Review - Powers
Sep. 9th, 2009 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanHmm. The three books of this trilogy aren't that directly related -- I think they can be read alone. I think Voices is probably the best, in that it has a plot as well as the other things that make Le Guin's writing so lovely. I might like this better on a reread, as I did with Gifts, but I think perhaps I found this the weakest -- and I'm not sure why I think so, really. It seems quite slow, and ponderous, and there doesn't seem to be much of a conclusion or climax. The themes of stories and learning from the other books continue, and the theme of liberty, and Gry and Orrec show up again...
There's a lot of world-building -- some beautiful, beautiful stuff. But it all seems a little meaningless. Hoby ties the beginning and the end together, but weakly: we see hardly anything of him, in reality. Characters like Yaven and Astano, who I wanted to see more of, ultimately meant nothing. Chamry, who I liked a lot, doesn't show up again. Diero ultimately has little part to play. Maybe there was something I missed in the reasons why he never sees these people again, but it felt like more could have been done.
Not my favourite, but it's Le Guin, so it's not bad, either.
There's a lot of world-building -- some beautiful, beautiful stuff. But it all seems a little meaningless. Hoby ties the beginning and the end together, but weakly: we see hardly anything of him, in reality. Characters like Yaven and Astano, who I wanted to see more of, ultimately meant nothing. Chamry, who I liked a lot, doesn't show up again. Diero ultimately has little part to play. Maybe there was something I missed in the reasons why he never sees these people again, but it felt like more could have been done.
Not my favourite, but it's Le Guin, so it's not bad, either.
