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21 April, 2011

Anti-Feminist Feminist? Or ..not.

Ohayou!
(It's not actually morning but that is the only Japanese greeting I remember, so... I'm pretty sure it's morning somewhere in the world!)

When I was a kid-scratch that, even now, I still read Tamora Pierce's books with the same fascination with which I picked up the first book of hers I ever read. They're well written, I truly enjoy seeing a slightly different view of knights and their training-I think the worlds she creates are perfect in their medievalness, but there is the nitty-gritty side to the whole world which most people who write for say, teens, forget to mention. Research never seems to play a part in their writings, it being more important to show the relationships between the characters. But Tamora Pierce was different. She was special. More importantly, her protagonists were all female.

Girls out there, don't you get tired of reading fantasy or historical novels in which the cool sword-swinging/magic is done by guys, while girls have to use their cunning(whatever that is) and special skills to get anywhere? Even then, I've never seen a standalone girl protagonist whom society respects, even as she swings a sword around, and never minds the boys. So I love Kel. Kel, short for Keladry of Mindelan, is the kind of girl/woman I would love to be. She has no gift(unlike Alanna, whose books were a disappointment after reading Kel's 'Protector of the Small' quartet), she's afraid of heights, and doesn't go out of the way to break society's rules. She's polite, restrained-maybe too restrained, and most importantly--she doesn't ever try to hide the fact that she's a girl. She flaunts it, even. And this is what I think puts her above Alanna in my 'Feminist' book. Alanna has paved the way for Lady Knights, she has brought the dominion Jewel back to the Kingdom and faced off a supervillian who possesses the power to return from the dead. But she has done all this slightly ashamed of being a girl. Not Kel. She wears dresses to dinner and ribbons in her hair. Kel allows thoughts of boys to flit through her mind--but not when she has work ahead of her. Kel has no place for heroics and riding off alone, though she entertains those fantasies now and again. Though her job may be small and seemingly unimportant-to protect a refugee camp-she does right by it till the end.
Thus ends my 'Kel' rant. :)

I was excited to read the 'Circle of Magic' series after the success of 'Protector of the Small' but unfortunately, have been doomed to disappointment. The first book I ever read from the series raised my hopes high, but I found out, too late, that the others didn't compare. The Circle of Magic consists of three girls and a boy, all of them mages.(Yes, once again the girls outnumber the boys in a Tamora Pierce book!) But the only one whom I really liked was, unfortunately, the only boy in the group. Briar is fun to read, and seems to be given a great deal of affection by the authoress herself, simply because he has no faults. No major ones, unlike Sandry, who can be thoughtless in her nobility, Tris who is stubborn and wilful, not a good thing when she can control storms and lightning, and Daja who can be... I wouldn't know, actually. Daja seems as two-dimensional as the metal she is perpetually in love with. Briar and his interactions with Rosethorn, his strict, wise and secretly loving teacher are the most fun I had, but they should not be missed. I may be being too harsh on this set of books, not having read all of them yet-there are twelve, and I've read five-and if that has happened, I have no problem coming back and editing my post. If this post remains as is, then my opinion hasn't changed.

Once again, Ms. Pierce, I do love your books! I just wish there were more Kels and Briars, and less Alannas and Tris's, that's all. :)

Tschus! Bis dann,

Bdk

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