PC085, Giant Episode: The Narcomancer

[LaShawn]

Having had a couple of miscarriages myself. I remember going in for tests, things like that, and what came back was--nothing's wrong with you. And believe me, there is nothing frustrating as to hear that. Now, put yourself in a village where your status as a woman is only validated if you can bear children.

The story truly resonated with me. I saw it as a story of healing and redemption in many ways. I especially liked the friendship that grew between Cet and the Sister, and how they helped each other. And even though it ends how it does, the story filled me with hope.

By the way my son will be turning six in May. ;-)

[mbrennan]

I really liked this one, because I will roll over and play dead for stories that present me with a truly interesting setting.  You need decent characters to draw me in (which this one had), but it's the world I really luxuriated in, the ideas about dream-energy and the social role of Gatherers versus Sisters and so on.  I loved that the Sister was male, and I loved the centrality of village politics -- I just about cheered when the "this is a power struggle between these two women" line came up, because the common perception of polygyny (multiple wives) tends to trivialize or completely overlook the dynamics that exist between the wives.

I do think the situation with Namsut's fertility is a problematic one, partly for reasons of theodicy and also partly because of the way it echoes the romance trope of sex with the right person fixing all your other problems.  But I appreciated the way Namsut herself was handled in it -- she was an active agent in the plot, not its passive victim -- and also how Cet navigated through it: his initial resistance, his method of coming to terms with the idea, and then the fact that it didn't leave everything tied up in a neat little "happily ever after" bow, with Cet escaping madness and settling down in the village.

Anyway, I vote for more like this, in the sense of richly-drawn secondary-world fantasy.  I like urban fantasy and slipstreamy stuff well enough, but this is where my heart truly lies, with stories that present a setting and cosmos very much unlike our own.