Daughter of the Lion - Verdict

[kalinara]

So, now that I've made it through Daughter of the Lion...it's time to judge it.

Does it pass or fail? I mean, it's complicated.

Now because of the major twist toward the end, I'm going to put this behind a cut.



This is, at least ostensibly, a feminist book, right? It's the first time we have a female protagonist since Alix. It's about the injustice of arranged marriage and the burdens of the expectations on women.

So let's look at that first. How is Daughter of the Lion as a feminist book?

Honestly, it fails. It tries. There are things it does do well. I like that Keely has a distinct personality. I like that Keely's angst and fears are treated with respect. I like the acknowledgment that women's lives suck in this setting. I find it fascinating how the most prominent characters, after Keely, are Brennan and Ian - two male characters who have suffered sexual violence in this series and the way this is contextualized here.

I also like the interesting dichotomy that, for all that Brennan is sort of positioned as the voice of institutionalized sexism here (at least per some reviews), he's actually the one character that acknowledges the issues of consent and abuse that face normal women in this society. He does it in Pride of Princes, mind you, but there's nothing like that from Keely herself.

This is not to say that I think Brennan is a particularly feminist character. He's not. This is not a setting where feminism is a thing yet. But it's still notable.

Keely is a good protagonist. She's strong and interesting. But she's incredibly self-centered. She's awful to Maeve. She's barely decent to Aileen. And she doesn't seem to have any real acknowledgement about what any OTHER women suffer through in this setting.

She doesn't have to, I suppose, but it's still aggravating.

It doesn't help that in emphasizing how special Keely is, and with the absence of any other women who have any interest or ability in combat, we end up losing the thread of "women deserve to be able to choose and defend themselves" into "KEELY deserves to be able to choose and defend herself, because she's special."

It's frustrating.

But worse than that, we get the repeated undermining of Keely's actual choices. Or rather, we never actually get to see Keely make those choices.

Keely wants an abortion but is prevented from actually being able to get one over and over until circumstances lead her to miscarriage. Keely has to choose between love and duty, but before she can, we get the reveal that she's being romcom hoodwinked. There's no need to make the choice at all.

And there's no progress made, at all, when it comes to the overall problem, which is that there is nothing in the story that makes anything better for any other woman who isn't Keely.

Keely doesn't end arranged marriage. Keely doesn't end women being used as broodmares. We don't see any progress made with increasing women's rights or access to justice. Nope. The arranged marriage is actually fine because Keely's in love with her bridegroom after all.

Hooray.

The closest thing that this book comes to improving the state of other women in this setting is Brennan overtipping his wine girl.

Oh, but Keely does at least get to kill Strahan. Something none of her brothers could do, despite all being together. So there's that. Action girl feminism FTW, I suppose.

Hell, she doesn't even get to defeat her brother in a sword fight after all! WTF, Roberson?!

And then there's Maeve. Poor poor Maeve. She's only here to be shit on, then married off to Keely's leavings between books. Hmph.

So yeah, in a feminist sense, this book fails. Sorry. Maybe next time.

--

But as an overall read?

Eh, it's okay. Keely annoys me, personally, for most of the book. And I'm annoyed that, rather than realize she's been a dick to people and improve her behavior, she ends up raped and tortured and made into a victim instead.

But I did enjoy her scene with Brennan after the impalement. A lot. I think their relationship is by far the most interesting sibling dynamic in this generation. I appreciate that Brennan can both be in a somewhat adversarial position but still be recognizably the same character from Pride of Princes. And if anything, I think the duality in his positions allows him considerably more development than any of the other lead characters in this generation.

And if I divorce it from my irritation at Keely not having to make a choice (and face the potential consequences that would come from either her family knowing she chose love over duty, or her own feelings at having made Aileen's choice of duty over love), I actually do like the romcom resolution.

Because Sean is right, there's no way she'd have accepted him if he came outright. Instead, he got to romance her as himself, without the titles and burdens of expectation.

Unfortunately, he's kind of a git. I'd have chosen real Rory instead. (And in that sense, I think Maeve did get the better ending, I just hate that it's an afterthought.)

So yeah, I guess, on its own, if I judge it on the standards that I judged the other books, it does pass.

It's by far the weakest of the recent books. But it is quite a bit better than the series at its worst. So there is that. If you care about my rankings, it goes something like: Pride of Princes -->Track of the White Wolf/Sword of Homana --> Daughter of the Lion ---------------------> Legacy of the Sword ---------------> Shapechangers.

And now, I need to think of TWO books to read. Shit.

Comments

[kalinara]

I wondered, before this reread, if Brennan had known and played up the conflict between him and Sean to make Sean/Rory more attractive to Keely. But it doesn't really feel in character to me. Brennan's a little too straightforward for that. He overreacts at parts, but I think that makes sense given his own plotline and the stress he's under.

You're right about Sean taking a risk. I suppose I can fanwank it as Sean and Aileen being in touch with each other. If she's the one who told Sean about Keely's personality (since it doesn't seem like there was a lot of contact otherwise), then she might have told him about Brennan too. And as irked as Brennan was at the whole situation, I never really got the sense that "Rory" was in real danger. (Except maybe when Brennan was worried that Keely was assaulted.)

Corin is another potential source of information, and you're right, he would have had to know about this deception. Honestly, while it helped Keely in the end, I feel like it's more evidence for my statement that both Keely and Brennan are far more invested in their respective twin bonds than Corin and Hart are.

That's a good question about Rory's bastard angst. I'm going to hazard a guess that Sean's impression of Rory isn't really any more accurate than Rory's was of Sean. The "Sean" we met on Corin's ship was a calm, steady, easily empathetic character that reminded me a lot of Brennan actually. And even when Sean stopped playing "Rory", he was much more explosive and passionate. I'd suspect that, if Rory has any bastard angst, it'd be more similar to Ian's than Maeve's, and Sean was just playing it as a way that he and Keely could bond over resentment and frustration.

And you might be right about Roberson's motivation, but I'm still angry. It IS annoying when a female character is made to choose between love and duty, but it's more annoying to have the choice taken away entirely. I still think it would have been better if Keely had genuinely fallen for "Sean", since he was the one who was there for her after her horrid experiences. But then there wouldn't have been an easy resolution.

[bestbrotherever]

Even if Brennan wasn't likely to do anything to Sean, that doesn't cover the minor nobility. There are actual bandits in the area, and someone might decide to clear them out and not distinguish between them and "Rory Redbeard, the fugitive bastard from Erinn". Or maybe that wouldn't have happened, the setting is strangely empty of any nobility or government lower than the royal court.

I started thinking about a version where Keely visited Erinn as a child and got Sean and Rory confused. Now that the wedding is upcoming, her letters to him have been guarded, and Aileen's letters talk about her reluctance, Sean, having his own doubts, decides to pull off the switch as a way to bond in person, referring back to the past confusion. But in that case, the switch probably would have to be revealed when Keely was rescued, because as soon as she went missing, he dropped the pretense and explained himself to her family and asked his brother to join the search.

I do have to give Roberson some points for having the decoy be a nice and empathetic person and have a real presence in the story. I can think of several other examples of a similar switch (though all involving two women and one man), and the "fake" was either barely around or she was portrayed as a stuck-up bitch. So I'll give her a "You Tried" sticker, but I also don't consider the story a win for feminism.

[kalinara]

That's a really good point, which also leads into additional questions: what were Sean and his men DOING in the woods for all that time? How could Sean have known that he'd even have the chance to meet Keely? He seems to have picked the road between the palace and the Cheysuli Keep, but Keely can FLY so there's no guarantee she was EVER going to be on that road.

Heck, the only reason they did meet was because Brennan had to rush to Aileen and left his colt with her.

(Let's not even get into the fact that his initial stealing of the colt read like jealousy, and since Keely didn't disclose her identity, Sean shouldn't have known who she was anyway...)