Inda by Sherwood Smith
May. 16th, 2011 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI have seen this book series rec’d over and over and it has been on my ‘to read’ list for awhile and I’m kicking myself for not reading it sooner because it was awesome. I loved this book so much. As soon as I finished it I both wanted to immediately re-read it (it has so much happening and in the beginning I was confused by the names and created words so I know I missed some of what was happening) and to immediately read the next book. I will rec this book just as enthusiastically as anyone else now.
I adored the way Smith used point of view changes. A single page could have multiple POVs because she’d start with one then jump to a different one for a sentence or paragraph to get that person’s POV of whatever was happening and then back to the original or moving on to a third. I’ve never really encountered this before but now that I have I love it. I want to read more and more books written like this because so often when reading I want to know what the other characters are thinking but rarely do I actually find out.
• I loved how this world dealt with women which was amazing and made me so happy. ♥
The Marlovan women are very constrained – those in high positions trapped forever in keeps unable to leave, daughters traded into marriage without consideration to what they would want and other similar things from so many other novels – however so are the men. It’s about duty and tradition and honour and the men are held to the same standard as the woman. The Marlovan women are warriors just as much as the men. We do have some of the men being derisive of woman being dangerous, we have men waving aside woman’s power and abilities as less important but the thing is – they are wrong. And we are shown right from the beginning that they are wrong. Beyond the women being warriors they’re also spies and politicians and while the men play war games in the background are the women playing spy games and political games and sometimes war games as well. The women of this series have power. The women in this series are people who matter just as much as the men. ♥
I love that the rank women have book learning, that they have an extensive spy network between each other working together as allies (with I think Ndara and Fareas-Iogre as leaders?) and using their Runners to keep connected, that they have a separate language they communicate in, that they have their own secret martial arts (Odni) and a secret understanding that if the men ever did put their country in danger via war the women would act against them to make things right.
- I also love them searching for magic and the knowledge of how to use it. The discussion between the king and Sponge where they end up in agreement that the women becoming mages and gaining control of magic would actually be a good thing was excellent.
- Moving past the Marlovan Empire as Inda heads to sea we get woman all over the place exactly as it should be but so often isn’t. Women work in every position on ships from Captains down to ship ‘rats’. I just really love it.
• I also really loved how the book dealt with sexuality in such a positive and matter-of-fact way. Sex is just a part of life and there is nothing bad about it or to be ashamed about. I think this is one of the littlest and yet most noticeable ways this book blew me away and showed just how... friendly to women this world is. In this book women are people. There is no shame and no restrictions placed on women’s sexuality. They are treated the exact same as men. This is huge. I love it. The girls go to pleasure houses just as often as men and no one blinks.
- The biggest thing is the lack of rape or even the threat of rape in this book. It is non-existent apparently. It gets addressed at one point, obliquely, that in the far past the woman worked to weed that out of men. I honestly don’t care why. The complete lack of rape in this world, of the threat of it towards any female character and the way it is so often used as an excuse to control women ‘for their own good/safety’ and to blame them for their own victimisation is just so... freeing.
Even Sierlaef’s obsession and consuming desire for Joret never gets the hint of possibility of rape (beyond the readers own views.) That is to me they were very tension filled because they did have a ‘rapey air’ to them which in other books definitely would have lead to him at least attempting it but in this book, in this world created, it is never a possibility. He reaches for her hand, he keeps asking and watching her and tries to spend time with her but he takes her pulling away and accepts it as a no and never tries to physically push himself on her, never even considers it. Awesome.
There is also how Ndara tells Sierandael after their marriage they will not be sleeping together, even to make an heir, and there is nothing he can do but accept it. Also on the ships there is never the possibility that the female crewmembers are in danger from the male and actually... I think the complete lack of rape in this world is why it is such an equal one in so many ways. Hmm.
• This wonderful treatment of female characters extends as well to same sex relationships which while not as common as heterosexual relationships are just accepted as part of who people are. When we have Evred thinking about how he only desires men he keeps it a secret not because he is ashamed in any way but rather because of rank and the worry about how people will try to use his desires against him. Bisexuality is acknowledged and also accepted as normal. There are multiple characters who have significant or supporting roles who are gay/bisexual.
• Shipping-wise I ship Inda/Sponge (or rather Inda/Evred, which is a name I like better) mostly and have from pretty early in the series. I like various other pairings well enough but this is pretty much the only one I am actively shipping. I did ship Tau/Inda for awhile but the Tau POV where he thinks about how he never feels sexual about his friends and he doesn’t feel anything romantic for Inda pretty much killed it for me. I like the idea of Inda and Joret marrying actually. It fits perfectly for my Inda/Evred shipping. As of right now I’d like the series to end, if things stay status quo which seems unlikely, for Inda and Joret to marry as they have to and then enjoy a simple friendship and loyalty while Joret gets to have the sex free life she wants and Inda /Sponge form a deep love bond (such as the king and Sindan have).
• I love the treatment of the ‘villians’ and how fleshed out they are. Now they aren’t all fleshed out because then this book will never end but with those important ones they are. It isn’t about people doing evil things because they’re evil.
- Cherry-Stripe is one of the main ‘bad guys’ in Inda’s year at the Academy but he is allowed to grow and change and by the end of the book he is one of Sponge’s trusted and loyal friends. I loved that.
- The Sierandael is completely loyal to his brother and actually one of his huge flaws is that he loves his brother too much and becomes jealous of anyone else who has his attention and respect. The reveal that his hatred of Jarend began when he was beat up by older boys and his brother didn’t come to help him because he was too enamoured by Jarend to realise he needed help was kind of perfect. He’s a man who was raised to be a warrior and devoted his entire life war and wants nothing more than to be that for real, to fight battles and have glory (and his brother’s respect and gratitude). He is so enmeshed in his rank that people lower than him don’t actually really matter to him. He doesn’t have empathy for others. But he’s not evil.
- Sierlaef is selfish, self-absorbed and has a bit of a rage problem. He is completely spoiled and expects to get things his way regardless of anyone else. He has the same rank privilege/lack of empathy his uncle does possibly in large part because of his uncle. But while he is a big ‘villain’ in the story he isn’t evil. He didn’t mean for his prank – to get his uncle’s respect and smack down Inda (and his brother) – to get Dogpiss killed and he was horrified when it happened and cried the entire way back to the castle. Granted he moved past that and not in the right direction but his first reaction was remorse and sorrow not uncaring and irritation or even glee at how things went awry. He moves to get Tanrid out of the way and in the end kills him when the Northerner’s don’t but at the same time his first impulse in dealing with Hadand is to ask her to step aside and then to arrange a proper marriage for her (...in another country. Because he has no idea and no care for what others want. Sigh). He treats his younger brother horribly, though to an extent that’s expected, and it’s to make Sponge decide to stay with reading books. It’s because of jealousy and his self-hatred at being unable to read re-directing itself at hating those who can. Understandable if not likable. Actually this is a problem with his uncle as well – he doesn’t understand ships and so he hates them and decides they worthless – uncle and nephew really are alike. But I don’t think he’s evil and I like that (even if I don’t like him).
• A couple other things I liked:
- The book is just full of appealing and interesting characters. The writing style is engaging. It made me hurt for the characters and love them.
- Inda is wonderful, I love him, and if he had been the only POV character I think I still would have loved this book.
- I liked that this book dealt with all those high fantasy tropes – politics, betrayal, war, vengeance, deaths – and was emotional and harrowing without ever being grim dark or exploitive about it.
- I loved how much they love animals – the horses and dogs. They were treated with respect and love and the amount of animal harm was negligible.
- I loved the first line – “Let’s go fight the girls!” (and that the girls won).
- I liked how when at the end Inda was declared heir and thus that Joret would now be the one to marry him Joret and Tdor reacted with only relief on their faces and the agreement to talk later.
- I liked the concept of Runners.
I adored the way Smith used point of view changes. A single page could have multiple POVs because she’d start with one then jump to a different one for a sentence or paragraph to get that person’s POV of whatever was happening and then back to the original or moving on to a third. I’ve never really encountered this before but now that I have I love it. I want to read more and more books written like this because so often when reading I want to know what the other characters are thinking but rarely do I actually find out.
• I loved how this world dealt with women which was amazing and made me so happy. ♥
The Marlovan women are very constrained – those in high positions trapped forever in keeps unable to leave, daughters traded into marriage without consideration to what they would want and other similar things from so many other novels – however so are the men. It’s about duty and tradition and honour and the men are held to the same standard as the woman. The Marlovan women are warriors just as much as the men. We do have some of the men being derisive of woman being dangerous, we have men waving aside woman’s power and abilities as less important but the thing is – they are wrong. And we are shown right from the beginning that they are wrong. Beyond the women being warriors they’re also spies and politicians and while the men play war games in the background are the women playing spy games and political games and sometimes war games as well. The women of this series have power. The women in this series are people who matter just as much as the men. ♥
I love that the rank women have book learning, that they have an extensive spy network between each other working together as allies (with I think Ndara and Fareas-Iogre as leaders?) and using their Runners to keep connected, that they have a separate language they communicate in, that they have their own secret martial arts (Odni) and a secret understanding that if the men ever did put their country in danger via war the women would act against them to make things right.
- I also love them searching for magic and the knowledge of how to use it. The discussion between the king and Sponge where they end up in agreement that the women becoming mages and gaining control of magic would actually be a good thing was excellent.
- Moving past the Marlovan Empire as Inda heads to sea we get woman all over the place exactly as it should be but so often isn’t. Women work in every position on ships from Captains down to ship ‘rats’. I just really love it.
• I also really loved how the book dealt with sexuality in such a positive and matter-of-fact way. Sex is just a part of life and there is nothing bad about it or to be ashamed about. I think this is one of the littlest and yet most noticeable ways this book blew me away and showed just how... friendly to women this world is. In this book women are people. There is no shame and no restrictions placed on women’s sexuality. They are treated the exact same as men. This is huge. I love it. The girls go to pleasure houses just as often as men and no one blinks.
- The biggest thing is the lack of rape or even the threat of rape in this book. It is non-existent apparently. It gets addressed at one point, obliquely, that in the far past the woman worked to weed that out of men. I honestly don’t care why. The complete lack of rape in this world, of the threat of it towards any female character and the way it is so often used as an excuse to control women ‘for their own good/safety’ and to blame them for their own victimisation is just so... freeing.
Even Sierlaef’s obsession and consuming desire for Joret never gets the hint of possibility of rape (beyond the readers own views.) That is to me they were very tension filled because they did have a ‘rapey air’ to them which in other books definitely would have lead to him at least attempting it but in this book, in this world created, it is never a possibility. He reaches for her hand, he keeps asking and watching her and tries to spend time with her but he takes her pulling away and accepts it as a no and never tries to physically push himself on her, never even considers it. Awesome.
There is also how Ndara tells Sierandael after their marriage they will not be sleeping together, even to make an heir, and there is nothing he can do but accept it. Also on the ships there is never the possibility that the female crewmembers are in danger from the male and actually... I think the complete lack of rape in this world is why it is such an equal one in so many ways. Hmm.
• This wonderful treatment of female characters extends as well to same sex relationships which while not as common as heterosexual relationships are just accepted as part of who people are. When we have Evred thinking about how he only desires men he keeps it a secret not because he is ashamed in any way but rather because of rank and the worry about how people will try to use his desires against him. Bisexuality is acknowledged and also accepted as normal. There are multiple characters who have significant or supporting roles who are gay/bisexual.
• Shipping-wise I ship Inda/Sponge (or rather Inda/Evred, which is a name I like better) mostly and have from pretty early in the series. I like various other pairings well enough but this is pretty much the only one I am actively shipping. I did ship Tau/Inda for awhile but the Tau POV where he thinks about how he never feels sexual about his friends and he doesn’t feel anything romantic for Inda pretty much killed it for me. I like the idea of Inda and Joret marrying actually. It fits perfectly for my Inda/Evred shipping. As of right now I’d like the series to end, if things stay status quo which seems unlikely, for Inda and Joret to marry as they have to and then enjoy a simple friendship and loyalty while Joret gets to have the sex free life she wants and Inda /Sponge form a deep love bond (such as the king and Sindan have).
• I love the treatment of the ‘villians’ and how fleshed out they are. Now they aren’t all fleshed out because then this book will never end but with those important ones they are. It isn’t about people doing evil things because they’re evil.
- Cherry-Stripe is one of the main ‘bad guys’ in Inda’s year at the Academy but he is allowed to grow and change and by the end of the book he is one of Sponge’s trusted and loyal friends. I loved that.
- The Sierandael is completely loyal to his brother and actually one of his huge flaws is that he loves his brother too much and becomes jealous of anyone else who has his attention and respect. The reveal that his hatred of Jarend began when he was beat up by older boys and his brother didn’t come to help him because he was too enamoured by Jarend to realise he needed help was kind of perfect. He’s a man who was raised to be a warrior and devoted his entire life war and wants nothing more than to be that for real, to fight battles and have glory (and his brother’s respect and gratitude). He is so enmeshed in his rank that people lower than him don’t actually really matter to him. He doesn’t have empathy for others. But he’s not evil.
- Sierlaef is selfish, self-absorbed and has a bit of a rage problem. He is completely spoiled and expects to get things his way regardless of anyone else. He has the same rank privilege/lack of empathy his uncle does possibly in large part because of his uncle. But while he is a big ‘villain’ in the story he isn’t evil. He didn’t mean for his prank – to get his uncle’s respect and smack down Inda (and his brother) – to get Dogpiss killed and he was horrified when it happened and cried the entire way back to the castle. Granted he moved past that and not in the right direction but his first reaction was remorse and sorrow not uncaring and irritation or even glee at how things went awry. He moves to get Tanrid out of the way and in the end kills him when the Northerner’s don’t but at the same time his first impulse in dealing with Hadand is to ask her to step aside and then to arrange a proper marriage for her (...in another country. Because he has no idea and no care for what others want. Sigh). He treats his younger brother horribly, though to an extent that’s expected, and it’s to make Sponge decide to stay with reading books. It’s because of jealousy and his self-hatred at being unable to read re-directing itself at hating those who can. Understandable if not likable. Actually this is a problem with his uncle as well – he doesn’t understand ships and so he hates them and decides they worthless – uncle and nephew really are alike. But I don’t think he’s evil and I like that (even if I don’t like him).
• A couple other things I liked:
- The book is just full of appealing and interesting characters. The writing style is engaging. It made me hurt for the characters and love them.
- Inda is wonderful, I love him, and if he had been the only POV character I think I still would have loved this book.
- I liked that this book dealt with all those high fantasy tropes – politics, betrayal, war, vengeance, deaths – and was emotional and harrowing without ever being grim dark or exploitive about it.
- I loved how much they love animals – the horses and dogs. They were treated with respect and love and the amount of animal harm was negligible.
- I loved the first line – “Let’s go fight the girls!” (and that the girls won).
- I liked how when at the end Inda was declared heir and thus that Joret would now be the one to marry him Joret and Tdor reacted with only relief on their faces and the agreement to talk later.
- I liked the concept of Runners.
