A Sudden Wild Magic
3 journalers for this copy...
This book still heads the list of my favourites. This is a spare copy that I bought to give to some (unspecified) deserving reader, or possibly trade it. Or even send it on a book ray...
On its way to harmaja
I received A Sudden Wild Magic today, along with a nice postcard. Many thanks! I'm especially honoured to receive PBD11's favourite book! I hope I'll like it, too - it'll be a shame if I don't.
I've just finished reading A Sudden Wild Magic. I'm very sorry for taking so long to read it! I truly am! When I first started bookcrossing, I was a bit too excited to participate in RABCK's and the like, and got a load of books at once! (Later I learned this often happens with the newbies...) I've been doing my best to read the books I've been given and pass them on, but sometimes I've taken quite a long time to do so. Again, I apologize!
Well, I was very happy to have a chance to read this sci-fi / fantasy adventure story! It was a bit different from what expected, since I've only read Charmed Life before (from Diana Wynne Jones) and that one was directed at a decidedly younger audience.
In the beginning I thought there was going to be a lot of sex in A Sudden Wild Magic, but actually there was none, all the sex parts were sort of skimmed over. Instead there was lots of soppy romance bits. I was a bit disappointed because of that! Not that I'm a sex maniac or anything, and reading about sex usually only makes me bored. It was just this feeling I got in the beginning of the book, the style felt so very "adult" first, and then it was a strange sort of a let-down to realize the book was far "nicer" that I thought in the beginning.
I guess I need to explain a little about this, since the paragraph above seems so weird all by itself. It's just that I've been reading some extremely sexist and conservative sci-fi books lately, where women are portrayed as wifes and mothers only, and I sort of thought that A Sudden Wild Magic was going to be more liberal somehow. And it was, I don't deny that, but still there was quite a bit of gender stereotyping thrown in.
The sex thing had to do with the fact that the woman troops were sent into the citadel Arth to have sex with the men, and thereby disturb the precarious balance of powers in that celibate community. Instead of just getting down to business, the women all got very dreamy-eyed and romantic and started actually falling in love with the mages they were supposed to throw off power. I just thought it was such a stereotyped way to look at women: they can't "use" their sexuality, not even to save their own entire universe (!), unless they're romantically in love. I also found the romance of Zillah and Mark a bit syrupy, and I wished it hadn't been so very central to the whole story.
Some gender stereotypes are at play in the universe of Arth and Pentarchy as well. The male mages are leading a celibate, unhappy life and training other males in an army-like fashion. Their home citadel has no creativity, only bland food and joyless atmosphere, and is generally devoid of the warm female touch. When the women from Earth arrive, they bring that female touch by cooking better food, teaching the men to dance, and by generally caring and sharing and being motherly over the men (instead of just having the wild sex they were supposed to). Doesn't that sound stereotyped, or what?
At the same time the women mages down at the Pentarchy are depicted as a decidedly worse bunch that the male ones up on Arth. We don't actually learn much about what the women mages do, but they seem to be cold an uncaring bitches who dress too well and wear too much make-up and perfume. In the end of the book the male mages are set to right and they reform their world, but the readers don't ever get to know if the female ones stay cold, uncaring bitches. Some more gender stereotyping there, hmm?
Now that I've had my say about this gender bias, I can concentrate on what I liked about A Sudden Wild Magic. I like the way Diana Wynne Jones writes, clearly and beautifully, and she can be funny and serious at the same time. Sometimes the text has a definite Terry Pratchett'ish feel to it, especially the part where Gladys and the High Head unwillingly start their cooperation. (They remind me of Granny Weatherwax and the Archchancellor of the Unseen University in the Discworld novel Equal Rites. I'll bet Diana Wynne Jones has read the book!)
All in all, A Sudden Wild magic was a nice read, and a lot better that the chauvinistic sci-fi books I've been reading lately. It didn't turn out to be my all-time favourite sci-fi novel, but very much worth the acquintance! I'm so happy that I got the book from PDB11 - thanks again!
I'm thinking about setting the book free in my favourite sci-fi and fantasy releasing event: that is, at the national sci-fi convention called Finncon. The next one is going to be only next summer, so I'll have to wait a bit. I think it will be worth the wait, though, because I usually get really nice catches from that event and the bookcrossing books released there are picked up at a great speed! So, unless I figure out something better, I'm releasing this book at the next Finncon!
Well, I was very happy to have a chance to read this sci-fi / fantasy adventure story! It was a bit different from what expected, since I've only read Charmed Life before (from Diana Wynne Jones) and that one was directed at a decidedly younger audience.
In the beginning I thought there was going to be a lot of sex in A Sudden Wild Magic, but actually there was none, all the sex parts were sort of skimmed over. Instead there was lots of soppy romance bits. I was a bit disappointed because of that! Not that I'm a sex maniac or anything, and reading about sex usually only makes me bored. It was just this feeling I got in the beginning of the book, the style felt so very "adult" first, and then it was a strange sort of a let-down to realize the book was far "nicer" that I thought in the beginning.
I guess I need to explain a little about this, since the paragraph above seems so weird all by itself. It's just that I've been reading some extremely sexist and conservative sci-fi books lately, where women are portrayed as wifes and mothers only, and I sort of thought that A Sudden Wild Magic was going to be more liberal somehow. And it was, I don't deny that, but still there was quite a bit of gender stereotyping thrown in.
The sex thing had to do with the fact that the woman troops were sent into the citadel Arth to have sex with the men, and thereby disturb the precarious balance of powers in that celibate community. Instead of just getting down to business, the women all got very dreamy-eyed and romantic and started actually falling in love with the mages they were supposed to throw off power. I just thought it was such a stereotyped way to look at women: they can't "use" their sexuality, not even to save their own entire universe (!), unless they're romantically in love. I also found the romance of Zillah and Mark a bit syrupy, and I wished it hadn't been so very central to the whole story.
Some gender stereotypes are at play in the universe of Arth and Pentarchy as well. The male mages are leading a celibate, unhappy life and training other males in an army-like fashion. Their home citadel has no creativity, only bland food and joyless atmosphere, and is generally devoid of the warm female touch. When the women from Earth arrive, they bring that female touch by cooking better food, teaching the men to dance, and by generally caring and sharing and being motherly over the men (instead of just having the wild sex they were supposed to). Doesn't that sound stereotyped, or what?
At the same time the women mages down at the Pentarchy are depicted as a decidedly worse bunch that the male ones up on Arth. We don't actually learn much about what the women mages do, but they seem to be cold an uncaring bitches who dress too well and wear too much make-up and perfume. In the end of the book the male mages are set to right and they reform their world, but the readers don't ever get to know if the female ones stay cold, uncaring bitches. Some more gender stereotyping there, hmm?
Now that I've had my say about this gender bias, I can concentrate on what I liked about A Sudden Wild Magic. I like the way Diana Wynne Jones writes, clearly and beautifully, and she can be funny and serious at the same time. Sometimes the text has a definite Terry Pratchett'ish feel to it, especially the part where Gladys and the High Head unwillingly start their cooperation. (They remind me of Granny Weatherwax and the Archchancellor of the Unseen University in the Discworld novel Equal Rites. I'll bet Diana Wynne Jones has read the book!)
All in all, A Sudden Wild magic was a nice read, and a lot better that the chauvinistic sci-fi books I've been reading lately. It didn't turn out to be my all-time favourite sci-fi novel, but very much worth the acquintance! I'm so happy that I got the book from PDB11 - thanks again!
I'm thinking about setting the book free in my favourite sci-fi and fantasy releasing event: that is, at the national sci-fi convention called Finncon. The next one is going to be only next summer, so I'll have to wait a bit. I think it will be worth the wait, though, because I usually get really nice catches from that event and the bookcrossing books released there are picked up at a great speed! So, unless I figure out something better, I'm releasing this book at the next Finncon!
I did figure out a faster release method: I gave this book to a non-bookcrossing sci-fi enthusiast. Or a pair of them, actually. They'll fight over who gets to read the book first. Perhaps they'll even write a journal entry!
A Sudden Wild Magic is now book #9 in my "2007 Keep Them Moving" challenge, started by Guinaveve.
A Sudden Wild Magic is now book #9 in my "2007 Keep Them Moving" challenge, started by Guinaveve.
I haven't yet have time to read the book, so I think it will stay in my book shelf for some time until I have a chance to read it.
