On Sharon Shinn
I went to the library to try a few Sharon Shinn novels. I’ve generally avoided SF/F with the exception of Mercedes Lackey because a lot of it looks just plain weird and some of it is just plain weird. The only reason why I would be in that section of the bookstore would be to pick up new releases from Banks, Briggs, Harris and Harrison. But at Sherry’s instigation, and the positive reviews I’ve read from trusted sources, I decided to give her a try. I first tried Archangel, the opening book in her Samaria series. I’m not aware of her religious background, but I found Shinn’s use of the Judeo-Christian mythology in the context of a science fiction novel exhilarating. I devoured the book and immediately returned to the library to borrow more. What followed: Heart of Gold, Wrapt in Crystal and Summers at Castle Auburn. I consumed them more rapaciously than the first.
Shinn’s style is simple, easy to read, yet is filled with so much complexity it astounds me. She makes writing look so easy, but I am not deceived into assuming that the less colorful and expressive someone’s writing is, the easier it is for them. Another highlight is her characterization. From the protagonists, to the secondary characters and the antagonists, Shinn fleshes them out and they all connect and flow with one another and are deftly used to peel back layers of both the protagonists and the world she creates in each novel. However, her romance sub-plots are lacking. I’ve found myself finishing the book in slightly dull spirits with the abrupt endings she gives. Up to a point, the h/h’s relationship grows and morphs into something I could see become love, but towards the end, it feels as though a few chapters are missing, and suddenly, the last chapter or so find the h/h declaring their love. The only novel so far that has concluded the romantic angle satisfactory was Wrapt in Crystal. It was nearly enough to knock the three other books down from an A to a B, but I didn’t since 99% of the book engrossed my attention. I won’t bother to give detailed reviews to all of the novels since more than likely, there are a slew of them out there from both non-romance readers and romance readers alike. If you’d like to try them based on my recommendation, feel free and tell me if you’ve enjoyed them as much as I have.
In hindsight, I do find myself, despite enjoying the four books, with niggling little pieces that trouble me. Shinn tackles the subjects of race, religion, politics, gender roles, sexuality and even international affairs in her novels, but in the end, I’ve found them to be told from the viewpoint of a person in the majority. While Shinn is a woman, and a woman writing the male-dominated field of science-fiction, she is still a white woman.
The issues of race are foremost in importance in her novels, but there is a lack of true racial discusssion, particularly because in all four books, the heroines have followed the same pattern: a woman of a high caste raised as a lower caste member of society due to circumstances. We find this in Archangel, where the fated wife of Archangel-to-be, Gabriel, is an Edori slave. Rachel is a slave when we first meet her, but she is still, basically, a young “white” woman. After re-reading the novel, I found myself highly disappointed and wondering: what if Rachel had truly been a Edori slave? It is found again in Heart of Gold, wherein the indigo peoples are the highest caste (with gradations of blue tint, those with the darkest color of blue being the elite of the indigo race). The heroine, Kitrini, was raised among the Gulden, the lowest caste. But, not only is Kitrini an indigo, but she is of the elite section of the caste. In both books, the heroine ends up with the high caste hero, who, granted, does have a heart for the lower castes. But still, it reinforces (to me at least), that even though a person can have compassion for and can forge lasting, respectful bonds with those outside of their race, it’s still better to marry someone of your own sect. And so on and so on with the other two books I read.
Go figure.
In a way, Shinn’s novels remind me of the “Cinderella” factor: a white woman (or sometimes a white man) can have any sort of background, and if they are attractive, are educated and speak well, can be lifted to the highest levels.
A glaring example would have to be The Nanny Diaries, starring Scarlett Johannsen. The character Annie, in a voice-over, even states her appeal to the Upper East Side families trolling for nannies was the fact that she was white. Annie herself was, despite being raised by a single mother in New Jersey, was white, attractive and college-educated, and because of it, was an acceptable person to be swept off her feet by the wealthy, handsome “Harvard Hottie”. Alicia Keys played Annie’s best friend Lynette, and I really wondered how the story would have gone had “Annie” been played by Alicia–or any other black actress.
Glancing through threads from WisCon and other bloggers posting about race and the sf/f genre from last spring, I find it ironic that race relations is a concept very much used in sf/f novels, yet the genre is overwhelmingly populated by white authors and white readers who, as seen online, grew offended when its non-white readers and writers questioned such subjects as the exclusion of their voices, or cultural appropriation outside of the “safe” world of fiction.
Of course I’m not adverse to anyone discussing and dissecting race–whether in real life or in fiction–but I find it interesting that Shinn has created this pattern in her novels that in the end, only explore race from the viewpoint of someone who has not lived their life as a racial minority.
8 comments January 16, 2008
