igenlode: The pirate sloop 'Horizon' from "Treasures of the Indies" (Default)
[personal profile] igenlode
This must have been a fairly early book on the author's part, as it is promoted on the cover as being by "the author of the Darwath Trilogy", and I have a number of her other books but not those... (I have a feeling I may have read them and returned them a long time ago; the character names ring a faint bell.)

"Dragonsbane" is refreshing and unusual in that it features a woman protagonist in a quasi-mediaeval setting who manages to be the central character in the story and save the day (and her menfolk) without stepping outside a 'female' role. Living as she does in the dangerous borderlands, Jenny Waynest is perfectly capable of disarming and killing a bandit using her weapon of choice (a halberd; keeps you well out of range) while riding home in her ordinary homespun skirts, but when it comes to disposing of a dragon it is she who handles the diplomatic and magical aspects while her lover is summoned to court to do the actual fighting.

It's not a consciously 'feminist' novel, but it's very unusual in being a high fantasy featuring a middle-aged woman protagonist operating within the constraints of a 'female' social role without even thinking about it. She isn't liberated, or even consciously oppressed. She simply takes it for granted that she is the witch and she brews the potions and deals with the petty social malices of the court and studies the magic and works out what is really going on, and he is the one who has to go out and hack and slash and be patched up afterwards if it is at all within her skill.

And there's a nice twist at the end where it's actually his mechanical ingenuity that saves her when magic can't do more than hold the opposition to a draw; it's a very equal and affectionate relationship, rather than one that's trying to make a point, and that's necessary because it's vital to her final decision. It has to be credible that she will choose human warmth over the capacity for infinite power, and we have to want her to do it rather than see her as throwing herself away. It's better to be human, and loved, and handicapped, and imperfect, than cold and powerful and impervious.

Date: 2019-05-03 10:39 am (UTC)
watervole: (Default)
From: [personal profile] watervole
That sounds interesting. I may add it to my wish list.

You might like Paladin of Souls - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61904.Paladin_of_Souls - anther book with an older female protagonist who stays within a 'female' role, but still manages to do what has to be done. (It's a favourite of mine)

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igenlode: The pirate sloop 'Horizon' from "Treasures of the Indies" (Default)
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