Short Reviews: June 2013. Women of the Silk, Steadfast, One and Only, Bird King

The Bird King: an artist's notebook, Shaun Tan.  ISBN: 978-0545465137
June 16-22, 2013
A lovely little bound sketchbook of Tan's ideas and drawn ruminations and early/preliminary sketches from his other published works.  The man has a thing for people with bird heads, and his sceneries remind me of Bosch at times; creepy but really enthralling.  Makes me ache that I can't draw.

One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child, and the Joy of Being One, Lauren Sandler.  ISBN: 978-1451626957
June 10-15, 2013
Nonfiction: Debunks bad press re: onlies, but admits that human perceptions reinforce stereotypes even if false.  Also notes that people tend to blame hardship on whatever differentiates themselves from others, so onlies blame their social or relationship problems on their only-child status.  Interesting read.

Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey.  ISBN: 978-0756408015
June 10-15, 2013
Elemental Masters (but just Magicians here) story, based on Steadfast Tin Soldier.  Overall Meh.  Pleasant read, no peril, no problems.  Nice dragon.

Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama.  ISBN: 978-0312099435
June 3-7, 2013
Oddly flat, affectless telling of "extra" daughters in China sent into the silk factories on the eve of the Japanese invasion.  Despite the title, the silk factories not actually necessary to, or highlighted in the plot.  Read for possible research/background for my "mill girls" story.

Reserved for the Cat vs Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey

Reserved for the Cat, Mercedes Lackey (published 2007)

Re-read August 9, 2013

ISBN - 978-0756403621

 

Steadfast ("reviewed" on my reading page June 10-15, 2013)

 

While reading, I felt that the plotline of Steadfast was very similar to Reserved for the Cat, but then I read that way back in 2007 when it came out, and my memory was a bit fuzzy.  I re-read Reserved yesterday, and they really are quite similar.

 

I have to wonder if that is on purpose, because the whole of Reserved for the Cat had a feel of "ballet girls are better than variety-show dancers" to it, and the whole point of Steadfast was to feature those same slightly lower class of dancers and personages as the protagonists and important figures in that same world. 

 

There were minor differences of course - Nina/Ninette the ballerina couldn't choreograph, while Katie is a brilliant dance designer.  The gathered "powerful menfolk" are Masters in the first and Magicians in the second.  The foe was an Earth Elemental in Nina's case, and Katie's abusive husband in the second. Although I do pause for a moment that in the comparison, it's sort of rough for Katie's poor hubby that an Earth Elemental comes off as so much more crafty and witty and clever than that poor sot. 

 

What's interesting is that reading them so close together, I can't really decide that one is better than the other, just that they are so very close to each other in style and tone and plot.  Really, the major difference I see is that Ninette gets to save herself in the end (although she hides that knowledge) and Katie gets saved in the end by a magical dragon who thinks she's sweet.  As a woman, I have to say I like the first option better.  However, the entire plotline (in both cases) is a woman alone and dependent on the whims (thankfully of the most noble and kindhearted sort) of the current batch of men who are angling to save her because it helps them out.  Not much in the way of agency when you're relegated to taking orders, after all.  

 

On a final note, re-reading Reserved for the Cat did make me question one thing: why didn't the Cat ever reveal himself to Ninette?