them ALL talk before.
The voices gradually become less incapacitating, but Alix's strength is spent. She doesn't fight Finn as he leads her deeper in the woods, because why should Alix get to show any fight at a time where it might actually matter?
"Finn pulled her down under cover of a broken tree trunk leaning drunkenly against another. Quickly he set deadfall over them, weaving a rapid shelter. When it was done he pushed her down on her stomach and knelt beside her. Alix, still shaken from the silent voices, watched from a distance as he loosened his belt-knife and effortlessly nocked a yellow-fletched black arrow to his compact, powerful bow."
Wait. What? Does Finn have three hands? Why is he loosening his belt-knife before he's getting ready to shoot his bow and arrow? Doesn't he need two hands to shoot?? I feel like if Finn had three hands, we should have heard about that by now.
(For amusement factor, I showed this paragraph to my ex-roommate, who actually practices archery. She also thought this made no sense. So it's not just me being clueless.)
Anyway, Alix longs for "the security of her father's croft". I sympathize, Alix, but I feel like maybe you could be DOING SOMETHING? Carillon's men are right THERE.
Meanwhile, Finn's still an asshole, as he tells her to watch his back because he has no time for women's fears. This (understandably) angers Alix, and she notices that his back is to her, "presenting an excellent target for a furious fist". Okay, then do it. Please. Hit him. Be useful.
Alas, apparently "the precariousness of their position was uppermost in her mind." It's precarious because these dudes kidnapped you. I wish you'd remember that. Instead we go into a litany of Alix's aches and pains. She has a headache, her body aches with the "indignities that she had been forced to endure", and she has sores from riding, and general bruises. She's exhausted and notes that [F]or all they insisted they would do her no harm, the Cheysuli had accounted for more pain and fatigue than she had ever thought possible."
Then RUN, please!
It'd be one thing if Alix were portrayed as being too terrified to run. If she were frozen in terror or something. But she's not. She seems to be perfectly rational here. She's just passive as fuck, and it's really frustrating.
Of course the narrative has to vindicate Finn and Duncan here, and a man-at-arms in black and red comes crashing toward them with his sword drawn. Alix is initially relieved but then realizes he's going to kill her, because he thinks she's a Cheysuli woman.
But does she look like a Cheysuli woman? Really? Carillon met her before and hadn't thought so. We know she is darker complected but lacks the hair and eyes. I don't recall mention that she's wearing Cheysuli clothing. And surely when Carillon led these people out here, he would have warned them that the Cheysuli had another hostage, right?
On the other hand, I would imagine that Alix understands a tiny bit better about what it's like to be subjected to genocidal hatred, so it might not be all bad.
This scene doesn't make much sense to me though. The guy raises his sword, Alix is transfixed, then she lunges backward into Finn, who turns sharply, sees why she moved, and then shoots the guy in the throat.
How slow was this guy moving that all that could happen in the time that it took him to swing his sword? I admit, this isn't the sort of thing I'd probably notice under normal circumstances. But I'm already inclined to be annoyed at the book.
Oh, and he's on a horse as well. Somehow Mr. Forest Dude managed to not hear a HORSE coming up behind him and Alix, until she lunged into him.
Anyway, Finn's now fighting hand to hand with another guardsman, and Alix is watching in horror. He stabs the dude in the stomach, but the dude gets Finn in the rib cage, then Finn goes wolf mode and bites out the guy's throat. Alix flees, with Finn calling after her.
ANOTHER guard accosts her, calling her a "Shapechanger witch" and says she won't live to bear more of the demons. Alix gets to be marginally more useful here, diving for the ground and then running for the horse. Finn, in wolf form, attacks the guard, taking him off his horse. While they fight, Alix grabs the guy's arm. He knocks her off, but the distraction gives Finn enough opportunity to turn human again and stab him in the throat.
I'm always inclined to like a character more after a little badassery, but Finn (who is battered and bloody from his injury) quickly ruins it for me by grinning at Alix and saying that she feels enough for him to risk her life.
Alix tells him that she wishes death on no one, not even him. I sigh, because she calls him shapechanger again. Look, I hate Finn too, Alix. But you were almost killed by genocidal racists using that term against you. Can you PLEASE knock it off?
Then Carillon shows up. Finally. Dude, is there a reason you didn't tell your men there'd be a hostage with the Cheysuli? Anyway, Carillon doesn't have his sword drawn. Finn wants to know if he'll kill him, but Carillon ignores him and urges Alix to climb up behind him.
Finn calls after her, calling her "mei jha" again, and seriously dude. a) she's your sister. b) she doesn't like you. c) you've been threatening to rape her while using that term. That's not going to convince her to stay.
And indeed, Alix says she's going with Carillon. Carillon, "smiling oddly" taps his sword and tells Finn, "Another time, shapechanger." Really dude? I'm generally all for a burgeoning bromance, but you're both kind of terrible.
So they head back. Alix is horrified by the carnage, and Carillon excuses it as Mujhar's vengeance. Alix notes that she only sees slain guardsmen. Which does make me laugh a little. Then she's distracted by his sword, realizing that her father made it.
Then a hawk comes to disrupt the proceeding. It's the smaller one she met earlier. Alix is a dimwit and doesn't realize who it is, of course, even as it startles the stallion to the point where she falls off. Wow. Smooth, Duncan. It urges her to stay, saying "I ask, small one. I am not Finn, who takes.".
No, you're just a rape apologist. Also you kidnapped her, dude.
Alix FINALLY clues in that it's Duncan. He reminds her of the prophecy that means literally nothing to her, since she was raised by Homanans and hasn't even been told what it is. She says that it's not her prophecy or her tahlmorra. Go, Alix.
She tells Carillon that she goes with him, "If you can keep your horse in check, I will stay aboard." Which seems a little unnecessarily bitchy. It's not his fault that a hawk decided to play grabby with the horse. She tells Duncan that if he would stop her, he must do as Finn would and that would earn him her enmity.
Alix. He kidnapped you already. I...I give up.
Anyway, Duncan ends up flying away. Alix tells Carillon he can take her to Homana-Mujhar and to Shaine. Carillon reminds her that he warned her about what Shaine might feel. Alix will take that chance. She notes that Shaine had raised a willful daughter, so "let him see how that spirit serves Lindir's child."
Seriously? Seriously?
a) Why is this necessary at all? You've been rescued. I can understand not feeling safe at the croft, since the Cheysuli raided it once already. But why not just stay in Homana-Mujhar WITHOUT telling the king who you are?
b) I can understand the urge to reconnect to family, but your grandfather literally ordered a purge to wipe out every member of your father's race.
c) He KNOWS you exist. Or at least did. At any point, he could have kept you with him or brought you to him. Or you know, STOPPED THE FUCKING GENOCIDAL PURGE.
d) Shaine reacted so well to his daughter's willfulness that he ORDERED A FUCKING MASSACRE WHICH IS ONGOING FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.
I suppose I can be grateful that this chapter had a little bit of action and some decisions coming home to roost. But I still find Alix's passivity very frustrating. If Ms. Roberson is attempting to portray a character that's reacting to fright and trauma by freezing up, I don't think it's coming across very well to me. And while I appreciate getting a first hand look at the qu'mahlin at work, I feel like Carillon would have or should have told them there was a female hostage present. If these people are so full of hatred that they see a woman with the Cheysuli and assume she's one of them, okay, but I feel like that should have been stated more overtly. Carillon could have apologized on behalf of his men, or looked horrified and worried, or something.
Oh well, at least the chapter's over. And we're entering into a new "book" (titled "Mei jha", ugh.) that hopefully means we've finally seen an end to the repetitive scenes.
Maybe we'll actually meet a character that doesn't fill me with rage! One can only hope.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-28 11:30 pm (UTC)WHY IS EVERYONE SO STUPID?
AND TERRIBLE. BUT RIGHT NOW THE STUPIDITY IS STANDING OUT.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-29 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-24 08:23 pm (UTC)Anyway, this should be a sort of climax, given that it's going to take us into the second part.
I heavily doubt it will be.
Blegh, the inconsistencies bother me, too. It's already a pain to figure everything out, so we don't need this, too.
Wait. What? Does Finn have three hands? Why is he loosening his belt-knife before he's getting ready to shoot his bow and arrow? Doesn't he need two hands to shoot?? I feel like if Finn had three hands, we should have heard about that by now.
Or does he hold the knife with his elbow or something?
Meanwhile, Finn's still an asshole, as he tells her to watch his back because he has no time for women's fears.
Yes, tell Alix to watch your back; that will go perfectly fine!
How slow was this guy moving that all that could happen in the time that it took him to swing his sword? I admit, this isn't the sort of thing I'd probably notice under normal circumstances. But I'm already inclined to be annoyed at the book.
If she saw him coming from afar, this would have worked better. (Aside from Alix being somehow better than Finn at noticing this, of course.)
This is all so very stupid.
She notes that Shaine had raised a willful daughter, so "let him see how that spirit serves Lindir's child."
Just count yourself lucky, Alix!
Well, maybe we will be going somewhere next time!