Lense of the World by R.A. MacAvoy

[lightreads]

Lense of the World

2/5. Upon the king's request, his adviser writes a memoir of his early years at school and then making his way out in the world where he learns strange skills and discovers his complicated heritage.

This is doing things, but I didn't like them much. There is something truly unpleasant in reading a narrator being casually ironical about years of abuse – sexual, emotional, physical – and continuing to care deeply for one of his abusers for the rest of his life. I mean, this is a story that can be told, this is a thing that happens. But it really raises some questions in a book that is about training the mind to see the world clearly, and to see yourself accurately in it.

Comments

[readerjane]

I didn't think Nazhuret stayed close to anyone from Sordaling school?

[lightreads]

I was talking about Powell (sp?) who I guess has the benefit of not sexually exploiting him, but honestly I'm not sure what else good can be said of him. It read very much like a kid falling into the hands of a predator.

I will say in this book's favor that I enjoyed and was surprised by the reveal of the crossdressing and -- it is implied -- genderqueer old flame. That was entertaining.

[readerjane]

Right, Powl. I wasn't thinking of him as abusive because Nazhuret doesn't see him that way, but Powl admits that his own training methods do amount to dangerous psychological experimentation. And his physical-combat training was very harsh, even if what he was aiming at was getting Nazhuret to stop pulling his punches.

I guess Nazhuret really had no baseline for identifying Powl as abusive.

I find Nazhuret fascinating because he grows into a person who's capable of surrendering nearly anything to his king... except his conscience. It's such an unusual place to draw the line: not when your leader orders you to do something terrible, but before that, when you're asked to pledge fealty (which might someday result in such an order). And I do have a soft spot for heroes like Nazhuret who know perfectly well that they shouldn't get involved, but can't help themselves.

I'm sorry you didn't like Lens, because I think you'd love the octogenarian cross-dressing Mongol shaman in book 2. Or the queer, portrait-painting duelist in book 3. Or Navah! the young woman whose experimentation with firearms scares Nazhuret half to death (because guns are unreliable and could backfire).