Shadow and Bone - Deconstruction - Ch2-3
Jan. 26th, 2014 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkThis time on Shadow and Bone, stuff happens.
Chapter Two
Last time on Shadow and Bone, we were introduced to our whiny, insecure heroine and her jerkass player love interest.
The skiffs were loaded with grain, timber, and raw cotton, but on the trip back they would be stocked with sugar, rifles, and all manner of finished goods that passed through the seaports of West Ravka.
So here’s our first look at the economy of this world. The trade balance here implies that East Ravka is incapable of making its own finished goods or rifles…which seems kind of nonsensical. If the skiffs get attacked all the time, they’d probably lose most of their cargo, making the crossing of the Fold an economically suicidal mission. East Ravka should just develop its own industries. (It’s even geographically bigger than West Ravka.)
A row of archers stood behind them, the quivers on their backs bristling with arrows tipped in Grisha steel.
We have soldiers with rifles and also archers at the same time? Early rifles in real life had the disadvantages of taking a long time to reload, not always reliable accuracy, and needing periodic cleaning to prevent the powder from fouling up the barrel and messing up the next shot, but we’re given no indication this is the case here. Is “Greg steel” special, and is that why we need these archers? Why couldn’t they make “Greg bullets”?
I fingered the hilt of the army-issue knife tucked into my belt. It didn’t give me much confidence.
Why doesn’t she have a gun, then? A knife is a laughable weapon against monsters compared to guns, and presumably the army has an interest in keeping their soldiers alive. Right now it seems like they don’t care whether she lives or dies.
Darkness fell around us, black, weightless, and absolute.
…Remember the archers and riflemen mentioned earlier? If the Fold is completely dark, there’s no point in having archers, because they can’t see what they’re aiming at. Riflemen just have to pull a trigger, though they’d probably also be in danger of killing people via friendly fire. I’m assuming they can’t light a fire or have some sort of beacon because that would attract monsters’ attention, which makes archers and riflemen completely useless. You have to see before you can fire a shot.
It sounds like it’s impossible to have a fighting chance against monsters in the Fold, which begs the question of why people keep crossing.
Volcra were supposed to move in small flocks, but there they were...not tens but hundreds, hovering and swooping in the air around the skiff.
Which only continues to beg the question of what idiots these people would have to be to cross this Fold.
Alexei dies, which feels like cheap emotional payoff at this point. Of all the male characters introduced so far, the only decent one gets killed off ASAP.
When Mal gets hurt, Alina releases some sort of special power, which…was convenient.
Chapter Three
Alina wakes up, and one of her first thoughts is about Mal. You know, I’m not against romance, and I’m all for deep friendships/relationships. But the trend so far makes it seem like she’s obsessed with him, whereas we’ve been given little indication that he cares about her as much.
For a moment, all my fear disappeared, eclipsed by the beauty that surrounded me. The tent’s inner walls were draped with cascades of bronze silk that caught the glimmering candlelight from chandeliers sparkling high above. The floors were covered in rich rugs and furs. Along the walls, shimmering silken partitions separated compartments where Grisha clustered in their vibrant kefta. Some stood talking, others lounged on cushions drinking tea. Two were bent over a game of chess. From somewhere, I heard the strings of a balalaika being plucked.
Notice the mention of the word “beauty” in connection to the Gregs again.
“Cascades” of silk? Assuming that silk is a luxury good (I don’t have the impression that Ravka produces silk itself), how are the Gregs so wealthy and why do they have so much silk? Do they make ridiculous amounts of money from being mages, or what? And where is all this money coming from if East Ravka is supposedly bankrupted because of the Fold?
This Darkling had been commanding the Grisha since before I was born, but the man seated above me on the dais didn’t look much older than I did. He had a sharp, beautiful face, a shock of thick black hair, and clear gray eyes that glimmered like quartz.
I didn’t mention this earlier, but “Darkling” is an incredibly stupid name. I’d be really depressed if everyone called me “Darkling” all the time. I initially thought it was just a title (it’s still horrifically cheesy for a title), but the Darkling is never referred to by any other name.
Also, again we get a description of how “beautiful” this Greg is. Bleh.
My cheeks burned as I imagined what I must look like in a torn, shabby coat, after a journey into the Shadow Fold and a battle with a flock of hungry volcra. But I lifted my chin and looked the beautiful girl right in the eye.
Yet more focus on Alina’s appearance. Because you were supposed to survive being attacked by Lovecraftian monsters and still have perfect hair and clothes, didn’t you get the memo? Also, here’s a stereotype we often see these days: the pretty girl who is obviously evil because she’s so pretty, while the plain heroine is superior. Feminism!
The beautiful girl in blue smirked and leaned over to whisper to her friend. I clenched my jaw. How nice to know that the Grisha could still maintain their snobbery in the midst of hearing about a volcra attack.
This is middle school BS.
Even if Girl In Blue doesn’t care squat about Alina because they don’t know each other, no sane person would be snarking at someone who just survived being attacked by Lovecraftian monsters simply because she’s not beautiful or whatever.
The cartographer (Alina’s boss) tries to tell what happened.
“And where were you?” I asked angrily. The question was out of my mouth before I could think better of it. Every face turned to look at me, but I didn’t care. “You saw the volcra attack us. You saw that thing take Alexei. Why didn’t you help?”
“There was nothing I could do,” he pleaded, his hands spread wide. “They were everywhere. It was chaos!”
“Alexei might still be alive if you’d gotten off your bony ass to help us!”
I think this is supposed to make Alina seem sassy and headstrong, but it comes off as misplaced. There really was nothing the cartographer could have done except shoot the volcra, if he had a gun (which seems unlikely, because neither Alina nor Alexei had one)—there seemed to be nothing any of them could have done against the ridiculously overpowered Fold monsters.
Obviously, the pretty girl in blue is the one who says it’s absurd that Alina could’ve caused the light. I’m really tired of the idea that all girls in YA fiction are in competition with each other and/or hate each other.
“Now, what do you say, Alina Starkov?” he asked pleasantly.
I can’t help wondering whether the Darkling turns out to be evil, since darkness usually = evil in fantasy. Then again, at the moment he seems pleasant enough (aside from a story Alina mentions about him starving a man to death via magic), and I’d love for the light/dark clichés to be overturned. Not that this book has given me a lot of confidence so far in handling plot twists and fantasy elements.
He more or less forces Alina to demonstrate her power, because what’s important is not what she wants, it’s whether she has the uber special magical power.
“I guess you only look like a mouse,”
Because clearly a girl’s appearance tells everything about what type of person she is. Also, here’s another person telling Alina she’s ugly, if in a more euphemistic way.
“There’s been some kind of mistake. I don’t...I’m not…” My voice trailed off as the Darkling turned slowly to me, his slate eyes drifting to where my hand gripped his sleeve. I let go, but I wasn’t giving up that easily. “I’m not what you think I am,” I whispered desperately.
Our “strong” heroine right here, ladies and gentlemen.
Chapter Two
Last time on Shadow and Bone, we were introduced to our whiny, insecure heroine and her jerkass player love interest.
The skiffs were loaded with grain, timber, and raw cotton, but on the trip back they would be stocked with sugar, rifles, and all manner of finished goods that passed through the seaports of West Ravka.
So here’s our first look at the economy of this world. The trade balance here implies that East Ravka is incapable of making its own finished goods or rifles…which seems kind of nonsensical. If the skiffs get attacked all the time, they’d probably lose most of their cargo, making the crossing of the Fold an economically suicidal mission. East Ravka should just develop its own industries. (It’s even geographically bigger than West Ravka.)
A row of archers stood behind them, the quivers on their backs bristling with arrows tipped in Grisha steel.
We have soldiers with rifles and also archers at the same time? Early rifles in real life had the disadvantages of taking a long time to reload, not always reliable accuracy, and needing periodic cleaning to prevent the powder from fouling up the barrel and messing up the next shot, but we’re given no indication this is the case here. Is “Greg steel” special, and is that why we need these archers? Why couldn’t they make “Greg bullets”?
I fingered the hilt of the army-issue knife tucked into my belt. It didn’t give me much confidence.
Why doesn’t she have a gun, then? A knife is a laughable weapon against monsters compared to guns, and presumably the army has an interest in keeping their soldiers alive. Right now it seems like they don’t care whether she lives or dies.
Darkness fell around us, black, weightless, and absolute.
…Remember the archers and riflemen mentioned earlier? If the Fold is completely dark, there’s no point in having archers, because they can’t see what they’re aiming at. Riflemen just have to pull a trigger, though they’d probably also be in danger of killing people via friendly fire. I’m assuming they can’t light a fire or have some sort of beacon because that would attract monsters’ attention, which makes archers and riflemen completely useless. You have to see before you can fire a shot.
It sounds like it’s impossible to have a fighting chance against monsters in the Fold, which begs the question of why people keep crossing.
Volcra were supposed to move in small flocks, but there they were...not tens but hundreds, hovering and swooping in the air around the skiff.
Which only continues to beg the question of what idiots these people would have to be to cross this Fold.
Alexei dies, which feels like cheap emotional payoff at this point. Of all the male characters introduced so far, the only decent one gets killed off ASAP.
When Mal gets hurt, Alina releases some sort of special power, which…was convenient.
Chapter Three
Alina wakes up, and one of her first thoughts is about Mal. You know, I’m not against romance, and I’m all for deep friendships/relationships. But the trend so far makes it seem like she’s obsessed with him, whereas we’ve been given little indication that he cares about her as much.
For a moment, all my fear disappeared, eclipsed by the beauty that surrounded me. The tent’s inner walls were draped with cascades of bronze silk that caught the glimmering candlelight from chandeliers sparkling high above. The floors were covered in rich rugs and furs. Along the walls, shimmering silken partitions separated compartments where Grisha clustered in their vibrant kefta. Some stood talking, others lounged on cushions drinking tea. Two were bent over a game of chess. From somewhere, I heard the strings of a balalaika being plucked.
Notice the mention of the word “beauty” in connection to the Gregs again.
“Cascades” of silk? Assuming that silk is a luxury good (I don’t have the impression that Ravka produces silk itself), how are the Gregs so wealthy and why do they have so much silk? Do they make ridiculous amounts of money from being mages, or what? And where is all this money coming from if East Ravka is supposedly bankrupted because of the Fold?
This Darkling had been commanding the Grisha since before I was born, but the man seated above me on the dais didn’t look much older than I did. He had a sharp, beautiful face, a shock of thick black hair, and clear gray eyes that glimmered like quartz.
I didn’t mention this earlier, but “Darkling” is an incredibly stupid name. I’d be really depressed if everyone called me “Darkling” all the time. I initially thought it was just a title (it’s still horrifically cheesy for a title), but the Darkling is never referred to by any other name.
Also, again we get a description of how “beautiful” this Greg is. Bleh.
My cheeks burned as I imagined what I must look like in a torn, shabby coat, after a journey into the Shadow Fold and a battle with a flock of hungry volcra. But I lifted my chin and looked the beautiful girl right in the eye.
Yet more focus on Alina’s appearance. Because you were supposed to survive being attacked by Lovecraftian monsters and still have perfect hair and clothes, didn’t you get the memo? Also, here’s a stereotype we often see these days: the pretty girl who is obviously evil because she’s so pretty, while the plain heroine is superior. Feminism!
The beautiful girl in blue smirked and leaned over to whisper to her friend. I clenched my jaw. How nice to know that the Grisha could still maintain their snobbery in the midst of hearing about a volcra attack.
This is middle school BS.
Even if Girl In Blue doesn’t care squat about Alina because they don’t know each other, no sane person would be snarking at someone who just survived being attacked by Lovecraftian monsters simply because she’s not beautiful or whatever.
The cartographer (Alina’s boss) tries to tell what happened.
“And where were you?” I asked angrily. The question was out of my mouth before I could think better of it. Every face turned to look at me, but I didn’t care. “You saw the volcra attack us. You saw that thing take Alexei. Why didn’t you help?”
“There was nothing I could do,” he pleaded, his hands spread wide. “They were everywhere. It was chaos!”
“Alexei might still be alive if you’d gotten off your bony ass to help us!”
I think this is supposed to make Alina seem sassy and headstrong, but it comes off as misplaced. There really was nothing the cartographer could have done except shoot the volcra, if he had a gun (which seems unlikely, because neither Alina nor Alexei had one)—there seemed to be nothing any of them could have done against the ridiculously overpowered Fold monsters.
Obviously, the pretty girl in blue is the one who says it’s absurd that Alina could’ve caused the light. I’m really tired of the idea that all girls in YA fiction are in competition with each other and/or hate each other.
“Now, what do you say, Alina Starkov?” he asked pleasantly.
I can’t help wondering whether the Darkling turns out to be evil, since darkness usually = evil in fantasy. Then again, at the moment he seems pleasant enough (aside from a story Alina mentions about him starving a man to death via magic), and I’d love for the light/dark clichés to be overturned. Not that this book has given me a lot of confidence so far in handling plot twists and fantasy elements.
He more or less forces Alina to demonstrate her power, because what’s important is not what she wants, it’s whether she has the uber special magical power.
“I guess you only look like a mouse,”
Because clearly a girl’s appearance tells everything about what type of person she is. Also, here’s another person telling Alina she’s ugly, if in a more euphemistic way.
“There’s been some kind of mistake. I don’t...I’m not…” My voice trailed off as the Darkling turned slowly to me, his slate eyes drifting to where my hand gripped his sleeve. I let go, but I wasn’t giving up that easily. “I’m not what you think I am,” I whispered desperately.
Our “strong” heroine right here, ladies and gentlemen.
