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A review by interrowhimper
The Fall of the Kings by Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner
4.0
I tried to read Swordspoint after seeing Kushner speak at the University of Tulsa years ago, and really couldn't get into it. This one was recommended to me by a friend and I read it despite not having read the first two Riverside books. It kept me entertained, and there was something captivating and weird about the magic, like the magic is something that happens to you instead of something you do. I liked that part.
However, this book fails the Bechdel test hard. There's a lot of gay love, and so I expected a pretty progressive presentation of gender and sexuality. But basically, replacing all the romantic leads with other men left a total dearth of women characters central to the plotline. There is a subplot about women fighting to get entry to their academy, but we don't get to know any of them, and the only conversations we hear are about the male main characters. Everything important seems to happen because someone is "the seed of kings" -- the most weirdly semen-driven book I think I've ever read.
Mixed feelings, for sure.
However, this book fails the Bechdel test hard. There's a lot of gay love, and so I expected a pretty progressive presentation of gender and sexuality. But basically, replacing all the romantic leads with other men left a total dearth of women characters central to the plotline. There is a subplot about women fighting to get entry to their academy, but we don't get to know any of them, and the only conversations we hear are about the male main characters. Everything important seems to happen because someone is "the seed of kings" -- the most weirdly semen-driven book I think I've ever read.
Mixed feelings, for sure.