Stunningly Miserable

Stunningly Miserable Volume 2 By Brooks - FictionDB. Cover art, synopsis, sequels, reviews, awards, publishing history, genres, and time period.
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Even then, Polgara spends a good portion of her childhood trying to be ugly. She never combs her hair, bathes, or changes clothes unless forced. The master changed that, however. Polgara compares herself to Beldaran and finds herself wanting. Only when Beldaran and Riva fall in love does Polgara clean herself up. The precedent of comparing women to other women based on looks and pitting them against each other continues. At Riva, Polgara joins the other young courtiers and sets about breaking hearts.

She captures the attention of all the young men based on her looks. It might have been my imagination, but after they left I seemed to hear a gnawing sound — a sound that was remarkably like the sound of someone eating her own liver. She enjoys the pain she causes other women because of her conquests. The wedding planning devolves into one-upmanship between the two.

Women can compete against each other, yes, and they frequently do. The fact that only the sparse mentoring and familial relationships remain free of competition makes this problematic. Another thread in this book shows how men try to force women to submit.

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Polgara rebels against this, of course, and tries to help other women, but it proves slightly outdated in this respect. The families quarreled over some land. Daran dissolves the marriage and then punishes the husband further by whipping him in court. When Polgara leads Erat, she establishes laws that harshly punish spousal abuse.

I did urge the constables not to break too many bones in the process however. While abusers seldom listen to reason, removing the victim from the range of the abuser would be better. Polgara just notes these events in passing.

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She dwells more on the instances where men attempt to personally control her. He hoped to beat Ontrose and be her champion. His loss to Ontrose led him to betray Wacune and Erat. Torak also desires to control Polgara. She will obey me—nay, even worship me. Who of all the women of this world is fit to share my throne—and my bed?

Torak wants to possess both the Orb of Aldur and Polgara. Torak with the Orb would control the Purpose of the Universe. With Polgara, he would further disrupt that purpose. They recognize the evil in spousal abuse and the submission Torak wants. But time has outstripped their understanding in the past 21 years. She attended the first meeting of the Alorn Council and established the Arendish one. Both of these events occur because of pressure by the Murgos and Grolims. The Alorn Council grows into a pseudo-United Nations, and it began with the intent of preventing Angarak influence in the West.

The parallels between the Cold War barely need to be drawn. It reads as the Red Scare all over again, except with less cause. The guerilla warfare fits Arendia better than the political machinations in the United Nations. Another aspect of politics in Polgara the Sorceress lies in duty.

Most people only see the fine houses, the fancy clothes, and all the bowing and scraping by lesser nobles. Polgara teaches Gelane that lesson because it proves the most important one to the Cold War. The politicians refocused on preventing nuclear war and considered that more important than everything else. Polgara the Sorceress also showcases the only example of unrestrained capitalism in the entire series.

We saw it through metaphor. But now, in her stewardship of the Rivan line and her shepherding Sendaria, we see it firsthand. She lectures Ontrose, and he repeats her lesson, economics , back to her. The merchant class prospers, and their share of the tax burden doth lighten the load borne by the landowners, thy vassals. The prosperity of the former serf is the base upon which the economy of the entire kingdom doth stand.

Polgara spends centuries hammering that principle into the heads of her vassals. Despite the archaic speech, it speaks truth in linking the economy on the spending of the masses, rather than the hoards of the wealthy. In addition, Polgara threatens to create a mall to some vulture-like merchants after the death of a Rivan heir. Then, they insert it into their fantasy world, and in doing so, normalize the conditions and systems that create such things.

At the very end of Polgara the Sorceress , we discover that Geran dreams about Zandramas and remains terrified of her. It shows the very slow steps out of institutionalized fear of the enemy. All of this plays into the final metaphor, because now the cycles are over. You can go straight from Polgara to Pawn of Prophecy. This proves especially ironic because their entire metaphor counted on the breaking of cycles. The entirety of this book, and this series relates in so many ways to its cultural context.

No one could not write this now, because the events that underlie the plot and philosophy of the book. Despite the undercutting via the literary cycle, the metaphorical one is complete. This week, I received some interesting news. I am talking about Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison.

He is, in fact, half-goblin… which brings us to the first peculiarity of the setting. It takes place in Ethuveraz, also known as elflands, an elven empire. Maia is the son of the previous emperor, but his mother was a goblin. Unlike in most fantasy, though, goblins and elves differ physically about as much as different human ethnicities. They can mix freely, with many people of mixed heritage appearing all over. Needless to say, political and ethnic tensions happen and in fact play a major part of the story.

That is, until His Imperial Serenity Varenechibel IV and his three sons die in an airship crash leaving the half-goblin son he barely acknowledged as the sole heir to the throne. Maia is suddenly torn away from his dreary, unhappy home and thrust into the robes of the emperor, despite having no clue whatsoever what it involves.

Indeed, Maia is as clueless as we are about the workings of the Ethuveraz when we begin the story. We are introduced to many facts about the Ethuveraz at a break-neck pace. The names of the people, their titles, the buildings, and the functions all blur together. And here at least we have a protagonist as ignorant as we are, so we learn at his pace. Maia is a clever kid, but this is just too much for him. But what do we find out as we explore the elven empire with Maia?

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Ethuveraz is full of somewhat steampunk technology, such as the airships. Unfortunately, it also means that the condition in factories and workshops are inhuman… or is it inelven? Needless to say, the ascension of a half-goblin kid to the throne shakes things up considerably. Maia is ignorant, of course, but he is also not sheltered by the massive wealth and privilege that the noble houses live in.

Moreover, he is simply a good, kind person. To the highborn, the servants, workers, and commoners are background at best. They enable their lavish lifestyle and political ambitious but deserve no further consideration. Not so with Maia. He sees them as people, which shakes things up more than anyone expects. I should note here that the message and atmosphere of the book are ultimately optimistic.

Maia is a good and caring person who ends up in the center of a system of privilege, oppression, and tradition. You might wonder, why even have elves and goblins if they might as well be just human ethnicities? I think it does add some flavor to the story, myself. One feature both elves and goblins display is their expressive ears. There is, but it occupies a curious role, a minor one. The emperor has four bodyguards, actually, but they take shifts. Two of them must attend him at all times. Including when he sleeps. Or, yes, when he consummates his marriage with his empress. If this sounds incredibly awkward to you, just imagine how Maia feels about the prospect.

Much more important to the plot is the ability to speak with the dead, which a priest of the god of the dead displays. Does it mean the gods the elves and goblins worship are real?

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Goblin Emperor shows us a fantasy world and a great empire, warts and all. What will the sequel show us? So, I am eager to find out where the next one takes us. I feel your pain sister. We are terrible people LOL! Beating children is so funny! My friends are all dead LOL! The Fandomentalist Means Themes starring Lucifermeanslightbringer. An Ever Expanding Universe.

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Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous. Books The Tower of Cirith Ungol. Published 5 days ago on September 12, I apparently just had a thing for frightening boundaries as a child, between this and the Sphinx Gate from The Neverending Story.

I like that Ring-ravaged Frodo is often indistinguishable from a nihilistically-depressed millennial on tumblr: Swag, though, has a long and fun etymological history you can start reading about here. No wonder Frodo has to sail off the face of the earth away from his problems. Not a highlight for prose, to be honest. I do quite like the ending of the chapter though. The will of the Watchers was broken with a suddenness like the snapping of a cord, and Frodo and Sam stumbled forward. Through the gate and past the great seated figures with their glittering eyes. There was a crack.


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The keystone of the arch crashed almost on their heels, and the wall above crumbled, and fell in ruin. Only by a hair did they escape. A bell clanged; and from the Watchers there went up a high and dreadful wail. Far up above in the darkness it was answered. Out of the black sky there came dropping like a bolt a winged shape, rending the clouds with a ghastly shriek. Contemporary to this Chapter: Tolkien does it for me this time! He mentions that it is March 14 th , just a bit before the Rohirrim arrive at the Pelannor. As with the beginnings of the other books, Tolkien does make some at least token efforts to reorient the reader to the new narrative stream.

Books Politics in Polgara the Sorceress. Published 3 weeks ago on August 28, Gender Politics Women vs. Women One of the persistent problems in Polgara the Sorceress is how women are pitted against each other. Women Another thread in this book shows how men try to force women to submit.

Polgara Polgara just notes these events in passing. Economics Polgara the Sorceress also showcases the only example of unrestrained capitalism in the entire series. Conclusion At the very end of Polgara the Sorceress , we discover that Geran dreams about Zandramas and remains terrified of her. Image Courtesy of Del Rey Books. Books An introduction to Goblin Emperor. Published 3 weeks ago on August 27, Images courtesy of Tor Books. Entertainment 8 hours ago.

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You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content Posted on October 12, by austinentertainmentweekly Posted in Entertainment. Les Miserables The lights dim, the music rises, the show begins. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Email required Address never made public.

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