Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

[lightreads]

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It has long been a subject of suspicion in certain quarters that I do not have a soul. (I rub elbows with politicians, guys, it’s protective coloration). Allow me to add some evidence to the case by informing you that my response to this book, like all of Cashore’s other work, was “…eh, that’s nice, I guess.”

It’s nice! It’s all about a kingdom recovering from the mass trauma of violent dictatorship, and the teenaged queen coming into her power, and her first stumbling romance, and the aftermath of lies, even the kind, protective ones. Honestly, I should be all over this thing. And it’s nice! I can appreciate that on an esthetic level, and go on about how marvelous it is that the teenaged cross-class romance isn’t intended to be the love of anyone’s life at eighteen, it’s just a sweet, complicated, warm coming of age. With birth control! Young adult fantasy with birth control! But really, I dropped it halfway through to go read something else without a flicker, and had a hard time remembering what was what when I came back a week later.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me that I found this only minimally engaging?




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Comments

[cahn]

AHA, I have a THEORY. (Did you really think I wouldn't?)

This theory is based on having read rachelmanija's review, and on someone asking me, "Why isn't there a bigger Cashore fandom?" Because even though I did, very much, like the book, I finished it with zero impetus to write or read fic about it, whereas with most books I really like, there's at least some measure of "huh, I'd really like to see this story extended, and whatever happened to this character?"

Anyway-- I think it's what rachelmanija said: as an allegory, it's really good, and as fantasy worldbuilding, it's incoherent on the large scale (I didn't notice the mental health incoherencies she points out, but although I liked the ciphering I was disturbed by how it wasn't thought-through how it slotted into their language system and how the language interacted with their history, etc.). So if you like allegories (which I do), it makes it more likely you'll like the book (which I did), but otherwise, probably not so much. Nothing to do with soul ;)

(And it made me realize that it's partially coherency of worldbuilding that sells me on a fandom. If there's nothing to hold on to when you write a fic, what's the point?)