I don't understand me sometimes

[conuly]

I was at The Strand yesterday looking for an ARC of a particular book that Eva is very excited about, and nothing doing. I did, however, find an ARC of a particular book that *I* am very excited about, and so I bought it.

And today, instead of reading it, I re-read Swordheart and then The Empress of Timbra. (I was a little weak in my praise of it when I posted about it, that latter book, and given that I've now read it three times I think I ought to have recommended it more strongly. It may be a standard European fantasy scene, but there's no plot-consuming love triangles or strings of implausible coincidences, and that's worth a lot, honestly, even if when "potatoes" come up I have to, as I habitually do in this sort of story, mentally edit them to "turnips". It's only one mention, anyway.)

Anyway, back to Swordheart, it's interesting to me that Sarkis spends a lot of time angsting about whether or not Halla might feel coerced if he tried to express his attraction to her, but at no point does anybody apparently think or suggest to him that, in fact, there's a power imbalance that goes the other way. The only thing we know he's compelled to do is physically defend the sword's wielder from injury or death, and the fact that one previous wielder resorted to cutting out his tongue to get him to shut up suggests that he's not magically compelled to follow orders (or at least not ones that have nothing to do with fighting or guarding, we're still unclear on that part)... but the fact that this asshole was able to do it also suggests that he couldn't have just run off until he poofed back into the vicinity of the sword and then started running again. I'd think that all the characters just happened to overlook it, but it reads more like Ursula Vernon overlooked it, and I'm not sure how she did that.

Comments

[jessie_c]

I have a feeling that we're going to learn much more about that in the next two books.

[conuly]

Yes, probably. *I* have a feeling that we're going to see more hurt-comfort with a side of self-loathing.

[archangelbeth]

*hm!*

I would postulate that Sarkis never really came out and said that he felt that he had power over Halla (did he? I don't recall him doing so, but I haven't re-read it recently), and thus Halla never dug down into it and never pointed out that the power-imbalance goes the other way.

I mean, Sarkis, ruff tuff dude. Sees her as non-combat townie civilian gal to be protected. My theory would be that he just blind-spotted the whole "um, she's probably not actually going to feel compelled to give in to you just to keep you around, y'know? And you probably couldn't force her, because hello, she's got your sword?"

(One of us could ask the author! But that might be no fun... O;> )

My theory falls apart if he actually came out and said that he thought there was a power-imbalance, at a time when she wasn't distracted by more pressing concerns, of course.


(...also, you are probably right about what's likely to be in the next book(s) and I am here for hurt-comfort, with or without some swordy self-loathing. ^_^ I need more hurt-comfort fic in my life and can't write my own right now because it's just too over-the-top to commit to electrons. *facepalm emoji*)

[conuly]

I'm fairly certain he at least explained his reluctance to act to Zale, who really you would expect to say something given that they're a very thinky priest from a very twisty-thinky order that is evidently not a fan of slavery.

[conuly]

There's more self-loathing in the Clockwork Boys books too, if that's your thing. (I'm starting to think it's Ursula Vernon's thing.)

[archangelbeth]

I think I've read everything of hers except Black Dogs.

From some stuff she's said, about upbringing & her possibly-non-optimal work ethic (self-aware), it would not surprise me if a dose of S-L gets into things. …well, not Digger. I don't think Digger knows the meaning of the term, iirc.

(I am no one to talk; you can't throw a rock in nearly everything of mine without hitting power-dynamics. >_< )

Sent from my iPhone

[amaebi]

I love your editing policy.

[conuly]

I mean, they're kinda close enough?

It's harder when books randomly have peppers or tomatoes where they don't belong. I don't have an easy substitute for those, so I go with "vegetables" or, if the implication is that the food is spicy, "black pepper".

[lydy]

I think that the thing Sarkis worries about is that he does have the ability to refuse to do his very best, and Halla does know this. So, he worries that if he asks to bed her, she will say yes so as to ensure that he will not only obey his geas, but actually work as hard as he can. And that's a legitimate concern. Or, too, she does have the power to sheathe the sword and make him go away, and he worries that if she feels pressured, she will not unsheathe the sword, and then he will not be able to protect her. His concerns seem entirely reasonable and proportionate, to me.