Beyond Reality discussion

Here's a general topic for people who have finished reading Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear.

Warning: Spoilers likely!

So, anybody finished reading this ?

To be honest I was expecting something better or at least different. I had never read anything by Bear before so I didn't know how she writes. At the end, I thought this book was a let-down. I have several complaints which I analyse more in my review here but in short I felt that the characters were seriously underdeveloped (with maybe the notable expection of Samarkar) and the plot was rather pedestrian. Maybe I've been spoiled lately from more recent and modern fantasy but this felt very old-school or traditional in many ways. This might not be bad per-se but it doesn't cut it for me any more. I also felt that when she went into description-mode then she really overdid it and I found myself skipping sentences now and then, which is something I almost never ever do.

World-building is top-notch though, the atmosphere is rich and realistic, the writing is polished and it's enjoyable to read so it's not all bad.

As I mentioned before, you can read my review for more detailed thoughts and impressions.

What about you? What did you think?

I really liked it a lot. As you say, the writing and world building were excellent.
Yes, Temur was a little undeveloped, but he was so young..like 18? SO I didn't see that as a problem. I really liked the strength of the female characters here.
I will definitely read Shattered Pillars soon.

I finished it this morning and found it about the same as you other guys. I liked the writing and even liked some of the characters. Not enough to continue however. There is a lot about the whole premise that I found tired. I mean, really? Women have to give up their female 'parts' to find creativity? Give me a break. That nearly shut it down for me, but I continued. The chase scene was exciting, the cultures interesting at times, but...

I enjoyed it, but it took awhile. Bansh is my favorite, which says something about the characters and whether they engaged me. Personalities are generally sketchy in my opinion throughout the book, with Samarkar the strongest candidate for heroine, and I think most of the women generally show more cause for us readers to have sympathy. I'm sure Temur is supposed to be in our hearts, but his position as possible hero depends on whether he'd be better as a leader of his people, or if he was really hurting from his losses and not simply confused and directionless, which isn't clear. The politics of his position are woefully incomplete, both in his own mind and in the author's scheme of things, to me. Also, when he spoke his Blood Oath, it seemed to me a muddily described act of what should have been a huge dramatic magical moment, instead it was more like a rehearsed gag which falls flat when performing it in front of a live audience, which kinda seemed emblematic of his supposed reason to be on this quest at all. He isn't really a charismatic, deep feeling guy, he's more like the baby of a family of four kids. Maybe he's supposed to win us over with the injustice of his family branch being usurped or his bravery, which is impressive. But he seemed more like Owen Williams while Samarkar played the Jackie Chan part in Shanghai Noon, the movie. Oh well. Bansh seems to REALLY like him, so maybe he'll grow out of his shallow nerd act. Also, it was like Al-Sepehr was generally hunting down all of his competitors, until the end when suddenly he was going after Temur as the number one son on his hit list. What made Temur jump to the top of his dead meat list?

I didn't realize Al-Sepehr was to be THE evil bastard for quite awhile, because I'm used to everybody being a dubious character skating by on sword and sorcery positioning for power until backstories are revealed in these soap opera trilogies, but he was so flat in his supposed ambition! Edene appears to be important, but the Rukh had more of my sympathy as a hostage. Temer's interest in Edene seems more about an undefined sense of honorable following up, by the way, to me.

Elizabeth Bear has written a good book, and I think it's best strength is her poetic writing style. However, I think that is the book's problem, too: it is not amplifying the usual themes which means it's hard to engage; where is the passion, outrage, horror, thunder and lightening? The city which is decimated by dead spirits was the only scene where the book woke up from it's somewhat dreamy narration. I feel there is a lot of soft fog being pumped out by fog machines flowing gently throughout her language, beautiful to read and hauntingly lyrical - but possibly too much haunting and dripping mist, not enough muscle and sweat. Everybody is like an image of a ghost, the living and the dead.

Whatever. It has captured my attention and curiosity - admittedly because I'm in love with Bansh. I'm feeling put out because the trilogy isn't finished; only book one and two are currently available.

Well, I enjoyed this book immensely! Much more than The Summer Tree, which I read concurrently (for this group's other current fantasy read-along.) No elves and orcs here; no fallen god bent on domination/destruction; no lily-white damsels in distress. This felt fresh and new and terribly exciting by contrast. And the prose--! Bear had me at that first paragraph, the burning city "a broad smudge fading into blue twilight". Damn, but she can write.

And oh, do I ever love Samarkar. And the world Bear has created for her, in which a voluntarily childless woman is neither to be pitied nor demonized, but instead celebrated and empowered? With actual power, even--not just the metaphorical, feel-good kind?! More of this, please, and on the double!

That said, I wasn't happy about her falling into bed with Temur. It seemed rather disloyal of him, after all he's been through on Edene's behalf. And their platonic partnership was so unusual and interesting! I was sorry to see the story veer back onto the road more taken, as it were. (Although Edene's not exactly pining for Temur, is she? She's doing just fine on her own, with her pet scorpions to keep her company, and delusions of grandeur.)

p.s. BANSH!!! I should probably give this book a fifth star just for her.

This is one of my favorite fantasy novels of the past decade. I think Bear's writing and world-building are fantastic, and I greatly that she set her fantasy outside the usual medieval European setting.

I wrote more extensive thoughts in a review last year.