Starting at the beginning of last June I have been on a fun reading journey in the world and conversation of my current project. It has been a lot better than last spring where I was getting strange suggestions for comps. Someone suggested I should read the Broken Earth Trilogy, for example. While I respect Jeminsin immensely, and feel that the book deals she was given by the publishing industry are criminal, they are not related to my project at all. I do not delve deep into the fantasy/ sci-fi genre, because there are regular themes I find less interesting.
I got some better comp suggestions more recently, such as Shannon's Priory of the Orange Tree, which immediately seemed to occupy a similar space based on my premise, though they are very different books. However, as I examined it, I had reservations, particularly feeling like a direct comparison. Discovering two YA fantasy new releases in June helped me feel relieved and see more similarities in themes. I tore through and supported Rosie Brown A Song of Wraith and Ruin and began Helen Cocoran Queen of Coin and Whispers. I admit I have been wanting to see more original inspiration from traditional medieval Europe, but during Pride Month, was also excited to see Helen show two women not afraid of same gender attraction.
On that note, I went looking for more adult books with this plot element, as discussed in a previous post. Because of this, I did purchase Priory to support Shannon's representation of this theme, as well as Effie Calvin, being the only adult fiction I could find, sadly, with two women neither of whom was not already married to a man. I did like Effie's writing and world, but the romance genre focus was not the most interesting to me. However, on the first page of Shannon's book, I struggled and have discussed with many friends how I was supposed to handle someone in my literary space whose writing felt so weight down with excess words to me. I have not wanted to be cruel to her as a writer or leave any bad reviews, and wanted to respect someone who came before me in the space, but I also feel disappointed in not having an outlet to push her to do better. I have sat on those feelings for several weeks, and feel like I will just write about them authentically in the internal debate which has been wrestling inside.
I was similarly prepared to be critical when the third installment of Chakraborty's series was released this month. In the debate about original voices, publishing under her Indian married name felt deceiving. However, I have appreciated her writing much more than Shannon's. For those who are not famliar, she writes about similar Arabic mythology to some West African beliefs inspiring Brown, so the world felt comfortable and not European. However, I started to recognize from my own research the fire temples of the Persian religion, and the apparent mythical history mimicking the Muslim conquest of Persia. There are things about the way she represented the people of different regions which do not feel as respectful as I would like to see, as well. However, those are where I found my criticisms ending. Her writing of adult fantasy finally gave me an example to inspire my own goals and final product. Knowing that she was a Muslim convert, I was skeptical, but found my skepticism vanishing as I finished her first book and began the second. My rapid journey through her triology was met with mixed reactions. I found myself dissatisfied with the ending, particularly the lack of resolution with start crossed and first loves. However, the writing also left me with varied impressions. Wanting to look at these as an example for the standard my writing might attain, there were things that caught me and chafed. Redundancy in sequels needlessly recounting what had previously happened in the character arcs. While the descriptions of food and clothing were initially breathtaking, they felt overdone after so much repitition. I also found myself wishing she was not trying so hard in her creation of this world to fit some mythology or culture she felt like she was representing.
I still was lost slightly as to what she was hoping her relationship to them would be. I found all of the references to pre-Islamic Arabic mythology, strangely mixed with a Muslim world, where there was too much decorum, too many covered faces and heads of women, too much tiptoing around rumors of "honor," shame about sexual desire, I longed to see the characters freed from. Not sure why her world was contained to a strange mix of these religious values while she explored the "convenience" of the Arabs adopting their own monotheistic religion to sweep across the Middle East because they somehow felt left out of the Jewish and Persian influences of millenia. I found myself very confused by the historical narrative. I have a lot more thougths I will undoubtedly try to unravel and welcome those with a background in some of these areas who wish to convene and parse these out.
That is my wrap up of the month, if you are considering any of these titles, or have differing views you wish to debate, please feel free to leave your perspectives in the comments below. Thank you for visiting.
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