Quite by coincidence I happened to read two books in a row about the sidhe. You know: the Little Folk; the “people of the hills”; the fey creatures whose name you don’t want to say out loud or your milk will go sour; who are afraid of iron; who if you wander into their kingdom you’ll be there for three hundred years but it’ll only feel like three days
The first book was Magic Street, by Orson Scott Card. Now the thing about Orson Scott Card is, he only writes one story. I know this because over the years I have read practically everything of his that I could find, including even his Mormon fiction. OSC is a storytelling genius. His pacing, structure, narrative, tension & resolution, are superb. I’ve never felt disappointed by an ending or annoyed by plot loopholes. Some of his imagery and ideas have profoundly affected my worldview. (Some of his other ideas make me want to plug my ears and sing “la la la, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you,” but that’s a topic for different post.) However, the fact remains that he only writes one story, and his cast of characters is limited. Ender is Alvin Maker is Nafai is Bean — close your eyes and you can’t tell one voice from another. Make a list of the main themes of each novel and they’re the same too. He is very big on: ethics, personal responsibility, the nature of “community,” what it means to be a leader. It doesn’t matter whether the setting is hardcore sci-fi, alternate history, high fantasy, a retelling of the Book of Mormon, or, in Magic Street, a present-day middle-class black neighborhood in Los Angeles that’s infested with faeries. The story is the same.
The story is the same, but it’s a really good story, and I for one don’t mind reading it over and over again. And I was really interested to see what he would do with this particular plot hook. First, and this is a very interesting issue not just for OSC but for any writer: his setting, the middle-class black neighborhood in LA, is one that he obviously has absolutely no personal experience of. Is it brave or foolhardy of him to write about it? It’s not as though we see it through the eyes of an outsider; all the characters in the story (the human characters, that is) are actual residents of the neighborhood. To OSC’s credit, though, I completely stopped worrying by the time I was about two chapters in. And even more to his credit, he gives a very satisfactory explanation for his choice of setting in the acknowledgements.
I was also really interested to see how he would handle the faeries. I would not have thought the fey would be a good vehicle for OSC, since (forgive the geeky D&D jargon) they are so chaotic and he is so lawful. Not to mention the fact that they are so Celtic and he is so American! Well, I must admit he didn’t do such a good job with this. The faeries definitely had a lawful cast of mind and they felt very American, too. I suppose that if you can accept the idea of faeries in LA, you could also accept that they might gravitate towards leather and motorcycles. I was fine with this myself, but purists might not be.
All in all, this book was extremely entertaining. If you like Orson Scott Card, and if you’re not too picky about your faeries, you will definitely like this.
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Welllllll… I had originally intended to write a comparison of two different books about faeries. I didn’t realize I would have this much to say about the first one. I think I’ll leave the second one for a separate post.
8 Comments
Welcome back. No need to feel guilty…I do it all the time now. It’s the only way to stay sane and blog at the same time.
I’m interested to know what the other book was. There is an Irish writer of YA, Katherine Thompson, who is producing some very interesting books based around the sidhe. ‘The New Policeman’ was the first and there have been two more since. She is one of those writers growing in stature with everything she writes. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see her latest ‘Creature of the Night’ at least short listed for next year’s Carnegie.
But what *is* the second book? What if you don’t blog for another month (like me :-/) and I’m left wondering the whole time?
I think I will check out “Magic Street”. It’s been many years since I read anything by OSC and I’m interested in how he handles the whole paranormal angle that seems pretty popular lately.
I read this a long time ago. Yeah, it was entertaining enough, but I don’t believe I was overly impressed with it. Aren’t they (still) supposed to be making an “Ender’s Game” movie? Where is it? I want to see it!
It’s interesting that you bring up your notion that Card keeps writing the same thing over and over again. I never really thought about it, but you’re right! Especially Bean and Ender–they were like the same boy.
You’re one smart cookie, Julie, and you’re becoming one of my favorite bloggers! I
I haven’t read any of his work, but that Salon interview you linked to was fascinating!
Fred, thanks!
Ann, Sandy, I didn’t mean to create suspense! I’ve just posted about the other one and your comments spurred me to write it quicker. Sandy, I’ve gone way longer than one month without posting. My archives show not one post between November and March last year. :-P
Char, I haven’t heard anything about the movie recently, but I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to hear him say “remember, the enemy gate is down.” And, thanks. :-)
Crit, I thought that interview was fascinating too. In fact I had been thinking of writing a post about what to do when you can’t stand your favorite author’s politics, but she wrote it so much better than I ever could!
I’m not exactly a fan of OSC (I think you already know my feelings toward Ender’s Game, hahaha) but I heard good things about this book and it’s on my pile somehow because of that. Am looking forward, sometime in the future, OSC’s take on faeries.
I always thought this was one of the weaker OSC books. Some of his I’ve hated, some I’ve loved, some I’ve been pretty indifferent to. But wow, I never realized they were all the same story before! Thanks for pointing that out to me.