Books: X-Men, the Captain, Prydain, Harpists, and Xeno-Gender

[woodwardiocom]

X-Men: Schism by Aaron, et al

The most recent mutant event from Marvel Comics, this volume is about a falling-out between Wolverine and Cyclops. Those two have often been rivals, and rarely been friends, but this time Cyclops pushes Wolvie a little too hard. Ironically, the core of their dispute has Wolverine on the "nurturing" side and Cyclops on the "militant" side. Writer Aaron makes this believable, playing off Wolverine's lack of a childhood, as contrasted with Cyclop's childhood of training and self-discipline. Pretty good, lots of nice art, recommended.

Captain America: The Captain by Gruenwald, et al

This fat trade paperback collects a year and a half in the life of Steve Rogers. In the first issue, he is informed by a "Commission" acting under the president that, as his name, uniform, and shield are the property of the government, he'll either start acting as their operative, or he's fired. He chooses to walk, and takes up a different costume and name, as "The Captain". His side of the story is interesting, as he muses on the difference between Law and Right. (There's also a notable battle between Iron Man and Cap in here, so this all relates nicely to Marvel's Civil War.) However, the interesting story in here is about the guy they get to replace Rogers: John Walker of Georgia. Walker comes across as a mostly nice guy (though very red-state), with good intentions, and a serious desire to live up to the uniform he inherits. Unfortunately, being Captain America is hard, and by the end of the saga he's visibly unscrewed, to the point where the villains are as scared of him as they would be of, say, Wolverine. Walker is still a part of the Marvel Universe today, and he's still generally regarded as "that screw-up who tries to be Captain America". A solid heroic tragedy (with the usual "comics has no third act" caveat). So, though very 1980s in feel and art, this collection is recommended.

Taran Wanderer and The High King by Lloyd Alexander

This series gets some focus and scope in these volumes as our hapless Taran finally grows up and saves the land. Both parts are believable; his coming-of-age in Wanderer shows him learning trades, making hard choices, and finding allies in a realistic manner. In King his victory is hard, grinding work, and is presented as such (though his tendency to stumble over McGuffins is really hard on the suspenders of disbelief here). The final chapters of King get seriously into Gainax Ending territory, but I can let that slide. A classic series, recommended.

The Riddle-Master of Hed Trilogy, by Patricia A. McKillip

supercheesegirl inspired me to re-read this series recently. It's a post-Tolkien high fantasy, with people walking through the detritus and prophecies of the last war, centuries ago. Our hero is the Prince of Hed, least of the six kingdoms, whose face is marked with three stars that grant him an unknown destiny. He'd rather be a farmer, but as people start trying to kill him, he sets off to ask the High One what's going on. By the end of the series, the entire realm has been re-written and history re-formed in new patterns. I like that the second book of this series focuses on our hero's fiancee instead of the missing protagonist (though she spends most of it, and the next book, just following him around). People seem to get new powers as the plot demands, but I still enjoyed it. Recommended.

Glory Season by David Brin

Okay, here's an interesting book. It's set thousands of years in the future, on a human colony world. The founders of the colony wanted to Solve the Problem of Gender, once and for all. They engineered humans such that: Women go into heat in the winter, and if they get pregnant, the child is a clone of the mother. And: Men go into heat in the summer, and if a woman gets pregnant in summer, the child is a "normal" offspring of both parents. Civilization is divided into the female clans, each mostly composed of clones of the founder, who live in the cities and run things, and trading ships crewed by men, who sail between the cities. Our heroine is a "summer child" (i.e., not a clone), who leaves her clan to find her way in the world, and gets caught up in world-changing adventures. The novel reads a heck of a lot like a Robert Louis Stevenson novel, with pirates, secret caves, mountain fortresses, lots of ocean adventures, daring escapes, etc. It also spends a lot of time musing on the differences between men and women, especially in this segregated society. Those of you interested in gender will find this a good read. Recommended.

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Glory Season had an interesting booby trap, which I don't think Brin spotted:

If you are an older woman, you could have children yourself, who would have either 100% or 50% of your genes; or you could see that your clone daughter/sister had children, who would have either 100% or 50% of your genes. So you could always pass the hard parts of reproduction onto your clones, who would have less experience and fewer social ties to help them resist. You have the potential for massive exploitation there. Brin was so focused on preventing the exploitation of women by men that he totally disregarded the exploitation of the young by the old, which has been at least as prominent a part of human history and in many cases has been a more immediate source of pressure on women (see, for example, the role of older women in West Africa in maintaining their version of female circumcision, or the role of women in foot-binding in China).

I could take exactly the same genetic setup Brin used and write a novel—or more likely an rpg setting—of harsh gerontocratic tyranny. Ever since I spotted that, I've felt that Brin didn't do a good enough job of following Larry Niven's maxim: "Think it through."