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kilroyPrint date: 1979 (20s: 1, 50s: 1, 60s: 2, 70s: 7, 80s: 6, 90s: 5, 00s: 12)
I read Dragon's Winter a long time ago (it's still on my shelf; every once in a while I look at it and think I want to re-read it), and I've been meaning to get back to Lynn ever since. She's one of those writers that produces a book every few years; she's been working for 30 years and only has about seven books out. So I haven't missed much, but the catalog is sadly small.
I would guess this one won the World Fantasy Award for two reasons: because it's a solid, readable, character-driven piece of fantasy; and because it has lesbian/bisexual characters in a fantasy setting without anyone making a big deal out of it. The book apparently left some ripples in the community at the time, but I imagine people will read the book in 50 years and totally not understand why it's such a political thing. There are diverse characters and they're uniformly handled as people both by the author and the other characters. Why would you ever do anything else?
Story-wise, it's a two-night book in the Harry Potter sense. You sit down, start reading, look at the clock and realize how late it is, go to bed, and then finish the book as soon as possible the next day. The themes are elemental (loyalty, revenge, love, freedom) and the characters are easy to care about. The plot goes consistently in directions that you don't quite expect, and the writing style is clear and evocative. It's a good book, plain and simple.
I have the advantage of thirty years' perspective on this one. I've read what came after, seen its spiritual successors. I'm halfway to that generation 50 years from now; it's not a revolutionary book to me, just really good. And I believe that's a positive thing, even if my reaction to the work isn't as whizz-bang as it would have been in the 80s.
Verdict: Keep and buy the other two in the series. (21/61 keepers)
Page count: 220 (11967 total)
Completed: 34 (17 female authors, 17 male authors)
Rejected: 27 (15 male authors, 12 female authors)
Next book due: Sun. 11/14
I read Dragon's Winter a long time ago (it's still on my shelf; every once in a while I look at it and think I want to re-read it), and I've been meaning to get back to Lynn ever since. She's one of those writers that produces a book every few years; she's been working for 30 years and only has about seven books out. So I haven't missed much, but the catalog is sadly small.
I would guess this one won the World Fantasy Award for two reasons: because it's a solid, readable, character-driven piece of fantasy; and because it has lesbian/bisexual characters in a fantasy setting without anyone making a big deal out of it. The book apparently left some ripples in the community at the time, but I imagine people will read the book in 50 years and totally not understand why it's such a political thing. There are diverse characters and they're uniformly handled as people both by the author and the other characters. Why would you ever do anything else?
Story-wise, it's a two-night book in the Harry Potter sense. You sit down, start reading, look at the clock and realize how late it is, go to bed, and then finish the book as soon as possible the next day. The themes are elemental (loyalty, revenge, love, freedom) and the characters are easy to care about. The plot goes consistently in directions that you don't quite expect, and the writing style is clear and evocative. It's a good book, plain and simple.
I have the advantage of thirty years' perspective on this one. I've read what came after, seen its spiritual successors. I'm halfway to that generation 50 years from now; it's not a revolutionary book to me, just really good. And I believe that's a positive thing, even if my reaction to the work isn't as whizz-bang as it would have been in the 80s.
Verdict: Keep and buy the other two in the series. (21/61 keepers)
Page count: 220 (11967 total)
Completed: 34 (17 female authors, 17 male authors)
Rejected: 27 (15 male authors, 12 female authors)
Next book due: Sun. 11/14