Recent reading
Aug. 29th, 2017 08:30 pmPeople of the Sky by Clare Bell
I am pretty sure this was recced by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija, though I don't remember where? Anyway, it appears at first glance to be an animal companion story, complete with quote from Anne McCaffrey on the back, though the aliens are basically huge dragonflies and not dragons. But it is no coincidence that another quote likens it to Octavia Butler--actually it was very interesting to read this so close to Butler's Lilith's Brood for comparison. Even if the main character is ambivalent about it, there's a much more positive portrayal of alien/human symbiosis in this book than in Butler's. Which is maybe because there isn't as much of a power imbalance? The book also reminded me of Jo Walton's post A wish for something different at the frontier. Actually, in this book basically all the human characters are Native Americans, so there's the interplay between them, the aliens, and the surrounding society, which is interesting. Recommended!
Det växer ett träd i Mostamägg by Britt Karin Larsen (There Grows a Tree in Mostamägg, original in Norwegian, read in Swedish, not available in English)
A book set in possibly the 19th century in the borderlands between Sweden and Norway, among the Finnish people who settled the forests there. It's similar in theme to Sara Lidman's books, which on the whole I enjoy more, even if I liked this as well.
I am pretty sure this was recced by
rachelmanija, though I don't remember where? Anyway, it appears at first glance to be an animal companion story, complete with quote from Anne McCaffrey on the back, though the aliens are basically huge dragonflies and not dragons. But it is no coincidence that another quote likens it to Octavia Butler--actually it was very interesting to read this so close to Butler's Lilith's Brood for comparison. Even if the main character is ambivalent about it, there's a much more positive portrayal of alien/human symbiosis in this book than in Butler's. Which is maybe because there isn't as much of a power imbalance? The book also reminded me of Jo Walton's post A wish for something different at the frontier. Actually, in this book basically all the human characters are Native Americans, so there's the interplay between them, the aliens, and the surrounding society, which is interesting. Recommended! Det växer ett träd i Mostamägg by Britt Karin Larsen (There Grows a Tree in Mostamägg, original in Norwegian, read in Swedish, not available in English)
A book set in possibly the 19th century in the borderlands between Sweden and Norway, among the Finnish people who settled the forests there. It's similar in theme to Sara Lidman's books, which on the whole I enjoy more, even if I liked this as well.
