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A review by skycrane
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
4.0
This book was interesting. In a good way. When I started reading it, I just wanted to read more to see how the story and setting and characters would develop. The setting and societies are unique, and the premise is just great.
I went into this book knowing basically nothing about it except that it was fantasy, and I think that turned out to be a blessing. Some of these other reviews indicate that people heard about feminist themes or the different societies' takes on gender, and read the book based on that. Those things are there, but to me they aren't really an important part of what makes the book fun to read.
For one thing, it's hard to take any kind of message from a book like this. Each character has their own views that are shaped by their society and their personality. Zezili might be my favorite character. She is a monster. She is a sadistic bully who torments those weaker than her. She lives in an incredibly oppressive society, Dorinah, where people like her (female citizens) have the right and the duty to dominate men and non-citizen slaves. This society is so extreme that I can't think of a single example of any real-world civilization where women were as oppressed as men are in this fantasy country. And even within this awful culture, she stands out as being unusually brutal and cruel. But she's also incredibly brave, intelligent, and loyal, in a way. When she's ordered to do something disgusting and reprehensible (or maybe just wasteful) even by her standards, she's conflicted. Most of all, she's just interesting to read about. I want to know more about this truly messed-up person.
Most of the characters are like this (though few are as monstrous as Zezili). In my view, if you're trying to get some kind of clean moral about gender interactions or whatever from a book like this, then you're reading it incorrectly. Too many different ideas conflict. And the fantastical element makes it impossible to translate whatever morals might exist in the book into the real world. In the second book, certain things are revealed about the history and politics of Dorinah that really shut down any attempt to turn it into some kind of real-world parable.
Of course, there is a moral (any work of fiction will have a moral, whether it acknowledges it or not). But it's complicated and messy and, as yet, unclear. I think the author is mainly grappling with the question of what existential conflict does to a person, and what it does to a people. A major question is whether it's better to be accept extinction or to throw away principle and tradition in order to have a chance of survival. It's not a question that is "answered", because different characters come up with different answers in different situations. It's unclear what works, if anything does.
But putting all that aside, I'd say the main reason to read this book is that it is exciting and new. The world feels alien, but the characters resonate. The magic of the world is strange and, well, magical. The societies and their histories are fun to learn about, and the complex gender relations are merely one part of the cultures that are so interesting as a whole. There are mysteries that stay mysterious even as you learn more about them. Perhaps some elements are different or shocking just for the sake of being different and shocking. But I think that's just fine. One of the best things fantasy can do is show us a strange world that is still in some ways familiar.
I went into this book knowing basically nothing about it except that it was fantasy, and I think that turned out to be a blessing. Some of these other reviews indicate that people heard about feminist themes or the different societies' takes on gender, and read the book based on that. Those things are there, but to me they aren't really an important part of what makes the book fun to read.
For one thing, it's hard to take any kind of message from a book like this. Each character has their own views that are shaped by their society and their personality. Zezili might be my favorite character. She is a monster. She is a sadistic bully who torments those weaker than her. She lives in an incredibly oppressive society, Dorinah, where people like her (female citizens) have the right and the duty to dominate men and non-citizen slaves. This society is so extreme that I can't think of a single example of any real-world civilization where women were as oppressed as men are in this fantasy country. And even within this awful culture, she stands out as being unusually brutal and cruel. But she's also incredibly brave, intelligent, and loyal, in a way. When she's ordered to do something disgusting and reprehensible (or maybe just wasteful) even by her standards, she's conflicted. Most of all, she's just interesting to read about. I want to know more about this truly messed-up person.
Most of the characters are like this (though few are as monstrous as Zezili). In my view, if you're trying to get some kind of clean moral about gender interactions or whatever from a book like this, then you're reading it incorrectly. Too many different ideas conflict. And the fantastical element makes it impossible to translate whatever morals might exist in the book into the real world. In the second book, certain things are revealed about the history and politics of Dorinah that really shut down any attempt to turn it into some kind of real-world parable.
Of course, there is a moral (any work of fiction will have a moral, whether it acknowledges it or not). But it's complicated and messy and, as yet, unclear. I think the author is mainly grappling with the question of what existential conflict does to a person, and what it does to a people. A major question is whether it's better to be accept extinction or to throw away principle and tradition in order to have a chance of survival. It's not a question that is "answered", because different characters come up with different answers in different situations. It's unclear what works, if anything does.
But putting all that aside, I'd say the main reason to read this book is that it is exciting and new. The world feels alien, but the characters resonate. The magic of the world is strange and, well, magical. The societies and their histories are fun to learn about, and the complex gender relations are merely one part of the cultures that are so interesting as a whole. There are mysteries that stay mysterious even as you learn more about them. Perhaps some elements are different or shocking just for the sake of being different and shocking. But I think that's just fine. One of the best things fantasy can do is show us a strange world that is still in some ways familiar.