/lit/ - Literature

Raven Stratagem, The Machineries of Empire #2 - Yoon Ha Lee (2017)

I've rarely seen a more severe case of middle book syndrome than what I read here. It wouldn't have been a problem that 90% of the book was for the last 10% if that 90% didn't feel like padding. The pacing was awkward relative to how much it wanted to cover. This is strange to say, but I felt like the narrative was grinding out conversations and mentioned accomplishments to develop the characters so that their actions seemed plausible. Considering how wobbly the characterizations seemed to be, I think it only made moderate progression towards that goal.

Unlike the first book, nothing won me over this time, which always makes me wonder about my previous rating. The space battles were greatly reduced and not much else of interest was introduced. In their place were many conversations, backstories, and similar. This wasn't so much a quantitative problem as it was a qualitative one. I previously stated this wasn't science fantasy — I was wrong, it was. There was far too much in this one to where saying otherwise couldn't plausibly be defended.

What this book definitely had though was sexual representation. There were arguably three transmen and a host of other LGBTQIA characters and relationships. The typical family situation was unclear, but it seemed to involve marriage contracts, more than two parents, and artificial births. Also, there was sibling incest, which the parents found to be amusing. So despite how terrible everything else may be, at least their society has achieved equality for the identities that matter in our current society, even though they've also created several new identities that are even more discriminated against. I'm at a loss as to how intentional this was.

The ending was far too convenient and neat. I don't know what it was intended to be on a meta or symbolic level. Maybe I'll better understand after the third book. As it stands though, I didn't enjoy it. I don't know what the book is trying to say and that's a severe problem. Perhaps the fault was my own, or there's less to it than I think, or it's just as confused as I believe it to be, but regardless, it has greatly impacted my enjoyment.

I've written a lot about negatives, but collectively they aren't enough for me to dislike the book. I expected improvements and a better second book that would be good, but instead I'm left with a worse book that's only decent. I tend to write about whatever has been most salient for me, so this has mostly been me addressing my disappointments. Sometimes that ends up with entirely unbalanced write-ups that don't seem congruent with the rating and I'm okay with that.

Rating: 3/5