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The first thing I should mention is that I really, really wanted to like Havemercy. It's written by two self-professed fangirls who are still active in the Harry Potter fandom, and it reads like a complete labour of love. Although I initially had doubts about the storytelling (Havemercy is told from the alternate points of view of each of the four main characters), I was quickly drawn into the plot. The protagonists-Rook, an unpredictable, aggressive dragon-rider, Royston, an exiled magician, Hal, a naive country tutor, and Thom-a student assigned to teach dragon riders the finer points of etiquette-are all engaging, and although Hal and Thom especially seemed interchangeable at first, they each quickly developed their own voices. Add that it's a gay romance story with wizards and steampunk dragons that breathe fire, and what's not to like?
As it turned out, quite a lot.
The first thing I noticed is that there are few woman characters in the novel at all. Now this is fine-Havemercy reads like a boy's own adventure tale from the start. However as I read along I noticed that nearly all of the few female characters mentioned are portrayed negatively- as vapid socialites, whores, or downright nasty bitches. The only major female character is Havemercy the mechanical dragon, and it's made explicit that the dragons don't have a gender, it's just that Rook, her pilot, considers her a female.
The book broke my brain around the time where the mage Royston's sister in law confronts him for the first time. She loses the (rather spectacular) ensuing argument and promptly passes out on the floor. This is, two watching male characters explain, normal when she is upset. She'll be back to her evil self, by morning, never fear. Now the sister in law is certainly one hell of drama queen, but as a plot device the whole fainting thing just seemed so damn Victorian.
Now I'm all up for the gay romance aspect of the book-Hal and Royston's blossoming love affair is beautifully drawn. Likewise the Boy's Own Adventure aspect. I just like my gay with a little less misogynism. A league of female magicians is mentioned but never expanded upon, and there are no female aviators at all. Why can't women ride the dragons as well? It seems that you have to be a man to have adventures and fun sex in the world of Havemercy. Screw the adventures, you have to be a man just to be a decent human being.
I can see the attraction –especially given Jayd Ait-Kaci's (halcyonjazz) Atlantis-style creator-sanctioned fanart for the series- ho boy, can I see it. I just don't think I could write something where my own sex was so negatively portrayed. Or so absent, come to that..
Having said that, there are other series that go for the gay perfectly well while also featuring female characters of note. My other favourite gay fantasy series of novels, Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth by Elizabeth Bear, features a romance between Will Shakespeare and a fey Christopher Marlowe, but another theme of the plot is how deeply Will is in love with his wife Annie, and Morgan le Fay is a major player too. Swordspoint and the Riverside series by Ellen Kushner focuses on the relationship between a poor student, Alec and the swordsman Richard St Vier, but Alec's niece Katherine and the lady Jessica also feature prominently in the series (and are awesome characters to boot).
I'm told the sequel is slightly better, but based on Havemercy I'm not sure when I'll be picking it up. The misogynism for me was a complete book-breaker. Like the religious symbolism in the Narnia books, once I'd noticed it I couldn't stop. All in all, I think it's telling that the only way I could get through it was by using the first person point of view to pretend one of the main characters was a woman. Rook was my favourite, so I'd much rather imagine her as a medieval version of Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica.
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Date: 2012-02-26 07:17 am (UTC)The next one is better (though the East Asia in a blender this is a little odd), and the third one has two female protagonists. I'm not going to tell you you HAVE to run out and read the next one though! I can totally see why the writing choices would turn you off the series.
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Date: 2012-02-26 09:45 am (UTC)I'll probably pick up the next book, but I'll get the kindle edition rather than buying new. It'll be interesting to see how the 'alternate china' setting is used, as I thought the authors could have done more with 'Vostock=Russia'. But then non-western fantasy settings is apparently my big thing at the moment, anyway.
All in all, if that was my first novel I'd b pretty damn pleased with myself but DEAR GOD SOME WOMEN PLEASE.