Interlude - There Was Only Sadness

A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle #1) by Ursula K. LeGuin

I am so effing disappointed in this book. I was all ready to read the whole series, finally. Similar to the Broken Sky series, this is one of those stories that eluded me throughout my young life - and now, finally, I was ready to settle in for the long haul.

Unlike Broken Sky, this book left only sadness in its wake. It's just plain boring, and reads more like an outline of a story. There's no actual plot, no character development, and no world building. The reader gets a high-level sort of skim of the story, being told what happens as opposed to being immersed. Pages and pages go by without a single word of dialogue, and every time Le Guin opens a scene and we lean back, get ready to join the characters in whatever situation they currently find themselves - oh, nope, we get a hazy outline and then it's on to the next scene, or even year. Preeeetty basic writer do-nots, if you ask me.

Convinced I was missing something, or that the books would improve throughout the season, I turned to the online reviews. But the majority seem to love it! Everyone (mostly) raves about the writing, and how the story is more about the internal choices and growth. Fine, but a reader still needs something - character development at the very least! All I could think during the pages I managed to slog through was how Rothfuss tells a similar story, but soooooo much more effectively. Instead of telling us about how the protag is going to be a great mage, Rothfuss actually does the work and builds the myth of his hero, and the reader is at the unique intersection of the character's point of view and the growing legend around him.

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

That's it! I cannot do it anymore.

The lack of any representation besides white men is a serious problem. The writing and the story kept me going for a while, and then when we finally got a woman's perspective I was so so excited! Except...then we're in her cis white male chauffeur's head, and then in Roland and Eddie's heads. Additionally, this woman (Detta/Odetta) is being called the n-bomb by the men all around her who are telling her tale. Oh hey, we're back in her mind - but she's "pressing" on her "cut", and then we're back in a man's head. *eye roll*

Odetta's part, the second of the drawn three, just makes me too uncomfortable and is too gross and substanceless that I'm just done. I read some reviews in the hopes that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel, but mostly everyone says that King writes male characters and not many female ones, and even when does like in book 7 of this series, apparently the story includes men deliberating about what to do about a woman's pregnancy.

Nope! Don't have time for this shit. King is a white male author, so I get it, write what you know, but for how creative and imaginative he's supposed to be, I'm disappointed that he couldn't try his hand at some female characters that aren't based around motherness or sex.

BYEEE