Avielle of Rhia, Dia Calhoun
Apr. 29th, 2007 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianThis is Calhoun's second "message" book in a row, and definitely the more successful. I like The Phoenix Dance with its retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses as an allegory for bipolar disorder, but the heroine's simultaneous medical approach to her own mood issues didn't mesh well with it. Avielle of Rhia is about how to live with the threat of terrorism. I didn't feel it overstated that message, though it was very clearly intentional.
What I liked about the story was the thing I like best about Calhoun -- her emotionally realistic approach to the main characters. She didn't take the easy way out with Avielle's older brother, who torments her because of racial prejudice but also because he's jealous of her relationship with their youngest brother; he's not a good person, but his motivations are in there and understandable. Later, there's a Cast of Colorful Characters to get the princess out of her isolation, and they're not very complex, but I was enjoying meeting them anyway.
This book and The Phoenix Dance are both about crafters. Avielle is a weaver, and her relationship with her mentor and her work are central to her finding strength in herself. The Colorful Characters are also primarily artisans of one sort and another, so there is lots of loving description of thoroughly envisioned items. Calhoun clearly cares about craftsmanship and beauty, and I am happy to read about it.
I had some problems with the ending. Avielle has a sudden realization that her idea to appease the bad guys is flawed in that the slaves they're asking for are real people, like people she knows. I found it a little heavy-handed to have some many of the people she actually does know become part of the tribute; that may have been necessary for the "OMG I surrender and turn evil" plot twist, but in my opinion that plot twist was crap. Avielle has been working toward being loving and open to her magical talents throughout the book, and suddenly her old fear that she's inherited evil comes back strongly enough for her to decide to join the bad guys? There had to be another way for her new friends to support her. But I still got all sniffly in public about it.
Definitely worth reading, though not up to White Midnight quality.
What I liked about the story was the thing I like best about Calhoun -- her emotionally realistic approach to the main characters. She didn't take the easy way out with Avielle's older brother, who torments her because of racial prejudice but also because he's jealous of her relationship with their youngest brother; he's not a good person, but his motivations are in there and understandable. Later, there's a Cast of Colorful Characters to get the princess out of her isolation, and they're not very complex, but I was enjoying meeting them anyway.
This book and The Phoenix Dance are both about crafters. Avielle is a weaver, and her relationship with her mentor and her work are central to her finding strength in herself. The Colorful Characters are also primarily artisans of one sort and another, so there is lots of loving description of thoroughly envisioned items. Calhoun clearly cares about craftsmanship and beauty, and I am happy to read about it.
I had some problems with the ending. Avielle has a sudden realization that her idea to appease the bad guys is flawed in that the slaves they're asking for are real people, like people she knows. I found it a little heavy-handed to have some many of the people she actually does know become part of the tribute; that may have been necessary for the "OMG I surrender and turn evil" plot twist, but in my opinion that plot twist was crap. Avielle has been working toward being loving and open to her magical talents throughout the book, and suddenly her old fear that she's inherited evil comes back strongly enough for her to decide to join the bad guys? There had to be another way for her new friends to support her. But I still got all sniffly in public about it.
Definitely worth reading, though not up to White Midnight quality.
