Shapechangers - Book Two - Chapter Five
Dec. 1st, 2019 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, I spent the entire review in a state of fury as Duncan basically used Alix for sex and then reneged on every single promise he made to her, while threatening to steal her hypothetical future children and then violently cutting her hair when she indicated that she won't be sexually available to him.
This chapter, we're actually going to meet a Cheysuli woman. Bets on whether or not she's only there to be used as a means to offer up excuses for Finn and Duncan?
So we start with Duncan leading Alix to a brown pavilion with a golden fox on its sides. It occurs to me to wonder, since women don't have lir, what symbol do they use? Or do they have no symbol at all unless they're a cheysula or meijha?
Alix is still reacting to what Duncan did to her last chapter:
He pulled the doorflap aside and gestured her to go in; Alix did so without meeting his eyes. She felt horribly shamed without the braid, for though she still felt more Homanan than Cheysuli Duncan’s disparagement of her brought the implications of her braidless state home with real impact.
Our hero, friends. Alix has, at this point, given up literally everything in her life to join a people that until recently, she'd only known of through scary stories. She has no family to help her, her only friends are a country away. And he's made it so that she has to interact with all of these new people from a position of shame. All because she said no to him.
We meet Raissa, this is her description:
A woman stepped from behind a curtain dividing the pavilion into two sections. Her black hair was generously threaded with gray, but she had woven silver laces into multiple braids cunningly, fastening them to her head with an intricate silver comb. Her dress was fine-spun black wool threaded with scarlet ribbons at collar and cuffs, and a delicate chain of silver bells clasped her waist. She was no longer young, but she was a handsome woman. Her face reflected her Cheysuli blood with its high cheekbones, narrow nose and wide, smooth brow. Her yellow eyes were warm as she looked at Alix.
Raissa wins my affection immediately, by smiling at Alix, and then looking "steadily" at Duncan and asking who cut her hair. When Duncan says that he did it, she says that it's for the Council to decide if Alix remains solitary, and Jesus Christ, let's unpack THAT for a second.
1. Thank you, Raissa, for being the first person we've met who actually seems to treat Alix like a person. And for actually judging Duncan's assholish behavior.
2. But setting that aside, it's not enough that the Council apparently decides who marries whom, they ALSO get to decide if someone gets to reject being a cheysula/meijha AT ALL?!
3. And let's consider what that means about Duncan's actions. If we wanted to be generous, we could suggest that he did it to protect her. But we all saw that scene, and its clear that his motives were about thwarted rage than protection. This adds another layer: by doing this himself, Duncan is still claiming ownership of Alix.
4. Run, Alix. Seriously. Run.
Alix gets to actually express some bitterness about Duncan's actions, noting that Duncan didn't tell her that he'd cut off her hair. Unfortunately, here we start the apologia and justifications:
“I am sorry he acted so hastily. He should have explained the custom to you.” Her lips twitched with a half-hidden smile. “I have never known Duncan to act without reason, so he must have been driven to it.”
Alix explains her side of the story, and Raissa repeats the usual tripe about meijha vs. cheysula in a way that irks me a lot.
The woman was solemn. “Among us a meijha has honor, Alix. Here she is not treated like filth, as are the whores of Mujhara. We are too few, now, to place so much value on a woman’s married or unmarried status. Meijha is not a dishonorable position.”
"Whores of Mujhara" is awfully judgmental in its own right. And honestly, I'm not sure we've seen enough to indicate what the status of a light woman in Homana actually is. Alix certainly reacts badly to the idea, but she's also a fairly sheltered girl with an over protective father. It might be interesting to get the point of view of an actual light woman in Homana.
Certainly, for all that the position of meijha doesn't seem to be "dishonorable", it also doesn't seem like there are a lot of rights involved with being a Cheysuli woman in general. I would perhaps feel slightly better about this whole "Council" idea if I knew there were women on it. But right now, it gives me the creeps.
Anyway, to her credit, Raissa accepts Alix's assertion that she will not accept a lesser position with any man. Raissa even says that she said the same to her own cheysul (husband). She notes that this will be settled in Council, and that until she's formally accepted, Raissa will keep Alix with her. She thanks Duncan for bringing a "lost one" back, and dismisses him.
I like Raissa. A lot of what she says is clear bullshit, but it's the life she was raised in. So far, she's the first Cheysuli we've met to treat Alix with any sort of empathy. But unfortunately, she seems to feel the need to defend both Finn and Duncan. And sorry, Raissa, but that's a lost cause for me.
“Duncan would not offer unfairly,” she said quietly. “I know the man…he is not one to trouble a girl that way.”
“He did not know about Malina until we arrived,” Alix admitted. “But Finn wasted no time in making certain his brother learned of it quickly enough.”
“Finn has ever been jealous of Duncan,” Raissa said.
“Why?”
She spread her hands eloquently. “An elder son is ever favored by a jehan. It grates particularly hard when your own blood father favors a foster son. Hale treated them equally, but Duncan matured quickly. He felt the weight of the qu’mahlin more. And it has cost him, though Finn does not fully understand that.” Raissa’s eyes were expressive. “And now, Alix, you have given Finn reason for jealousy again.”
“I have?”
Raissa looked at her solemnly. “Would you have Finn as your cheysul?”
“No. Never.”
“You see? You will have Duncan, or none. It cannot be easy for Finn to know once again his rujholli takes precedence.” She smiled. “Wanting Duncan, you could not want Finn. I know that. They are too dissimilar. But Finn is not so bad as he seems, Alix…he might make a fine cheysul.”
a) The timeline is wrong here. Duncan didn't know Malina is pregnant, sure, but he DID know that Borrs was dead (or close enough) when he brought Alix back. Whatever promise he might have made to her when they were children was clearly not enough if she was with someone else. He made Alix explicit promises now. And Alix gave up everything for that.
Hell, she even SLEPT with him, specifically to avoid the Council getting to determine her fate, something he happily took advantage of.
b) If this were a better book, I might have actually been interested in Finn's daddy issues. But I really dislike the whole victim blaming element here, of Alix giving Finn ANOTHER thing to be jealous about. As though Alix isn't a person in her own right.
c) I realize that Raissa hasn't been witness to Finn's behavior all book, but Roberson clearly intends her to be a voice of reason and wisdom here. There is nothing in Finn's behavior EVER that leads to the idea that he would be a good husband.
d) Have I mentioned yet as to how much the use of the Old Tongue in this book aggravates me? It's the usual fantasy foreign language complaint really: characters using foreign words to represent very easily translatable concepts. Jehan is father, rujho/rujholli is brother, cheysul/cheysula is spouse. That's not the way bilingual people talk.
I mean, sure, someone talking to their own mother would probably use the word from their own language even if otherwise speaking in English. But if they're talking to an English speaker, in English, about either person's mother, they're probably going to say "mother".
And if everyone's speaking in the Old Tongue exclusively (they're not here, but hypothetically speaking), then the entire dialogue will be translated into English anyway for the reader. There's no reason to leave those things untranslated.
I don't have an issue with tahlmorra or even qu'mahlin because those words represent heavily contextualized concepts that DON'T translate directly. Tahlmorra is a nicely complicated idea of fate/destiny, with an added element that seems to indicate a perceivable compulsion. Our culture doesn't have that. Qu'mahlin might have a more direct translation as a purge or genocide, but it's also a clear reference to a specific event. That's when it makes sense to use these foreign words.
I also don't really have an issue with the way Finn uses "Meijha" vs. "Rujholla" to Alix, because he's specifically using the Old Tongue words to try to provoke her. She doesn't have the connection to the language he does. But most of the time, the use of these words feels very arbitrary and annoying. And this is the only time you will ever see me praise the writing for Finn.
C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series is a brilliant example of how to use a made up language as part of worldbuilding, so that it feels natural. We never hear, for example, what the Ragi word for "father" is, because it isn't relevant. Bren is either speaking Mospheiran/English, or he's speaking Ragi, which is translated for the reader as English. The things that don't get translated are the deeper cultural ideas like "kabiu", "baji-naji", and the honorifics or forms of address that don't have an equivalent.
If you saw someone going about their daily life speaking English, but peppering very basic Japanese phrases in their speech, you're not going to think "Oh, that's a native (or even fluent) Japanese speaker." You're going to think, "Ah, another anime fan showing off."
Which, actually, would be really interesting if that was what Jennifer Roberson meant to portray with the Cheysuli: the idea that they actually have lost touch with most of the old ways, including the bulk of the Old Tongue, but they pepper in the scraps that they remember into their every day speech as a means to remind themselves that they're not like the Homanans and Ellasians around them.
If that turns out to be the case, then I'll happily rescind this rant.
So anyway, tangent aside, Alix points out that Finn kidnapped her and would have raped her if Storr hadn't stopped him, which gets this as a response:
Raissa smiled. “There is much of men you do not understand. But you must learn that for yourself; it is not my place to teach you such things.”
Oh, you poor, brainwashed woman. Please, Alix, run. And take Raissa with you when you go. Especially when this happens:
“Raissa!” she said, suddenly frightened. “They would not force me to take Finn, would they?”
Raissa glanced down at her skirts, settling the tiny bells into perfect symmetry. “This will be hard for you, I know. Particularly since you were raised Homanan and feel no loyalty for your true race.” The yellow eyes came up. “We are too few, now. The clans have been destroyed, save for us, and even now Shaine works to slay what remains of us. We need children…we need women who will bear them.” Light flashed off the silver in her hair. “You are Cheysuli, Alix. You must take your place in the future of the clan…in its tahlmorra. You must bear children for us. If you will not have Duncan, or even Finn, then it will have to be another warrior.”
“You would force me!”
Raissa reached out and grabbed her hands, holding them even as Alix sought to withdraw. “No woman wishes to be used as breeding stock, Alix! Children are a gift of the gods…not coin with which to barter! But we have too few…we are dying. You will not be forced to lay with a man you cannot abide, but the censure of the clan is no light burden to bear.”
So this is what it's like to be a Cheysuli woman. Tell me again why it's so bad to be a "whore in Homana" again? At least a sex worker gets to choose her partners. And choose whether or not to have children. And keep those children.
So Alix says she'll go back to the croft. I'm not sure that's much protection, since Finn and Duncan know where it is, but it's a good start. Raissa insists she must stay because she's Hale's daughter and they need his blood. Alix points out that they have it through Finn, and they should tell Finn to get children.
Raissa notes that he'd do so willingly enough with ALIX. Um. I feel like it would actually be wiser to have both Finn and Alix having children with OTHER people, so there's more diversity in the bloodlines? But what do I know. I'm also totally with Alix here. Why isn't Finn being made to sire children again? One cis man can father a lot more children than one cis woman can bear, so why is she the only one being pressured into this bullshit?
Also, Finn and Alix are half siblings. And I get that we're not dealing with cultures with sophisticated understanding of genetics, but there's a damn good reason why pretty much every culture on Earth frowns on siblings marrying!
The fussing about Hale's blood is actually a bit funny when I remember later in the series. Because IIRC, Finn's own child ends up marrying an Ellasian and getting the fuck out of there.
So Alix brings up the possibility of having conceived Duncan's child. (We get some useful worldbuilding for once: a clan-leader doesn't rule, since they have no kings. It's not completely clear what they actually DO, but hopefully we'll learn that soon.) Raissa says that if Alix has conceived, then the Council might be willing to let her remaain solitary. But it's still up to the Council.
God, this is such a disgusting, AND RACIST, scenario. Is this really the best you could do, Ms. Roberson?
It's not enough that the Cheysuli are totally on board with raping non Cheysuli women for their immediate population needs (which still seems grossly ill conceived. It'd serve them right if the women knifed them in their sleep). They're also INSTITUTIONAL rapists. Lovely.
Alix again wishes she'd let Carillon take her back to the croft. She notes the similarities between her and Raissa's features (with a bonus use of the phrase beast-yellow to describe Raissa's eyes. Can we stop using animalistic language to describe our allegory natives, please?) And then she decides to visit Malina for herself.
She goes to Borrs's tent. (Borrs's lir was a mountain cat, apparently). Duncan is of course there, the asshole. She's surprised to see that Malina doesn't look Cheysuli: she's dark blond, blue eyes, and lacks the "feral, feline grace of the true Cheysuli woman". She's beautiful nonetheless.
1) Stop with the animal comparisons, Alix/Ms. Roberson.
2) You've met ONE Cheysuli woman, Alix. That's a bit quick to decide what racial traits are.
3) Poor Malina. Given what we know about the treatment of Homanan women here, it's likely that she's either an abductee or the daughter of an abductee herself.
Alix doesn't think about that, but to her credit, she doesn't seem to blame Malina for the situation at all. She just ignores Duncan (good girl), and gives Malina the comb that Duncan had given her.
Unfortunately, Duncan follows Alix out of the tent. He has the fucking nerve to call her Cheysula again, while touching her hair. He asks her to forgive him, and says he had no right. You're fucking correct about that, Duncan, now back the fuck off.
And now we get a Roberson conversation that almost makes sense but doesn't quite:
His gentle voice nearly finished her. “I have no claim to that title, Duncan. You have given it to another.”
His hands cupped her jaw and lifted her face so he could see her welling tears. His own face was stark and tight. “You have only to say it, Alix. It is yours to decide. We would not be happy apart.”
“I would not be happy sharing you.” She swallowed heavily. “I doubt Malina would care for it, for all that.”
“Malina knows I have asked for you as meijha.”
“She knows?”
His hand smoothed back a ragged tendril of hair. “It is often done among us, Alix.”
1) The reason the conversation doesn't make sense is because Duncan called her CHEYSULA. Not Meijha. So Alix is entirely correct to point out that he's given that title to another. Duncan's response is utterly nonsensical: he tells her it's her decision. But it's NOT.
Alix WANTS to be "cheysula" (though god knows WHY, at this point). She's made that very clear. She'd be happy to accept that position. But that's not what Duncan is offering her. Duncan is offering her "meijha".
2) I really have liked Alix a lot over these last few chapters. I deplore her taste, but I appreciate how clear she's being about what she wants and what her limits are. And I like that she's doing it without being racist either. She's not pretending she understands exactly what being "meijha" means in Cheysuli society. She's not judging Cheysuli society for having the role either. She is just making it very clear what her terms are.
It's just infuriating that the man who is supposed to be her love interest is refusing to accept that.
3) I would love to know Malina's perspective on all of this. Since she and Duncan apparently knew each other from childhood, she probably was raised in Cheysuli society so the cheysula/meijha thing probably isn't strange to her. But I still wonder what she thought when her maybe-husband's maybe-mistress gave her the comb.
4) So do women get to have multiple partners? Is there a masculine variation of "meijha"?
So anyway, Alix stands up for herself again, asking Duncan why he has to take Malina back and pointing out, at least indirectly, that fucking him was kind of a big deal for her. She hadn't known she would be competing with a woman and unborn child.
I really am glad to see Alix being proactive and standing up for herself. As annoying as I found the Shaine chapter, I definitely appreciate that it seemed to be a turning point for the character.
Unfortunately, that means I like her now. And I am even more pissed off by the situation Duncan's put her in.
Anyway, Duncan weakly apologizes, and he and Alix talk about Finn (namely that she doesn't want to marry him), and that Alix probably won't get to remain apart unless she's conceived.
This gets gross again, and I'll show you why:
“Aye, you could live apart with the child…or become meijha to me. Which would you choose?”
She lifted her head. “I have said I will be meijha to no man, Duncan. Even you.”
“And Finn?”
“I want no one but you.”
“I have said how you may have me.”
“And I have said no.” She stepped back from him and smiled sadly. “Perhaps Finn will have the forcing of me yet.”
“Alix…”
“Duncan, I know there is much of the Cheysuli I cannot comprehend. But there are things in me you cannot comprehend. Do not ask me again to be your meijha, for I will not.”
i) Now is it just me, or does it sound like Duncan is very subtly using the threat of Finn to try to force Alix into being his mistress? He knows that she's afraid of Finn. (And when she brought up the idea of marrying him, she'd "sucked in a trembling breath", just in case we'd forgotten.)
ii) I also love how he's trying to flip the script on her. "I have said how you may have me." Actually, dude, you promised her something very different. Now SHE has said how you may have HER. And she's not moving from that position. So fuck you.
iii) But that exit line makes me very happy. Well done, Alix.
So anyway, Duncan doesn't answer, and she walks back to the pavilion. She apparently knows "instinctively" that Duncan wants her as much as she wants him, but "the pride inherent in his race would not allow him to come after her."
...no, Roberson. No, you don't get to pull this bullshit. Duncan's bad behavior is his own, not because of his race. And I do blame Ms. Roberson for this, because Alix has met a grand total of three Cheysuli, and before that had known of them only as demons and sorcerers. She'd have had no way to learn about Cheysuli cultural pride.
Also, this bullshit is still racist.
Anyway, Alix isn't an idiot...or at least she hasn't been an idiot for two chapters, but I like her better this way so I'll allow it... so she does consider Duncan's offer very carefully. But she stands by her boundaries: if she can't have him to herself, she'd rather not have him. Fair enough.
As she walks, she starts hearing voices. She starts to realize that they're different from the voices of the Cheysuli in the keep, and that she's hearing them in her mind instead of her ears. She starts to lose it, but Storr and Cai appear to calm her down. They explain that she has to control her gifts.
They lead her out of the Keep. (RUN, ALIX) She asks what she's supposed to learn, and is told that she has to learn to accept rather than rail against tahlmorra. Easy for you to say, asshole. Alix delights me again by pointing out that Cai is Duncan's lir, and will support him. Cai notes that he's a lir but he has his own will.
Storr points out that they're not reflections of their partners, or he'd have all of Finn's faults. I don't know, dude. You seemed like you'd be fine with Finn raping women as long as they're not Cheysuli. Anyway, the lir quickly lose me.
Cai mantled once and settled more comfortably. You bear the Old Blood, liren. It has gone out of the clan. You will bring it back.
“By bearing children.”
Aye, Cai agreed. How else does a female give more to the world?
Fuck. You.
Storr notes that it's not that Alix doesn't want children, it's just that she wants to choose who fathers them. Yeah. That small thing. Cai notes that they can't tell her who to take, and it's up to her to decide. Hey, thanks for actually admitting that it should be her choice!
You know what should also be her choice? Whether she has children AT ALL.
Anyway, the lir can aid her in accepting the gifts she's been given by the gods: namely the ability to hear all of the lir. She's got to learn to control it, and set it aside until she needs it. And then Storr compares the gift to shapechanging, which DEFINITELY perks Alix's interest.
For his part, Cai notes that she has the Old Blood, and with it comes all the "old gifts".
So where exactly does this Old Blood come from? Alix and Finn have the same father. Does Finn have this Old Blood? And if not, does it come from Alix's MOTHER?
I'm not really sure it's a great idea to have your heroine be basically more Cheysuli than the actual Cheysuli, and have the abilities come from her WHITE MOTHER, Ms. Roberson.
Anyway, Alix notes that she has no lir, but is told she doesn't need one. Basically the Old Blood means the freedom to speak with all lir and assume any shape. Alix asks if no one else in the clan can do this and is told 'no'. It was lost to them, because the Cheysuli took Homanan women to increase numbers and it weakened the gifts.
...so how then is Alix, who is half Homanan, a carrier of this Old Blood? I feel like Roberson didn't think this through.
Anyway, it's apparently up to Alix to bring the Old Blood back. And both Alix and I are pretty annoyed at how everything keeps coming back to her ability to breed. Fuck you, Cai and Storr.
Alix doesn't waste time arguing, she wants to learn to shapeshift. Yes, good! I may have serious issues with how you've got this power, Alix, but I definitely want you to have it. She chooses to bond with Storr first, since she figures flight is probably difficult to learn. He gets her into the mindset of the wolf, having her concentrate on her sense of smell and touch. She actually does manage to get herself into wolf form, though it's very quick and disorienting. Storr tells her that it will be better. While Cai tells her that perhaps, she will amaze even his lir.
Fuck Duncan.
But I'm proud of Alix for proactively learning this new skill. Now learn to fly and get the fuck out of there!
This chapter, we're actually going to meet a Cheysuli woman. Bets on whether or not she's only there to be used as a means to offer up excuses for Finn and Duncan?
So we start with Duncan leading Alix to a brown pavilion with a golden fox on its sides. It occurs to me to wonder, since women don't have lir, what symbol do they use? Or do they have no symbol at all unless they're a cheysula or meijha?
Alix is still reacting to what Duncan did to her last chapter:
He pulled the doorflap aside and gestured her to go in; Alix did so without meeting his eyes. She felt horribly shamed without the braid, for though she still felt more Homanan than Cheysuli Duncan’s disparagement of her brought the implications of her braidless state home with real impact.
Our hero, friends. Alix has, at this point, given up literally everything in her life to join a people that until recently, she'd only known of through scary stories. She has no family to help her, her only friends are a country away. And he's made it so that she has to interact with all of these new people from a position of shame. All because she said no to him.
We meet Raissa, this is her description:
A woman stepped from behind a curtain dividing the pavilion into two sections. Her black hair was generously threaded with gray, but she had woven silver laces into multiple braids cunningly, fastening them to her head with an intricate silver comb. Her dress was fine-spun black wool threaded with scarlet ribbons at collar and cuffs, and a delicate chain of silver bells clasped her waist. She was no longer young, but she was a handsome woman. Her face reflected her Cheysuli blood with its high cheekbones, narrow nose and wide, smooth brow. Her yellow eyes were warm as she looked at Alix.
Raissa wins my affection immediately, by smiling at Alix, and then looking "steadily" at Duncan and asking who cut her hair. When Duncan says that he did it, she says that it's for the Council to decide if Alix remains solitary, and Jesus Christ, let's unpack THAT for a second.
1. Thank you, Raissa, for being the first person we've met who actually seems to treat Alix like a person. And for actually judging Duncan's assholish behavior.
2. But setting that aside, it's not enough that the Council apparently decides who marries whom, they ALSO get to decide if someone gets to reject being a cheysula/meijha AT ALL?!
3. And let's consider what that means about Duncan's actions. If we wanted to be generous, we could suggest that he did it to protect her. But we all saw that scene, and its clear that his motives were about thwarted rage than protection. This adds another layer: by doing this himself, Duncan is still claiming ownership of Alix.
4. Run, Alix. Seriously. Run.
Alix gets to actually express some bitterness about Duncan's actions, noting that Duncan didn't tell her that he'd cut off her hair. Unfortunately, here we start the apologia and justifications:
“I am sorry he acted so hastily. He should have explained the custom to you.” Her lips twitched with a half-hidden smile. “I have never known Duncan to act without reason, so he must have been driven to it.”
Alix explains her side of the story, and Raissa repeats the usual tripe about meijha vs. cheysula in a way that irks me a lot.
The woman was solemn. “Among us a meijha has honor, Alix. Here she is not treated like filth, as are the whores of Mujhara. We are too few, now, to place so much value on a woman’s married or unmarried status. Meijha is not a dishonorable position.”
"Whores of Mujhara" is awfully judgmental in its own right. And honestly, I'm not sure we've seen enough to indicate what the status of a light woman in Homana actually is. Alix certainly reacts badly to the idea, but she's also a fairly sheltered girl with an over protective father. It might be interesting to get the point of view of an actual light woman in Homana.
Certainly, for all that the position of meijha doesn't seem to be "dishonorable", it also doesn't seem like there are a lot of rights involved with being a Cheysuli woman in general. I would perhaps feel slightly better about this whole "Council" idea if I knew there were women on it. But right now, it gives me the creeps.
Anyway, to her credit, Raissa accepts Alix's assertion that she will not accept a lesser position with any man. Raissa even says that she said the same to her own cheysul (husband). She notes that this will be settled in Council, and that until she's formally accepted, Raissa will keep Alix with her. She thanks Duncan for bringing a "lost one" back, and dismisses him.
I like Raissa. A lot of what she says is clear bullshit, but it's the life she was raised in. So far, she's the first Cheysuli we've met to treat Alix with any sort of empathy. But unfortunately, she seems to feel the need to defend both Finn and Duncan. And sorry, Raissa, but that's a lost cause for me.
“Duncan would not offer unfairly,” she said quietly. “I know the man…he is not one to trouble a girl that way.”
“He did not know about Malina until we arrived,” Alix admitted. “But Finn wasted no time in making certain his brother learned of it quickly enough.”
“Finn has ever been jealous of Duncan,” Raissa said.
“Why?”
She spread her hands eloquently. “An elder son is ever favored by a jehan. It grates particularly hard when your own blood father favors a foster son. Hale treated them equally, but Duncan matured quickly. He felt the weight of the qu’mahlin more. And it has cost him, though Finn does not fully understand that.” Raissa’s eyes were expressive. “And now, Alix, you have given Finn reason for jealousy again.”
“I have?”
Raissa looked at her solemnly. “Would you have Finn as your cheysul?”
“No. Never.”
“You see? You will have Duncan, or none. It cannot be easy for Finn to know once again his rujholli takes precedence.” She smiled. “Wanting Duncan, you could not want Finn. I know that. They are too dissimilar. But Finn is not so bad as he seems, Alix…he might make a fine cheysul.”
a) The timeline is wrong here. Duncan didn't know Malina is pregnant, sure, but he DID know that Borrs was dead (or close enough) when he brought Alix back. Whatever promise he might have made to her when they were children was clearly not enough if she was with someone else. He made Alix explicit promises now. And Alix gave up everything for that.
Hell, she even SLEPT with him, specifically to avoid the Council getting to determine her fate, something he happily took advantage of.
b) If this were a better book, I might have actually been interested in Finn's daddy issues. But I really dislike the whole victim blaming element here, of Alix giving Finn ANOTHER thing to be jealous about. As though Alix isn't a person in her own right.
c) I realize that Raissa hasn't been witness to Finn's behavior all book, but Roberson clearly intends her to be a voice of reason and wisdom here. There is nothing in Finn's behavior EVER that leads to the idea that he would be a good husband.
d) Have I mentioned yet as to how much the use of the Old Tongue in this book aggravates me? It's the usual fantasy foreign language complaint really: characters using foreign words to represent very easily translatable concepts. Jehan is father, rujho/rujholli is brother, cheysul/cheysula is spouse. That's not the way bilingual people talk.
I mean, sure, someone talking to their own mother would probably use the word from their own language even if otherwise speaking in English. But if they're talking to an English speaker, in English, about either person's mother, they're probably going to say "mother".
And if everyone's speaking in the Old Tongue exclusively (they're not here, but hypothetically speaking), then the entire dialogue will be translated into English anyway for the reader. There's no reason to leave those things untranslated.
I don't have an issue with tahlmorra or even qu'mahlin because those words represent heavily contextualized concepts that DON'T translate directly. Tahlmorra is a nicely complicated idea of fate/destiny, with an added element that seems to indicate a perceivable compulsion. Our culture doesn't have that. Qu'mahlin might have a more direct translation as a purge or genocide, but it's also a clear reference to a specific event. That's when it makes sense to use these foreign words.
I also don't really have an issue with the way Finn uses "Meijha" vs. "Rujholla" to Alix, because he's specifically using the Old Tongue words to try to provoke her. She doesn't have the connection to the language he does. But most of the time, the use of these words feels very arbitrary and annoying. And this is the only time you will ever see me praise the writing for Finn.
C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series is a brilliant example of how to use a made up language as part of worldbuilding, so that it feels natural. We never hear, for example, what the Ragi word for "father" is, because it isn't relevant. Bren is either speaking Mospheiran/English, or he's speaking Ragi, which is translated for the reader as English. The things that don't get translated are the deeper cultural ideas like "kabiu", "baji-naji", and the honorifics or forms of address that don't have an equivalent.
If you saw someone going about their daily life speaking English, but peppering very basic Japanese phrases in their speech, you're not going to think "Oh, that's a native (or even fluent) Japanese speaker." You're going to think, "Ah, another anime fan showing off."
Which, actually, would be really interesting if that was what Jennifer Roberson meant to portray with the Cheysuli: the idea that they actually have lost touch with most of the old ways, including the bulk of the Old Tongue, but they pepper in the scraps that they remember into their every day speech as a means to remind themselves that they're not like the Homanans and Ellasians around them.
If that turns out to be the case, then I'll happily rescind this rant.
So anyway, tangent aside, Alix points out that Finn kidnapped her and would have raped her if Storr hadn't stopped him, which gets this as a response:
Raissa smiled. “There is much of men you do not understand. But you must learn that for yourself; it is not my place to teach you such things.”
Oh, you poor, brainwashed woman. Please, Alix, run. And take Raissa with you when you go. Especially when this happens:
“Raissa!” she said, suddenly frightened. “They would not force me to take Finn, would they?”
Raissa glanced down at her skirts, settling the tiny bells into perfect symmetry. “This will be hard for you, I know. Particularly since you were raised Homanan and feel no loyalty for your true race.” The yellow eyes came up. “We are too few, now. The clans have been destroyed, save for us, and even now Shaine works to slay what remains of us. We need children…we need women who will bear them.” Light flashed off the silver in her hair. “You are Cheysuli, Alix. You must take your place in the future of the clan…in its tahlmorra. You must bear children for us. If you will not have Duncan, or even Finn, then it will have to be another warrior.”
“You would force me!”
Raissa reached out and grabbed her hands, holding them even as Alix sought to withdraw. “No woman wishes to be used as breeding stock, Alix! Children are a gift of the gods…not coin with which to barter! But we have too few…we are dying. You will not be forced to lay with a man you cannot abide, but the censure of the clan is no light burden to bear.”
So this is what it's like to be a Cheysuli woman. Tell me again why it's so bad to be a "whore in Homana" again? At least a sex worker gets to choose her partners. And choose whether or not to have children. And keep those children.
So Alix says she'll go back to the croft. I'm not sure that's much protection, since Finn and Duncan know where it is, but it's a good start. Raissa insists she must stay because she's Hale's daughter and they need his blood. Alix points out that they have it through Finn, and they should tell Finn to get children.
Raissa notes that he'd do so willingly enough with ALIX. Um. I feel like it would actually be wiser to have both Finn and Alix having children with OTHER people, so there's more diversity in the bloodlines? But what do I know. I'm also totally with Alix here. Why isn't Finn being made to sire children again? One cis man can father a lot more children than one cis woman can bear, so why is she the only one being pressured into this bullshit?
Also, Finn and Alix are half siblings. And I get that we're not dealing with cultures with sophisticated understanding of genetics, but there's a damn good reason why pretty much every culture on Earth frowns on siblings marrying!
The fussing about Hale's blood is actually a bit funny when I remember later in the series. Because IIRC, Finn's own child ends up marrying an Ellasian and getting the fuck out of there.
So Alix brings up the possibility of having conceived Duncan's child. (We get some useful worldbuilding for once: a clan-leader doesn't rule, since they have no kings. It's not completely clear what they actually DO, but hopefully we'll learn that soon.) Raissa says that if Alix has conceived, then the Council might be willing to let her remaain solitary. But it's still up to the Council.
God, this is such a disgusting, AND RACIST, scenario. Is this really the best you could do, Ms. Roberson?
It's not enough that the Cheysuli are totally on board with raping non Cheysuli women for their immediate population needs (which still seems grossly ill conceived. It'd serve them right if the women knifed them in their sleep). They're also INSTITUTIONAL rapists. Lovely.
Alix again wishes she'd let Carillon take her back to the croft. She notes the similarities between her and Raissa's features (with a bonus use of the phrase beast-yellow to describe Raissa's eyes. Can we stop using animalistic language to describe our allegory natives, please?) And then she decides to visit Malina for herself.
She goes to Borrs's tent. (Borrs's lir was a mountain cat, apparently). Duncan is of course there, the asshole. She's surprised to see that Malina doesn't look Cheysuli: she's dark blond, blue eyes, and lacks the "feral, feline grace of the true Cheysuli woman". She's beautiful nonetheless.
1) Stop with the animal comparisons, Alix/Ms. Roberson.
2) You've met ONE Cheysuli woman, Alix. That's a bit quick to decide what racial traits are.
3) Poor Malina. Given what we know about the treatment of Homanan women here, it's likely that she's either an abductee or the daughter of an abductee herself.
Alix doesn't think about that, but to her credit, she doesn't seem to blame Malina for the situation at all. She just ignores Duncan (good girl), and gives Malina the comb that Duncan had given her.
Unfortunately, Duncan follows Alix out of the tent. He has the fucking nerve to call her Cheysula again, while touching her hair. He asks her to forgive him, and says he had no right. You're fucking correct about that, Duncan, now back the fuck off.
And now we get a Roberson conversation that almost makes sense but doesn't quite:
His gentle voice nearly finished her. “I have no claim to that title, Duncan. You have given it to another.”
His hands cupped her jaw and lifted her face so he could see her welling tears. His own face was stark and tight. “You have only to say it, Alix. It is yours to decide. We would not be happy apart.”
“I would not be happy sharing you.” She swallowed heavily. “I doubt Malina would care for it, for all that.”
“Malina knows I have asked for you as meijha.”
“She knows?”
His hand smoothed back a ragged tendril of hair. “It is often done among us, Alix.”
1) The reason the conversation doesn't make sense is because Duncan called her CHEYSULA. Not Meijha. So Alix is entirely correct to point out that he's given that title to another. Duncan's response is utterly nonsensical: he tells her it's her decision. But it's NOT.
Alix WANTS to be "cheysula" (though god knows WHY, at this point). She's made that very clear. She'd be happy to accept that position. But that's not what Duncan is offering her. Duncan is offering her "meijha".
2) I really have liked Alix a lot over these last few chapters. I deplore her taste, but I appreciate how clear she's being about what she wants and what her limits are. And I like that she's doing it without being racist either. She's not pretending she understands exactly what being "meijha" means in Cheysuli society. She's not judging Cheysuli society for having the role either. She is just making it very clear what her terms are.
It's just infuriating that the man who is supposed to be her love interest is refusing to accept that.
3) I would love to know Malina's perspective on all of this. Since she and Duncan apparently knew each other from childhood, she probably was raised in Cheysuli society so the cheysula/meijha thing probably isn't strange to her. But I still wonder what she thought when her maybe-husband's maybe-mistress gave her the comb.
4) So do women get to have multiple partners? Is there a masculine variation of "meijha"?
So anyway, Alix stands up for herself again, asking Duncan why he has to take Malina back and pointing out, at least indirectly, that fucking him was kind of a big deal for her. She hadn't known she would be competing with a woman and unborn child.
I really am glad to see Alix being proactive and standing up for herself. As annoying as I found the Shaine chapter, I definitely appreciate that it seemed to be a turning point for the character.
Unfortunately, that means I like her now. And I am even more pissed off by the situation Duncan's put her in.
Anyway, Duncan weakly apologizes, and he and Alix talk about Finn (namely that she doesn't want to marry him), and that Alix probably won't get to remain apart unless she's conceived.
This gets gross again, and I'll show you why:
“Aye, you could live apart with the child…or become meijha to me. Which would you choose?”
She lifted her head. “I have said I will be meijha to no man, Duncan. Even you.”
“And Finn?”
“I want no one but you.”
“I have said how you may have me.”
“And I have said no.” She stepped back from him and smiled sadly. “Perhaps Finn will have the forcing of me yet.”
“Alix…”
“Duncan, I know there is much of the Cheysuli I cannot comprehend. But there are things in me you cannot comprehend. Do not ask me again to be your meijha, for I will not.”
i) Now is it just me, or does it sound like Duncan is very subtly using the threat of Finn to try to force Alix into being his mistress? He knows that she's afraid of Finn. (And when she brought up the idea of marrying him, she'd "sucked in a trembling breath", just in case we'd forgotten.)
ii) I also love how he's trying to flip the script on her. "I have said how you may have me." Actually, dude, you promised her something very different. Now SHE has said how you may have HER. And she's not moving from that position. So fuck you.
iii) But that exit line makes me very happy. Well done, Alix.
So anyway, Duncan doesn't answer, and she walks back to the pavilion. She apparently knows "instinctively" that Duncan wants her as much as she wants him, but "the pride inherent in his race would not allow him to come after her."
...no, Roberson. No, you don't get to pull this bullshit. Duncan's bad behavior is his own, not because of his race. And I do blame Ms. Roberson for this, because Alix has met a grand total of three Cheysuli, and before that had known of them only as demons and sorcerers. She'd have had no way to learn about Cheysuli cultural pride.
Also, this bullshit is still racist.
Anyway, Alix isn't an idiot...or at least she hasn't been an idiot for two chapters, but I like her better this way so I'll allow it... so she does consider Duncan's offer very carefully. But she stands by her boundaries: if she can't have him to herself, she'd rather not have him. Fair enough.
As she walks, she starts hearing voices. She starts to realize that they're different from the voices of the Cheysuli in the keep, and that she's hearing them in her mind instead of her ears. She starts to lose it, but Storr and Cai appear to calm her down. They explain that she has to control her gifts.
They lead her out of the Keep. (RUN, ALIX) She asks what she's supposed to learn, and is told that she has to learn to accept rather than rail against tahlmorra. Easy for you to say, asshole. Alix delights me again by pointing out that Cai is Duncan's lir, and will support him. Cai notes that he's a lir but he has his own will.
Storr points out that they're not reflections of their partners, or he'd have all of Finn's faults. I don't know, dude. You seemed like you'd be fine with Finn raping women as long as they're not Cheysuli. Anyway, the lir quickly lose me.
Cai mantled once and settled more comfortably. You bear the Old Blood, liren. It has gone out of the clan. You will bring it back.
“By bearing children.”
Aye, Cai agreed. How else does a female give more to the world?
Fuck. You.
Storr notes that it's not that Alix doesn't want children, it's just that she wants to choose who fathers them. Yeah. That small thing. Cai notes that they can't tell her who to take, and it's up to her to decide. Hey, thanks for actually admitting that it should be her choice!
You know what should also be her choice? Whether she has children AT ALL.
Anyway, the lir can aid her in accepting the gifts she's been given by the gods: namely the ability to hear all of the lir. She's got to learn to control it, and set it aside until she needs it. And then Storr compares the gift to shapechanging, which DEFINITELY perks Alix's interest.
For his part, Cai notes that she has the Old Blood, and with it comes all the "old gifts".
So where exactly does this Old Blood come from? Alix and Finn have the same father. Does Finn have this Old Blood? And if not, does it come from Alix's MOTHER?
I'm not really sure it's a great idea to have your heroine be basically more Cheysuli than the actual Cheysuli, and have the abilities come from her WHITE MOTHER, Ms. Roberson.
Anyway, Alix notes that she has no lir, but is told she doesn't need one. Basically the Old Blood means the freedom to speak with all lir and assume any shape. Alix asks if no one else in the clan can do this and is told 'no'. It was lost to them, because the Cheysuli took Homanan women to increase numbers and it weakened the gifts.
...so how then is Alix, who is half Homanan, a carrier of this Old Blood? I feel like Roberson didn't think this through.
Anyway, it's apparently up to Alix to bring the Old Blood back. And both Alix and I are pretty annoyed at how everything keeps coming back to her ability to breed. Fuck you, Cai and Storr.
Alix doesn't waste time arguing, she wants to learn to shapeshift. Yes, good! I may have serious issues with how you've got this power, Alix, but I definitely want you to have it. She chooses to bond with Storr first, since she figures flight is probably difficult to learn. He gets her into the mindset of the wolf, having her concentrate on her sense of smell and touch. She actually does manage to get herself into wolf form, though it's very quick and disorienting. Storr tells her that it will be better. While Cai tells her that perhaps, she will amaze even his lir.
Fuck Duncan.
But I'm proud of Alix for proactively learning this new skill. Now learn to fly and get the fuck out of there!
no subject
Date: 2024-08-26 06:39 pm (UTC)And back to this again.
Bets on whether or not she's only there to be used as a means to offer up excuses for Finn and Duncan?
I've seen too much of this book to take one.
That's thankfully a good first impression, I guess?
“I have never known Duncan to act without reason, so he must have been driven to it.”
Yes, of course this is supposed to be Alix's fault! I hate this!!
At least Alix is away from Duncan for a while?
d) Have I mentioned yet as to how much the use of the Old Tongue in this book aggravates me? It's the usual fantasy foreign language complaint really: characters using foreign words to represent very easily translatable concepts. Jehan is father, rujho/rujholli is brother, cheysul/cheysula is spouse. That's not the way bilingual people talk.
I'd especially not expect it for such basic terms.
Thank you for the rant!
She goes to Borrs's tent. (Borrs's lir was a mountain cat, apparently).
Oh, then Tasha has precedent as a mountain cat lir.
Oh joy, more Duncan.
Yeah, Alix does make for a good lead now!
i) Now is it just me, or does it sound like Duncan is very subtly using the threat of Finn to try to force Alix into being his mistress? He knows that she's afraid of Finn. (And when she brought up the idea of marrying him, she'd "sucked in a trembling breath", just in case we'd forgotten.)
I don't think it's just you.
Aye, Cai agreed. How else does a female give more to the world?
Yes, you're totally not a reflection of Duncan. (I really think he should have some different worldview as a hawk, but apparently not.)
Ooh, at least she can shapeshift!
no subject
Date: 2024-08-27 01:36 am (UTC)(I suppose, to be fair, Storr does read like a very different personality than Finn does. But he's also a gross rape apologist.)