Posts Tagged ‘colonialism’
The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson (Empire of Masks #3)
published Aug 11, 2020
Where I got it: got an eARC
Trigger warnings: Cancer. Body horror. Asymptomatic, highly infectious, and deadly diseases.
I’ve never put a trigger warning on a review before. But then again, I’ve never read a book like this before. Also? This review rambles all over the place and is way, way too long. #sorrynotsorry.
I’m always wary of books that are described as “ambitious”. It’s an unfair bias of mine, I know, but I see “ambitious”, and I think “that author bit off more than they could chew”. Takes one to know one, my favorite hobby is biting off more than I can chew, so I get the allure, trust me.
The Tyrant Baru Cormorant? Oh yeah, this whole series is the definition of “ambitious”, and thankfully not my definition. So often, the tag of “ambitious” leads to me being disappointed. Not this time! This series covers imperialism, colonialism, extortion and blackmail, nature vs nurture, multiple solutions to the same problem, advanced medical procedures (and, um, weaponized diseases), so much manipulation, and the kind of enforced cultural norms that makes 1984 or Brave New World look like a saturday morning kids cartoon. Yes, it’s ambitious to the teeth, and yes Dickinson succeeds.
I’ve not been able to shut up about Baru Cormorant for the last few years. I love what this story says about societies and cultures, how to destroy them and how to keep them safe. I love that while the story is about Baru, she’s not the center of the story (even though she thinks she is). I love that this series is bigger than just her, it’s bigger than what she knows. To steal from Dark, what she knows is a drop, what she doesn’t know is an ocean.
It would take me a year to explain everything that’s going on in this book, and as it’s the third in a series, this is literally a volume in which everything comes together, alliances are redefined to expose empire-destroying secrets, entire continents are brought into world-spanning negotiations, diseases and cures are bargained for, and a truly glorious long game comes to fruition. There is seriously about five series worth of characters, ideas, and material crammed into three books, and it works.
Sorry, I’m gonna be spoiling books one and two. But the spoilers? Believe it or not, they don’t matter. It’s the pure gorgeousness of the prose, the characters, the depth of all the shit that is going on, that is what’s gonna knock your socks off of this series. Doesn’t matter if i tell you the plot spoilers, because that isn’t going to spoil the best stuff, trust me.
Alright, so a super fast sum-up, because there is too much to explain. When the Empire of Masks came to Baru’s blissful village, they brought coin, trade, schools, vaccines, and their definition of cleanliness. A savant of sorts, Baru was chosen to attend their schools and take their exams. When the Empire destroys her family, she vows to destroy them, from the inside out. First step to destroying the Empire to pass their stupid test, and work her way up the ladder in their bureaucracy. Passing the test was easy. Crashing the currency of Aurdwynn was easy. Earning the trust of her allies? Understanding the family entanglements and regional relationships in Aurdwynn? Knowing who she can trust? Not so much.
(reading reviews, as opposed to my half-assed summaries more your thing? No problem. link to: Review of book #1, The Traitor Baru Cormorant and review of book #2 The Monster Baru Cormorant)
Also? It’s really easy to be both naive and drunk on power when you’re like nineteen years old and have a handler who constantly tells you how smart and how wonderful and how special you are.
In the ensuing invasion, Baru suffers a traumatic brain injury, permanently affecting her vision and perception. There’s way more trauma to come, by the way, which we won’t talk about because spoilers.
In the second book, after “passing a test”, Baru is “gifted” with being taken back to the Imperial capital, Falcrest. As the only hostage-less cryptarch, no one quite knows what to do with her. Yes, people had issues with the middle book, The Monster Baru Cormorant, and I understand those complaints. It’s very much a “middle book”, Baru doesn’t seem to know who she is, she seems be pushed around more than usual, etc. I chose to view what she was doing as she was learning how the empire works, learning how the game of the larger world works, trying to avoid the murderous gaze of Xate Yawa, maybe starting to understand “the Farrier process”, and oh yeah, trying to recover from a brain injury, all at the same time. I had a lot of sympathy for her, ok? And stop paying attention to what isn’t happening and start paying attention to what is happening. All that stuff with the Mbo Federal Princes? Pay attention, because that’s the important stuff.
Ok, all caught up?
Getting into the third book, what struck me as funny, was how small the Empire of Masks is on an actual map of the known world. Like, they see themselves as the best, biggest, baddest, bestest thing in the world, and the rest of the world is like “who are you again? Should I know you?”
This final book in the series has a ton of flashbacks. Not flashbacks of Baru’s youth, but flashbacks of Tau Indi’s youth, when Tau was just learning how to be a Federal Prince, alongside their best friends Kindala and Abdumasi, and what exactly happened that year that Cosgrad and Cardine spent with them. It was a year of jealousy and unspoken feelings, and Tau felt left behind when Abdu and Kindala decided what they needed to do, and didn’t discuss their decisions with Tau, who is convinced all can be solved through through the Mbo concept of trim. Kindala and Abdu come up with their own solutions, solutions they don’t feel they can share with Tau. (all the flashbacks make books 2 and 3 feel like one long book. I highly suggest binge reading this series so you can experience is as one long story, instead of three novels)
Meanwhile, in the now, Baru still has grand plans to destroy the empire from the inside. Her private polestar is “What would Tain Hu do?”, and thinking about Tain Hu’s moral code keeps Baru in check, and helps her make better decisions. Oh, and she found the Cancrioth, and the biological weapon that keeps the secret safe.
This was the book I didn’t want to review.
I didn’t even want to read it.
I don’t know why, but I felt the need to save this book for some time when I really needed it. Like it was the last bottle of whisky from a famous yet shuttered distillery. And once I opened it, it would evaporate and soon barely the scent would remain.
When I did crack the book open, of course the first story I read was The Battle of Candle Arc. And then I read that story again. And then I read Iseul’s Lexicon, which I then, read again.
I consumed this collection in such a strange way, I consumed it the same way I use a cookbook. Once I identified a story I enjoyed, I’d reread it three, or four times, getting into into my rotation. When I felt ready, I’d try another story/meal.
Strange, I know. But you already know that I’m strange.
The time came for me to start thinking about the review.
I didn’t want to write it. I didn’t want to put Conservation of Shadows back on the shelf along with all the other books that “I’m done thinking about”. I’m not ready for these characters to not be in my life anymore. Can I reread these stories any time I want? For sure. But there’s something different about a book that is floating around the house because you are still thinking about it, and a book that you’ve put back on the shelf and categorized in your mind as “I’m done thinking about that book”.
This is what Yoon Ha Lee does: writes fiction you don’t want to stop thinking about. You might be done reading the book, but the book isn’t done with you.
To write this review, I’ve made a bargain with myself: I purchased Hexarchate Stores, so I can dive right into that, and Conservation of Shadows is going to live on the coffee table for a while longer. This review is not an agreement that I’m done with this book. In fact, it’ll be really fun to reread these stories in 6 months or a year, and see if they have changed, or if I’ve changed.
Thank you for letting me get all of that out of my system and put words to my feelings. You’ve been very patient. I guess it’s time I talk about this collection, yeah?
Most of the stories touch on language (which of course, I have zero interest in), colonialism and occupation, assimilation, destruction of cultures through destruction of their language, how sometimes things just don’t translate, and how war makes us strangers to ourselves.
One last thing before I actually talk about the stories! Fun new words!
sumptuary morphophonemics escritoire
logographs entelechy
Isn’t “escritoire” just the most beautiful word you’ve ever seen?
Ok, I am getting to the stories now, I SWEAR. In no particular order:
The Monster Baru Cormorant
Posted on: December 4, 2018
The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade #2)
published October 2018
where I got it: purchased new
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I do love a character focused narrative, so The Traitor Baru Cormorant was right up my alley. That novel was narrowly focused on Baru – if she didn’t know about a city or a culture or specific laws, then the reader didn’t either. Luckily, that narrative was focused on things Baru knew – her childhood home, accounting, how to manipulate currency, and the local politics of Aurdwynn. At this point in Baru’s life, we didn’t need to know anything she didn’t know.
The sequel, The Monster Baru Cormorant, starts just as the first book in the series is ending. Baru’s mission to bring down Aurdwynn was more successful than anyone could have imagined. Maybe too successful, in fact. She was supposed to keep her lover alive. Baru was supposed to allow the Empire to keep Tain Hu has a hostage against Baru’s “good behavior”. Baru may be a product of the Farrier process, but she’s also already seen how hostages are used to encourage “good behavior”. The Empire will never have Tain Hu.
Baru is now the only hostage-less cryptarch. The other cryptarchs don’t know what to make of this – does this make her more powerful than they? More unpredictable and therefore less powerful? They have nothing they can hold of Baru, and everyone knows it. You’ll notice I’m not mentioning the other Cryptarchs by name, because spoilers.
In my mind, this series has become an asymmetrical crystal chandelier of sorts. Each aspect (Baru’s lack of hostage, nature vs nurture, the culture of the Mbo, trim, the cancrioth, how you can never go home, etc) is another facet cut into the crystal that changes how the light from the center of the chandelier falls on the room. And depending on where you are standing, maybe you’ll see direct light, or indirect light, or only a pattern of shifting shadows. The Empire of Masks means something very different, depending on where you are standing. It follows that if you don’t like the view from where you are, that a change in perspective is all you need to see in full spectrum.
Those who stand in Falcrest believe they are the center of the world, the center of civilization. Those who stand in Lonjaro Mbo and Segu Mbo probably feel bad for the Falcresti, with their lack of trim, isolating culture, and limited currency. It’s also interesting to me, how few Cryptarchs are Falcresti by birth, people now forced to serve an Empire that they have zero cultural connection to.
A Little Further into Bas-Lag
Posted on: July 14, 2018
I recently reread China Mieville’s Iron Council, which came out in 2004 and was the third of his loosely related Bas-Lag books. If you’re not familiar with this new-weird sci-fantasy series, you can read the three books – Perdido Street Station (2000), The Scar (2002), and Iron Council (2004), in any order. These books take place in the same world, but follow different characters often in different parts of the world. Embassytown (2011) is most certainly not a Bas-Lag book, but in my mind it has the same feel.
Anyway, after finished Iron Council, of course I had to reread The Scar! Mieville’s The Scar has long been one of my all time favorite science fiction (fantasy? other? i have no idea what this book is, except that I love it!) books, so it has been a joy to be reading this book over the last week or so.
With Iron Council so fresh in my mind, I can’t help but compare the two. I’m also coming to these books with far more life experience and understanding of the short term and long term consequences of governmental and societal decisions. Upon reread they have completely different books. Better books with far more layers than I expected. It’s been fun thinking about what Iron Council and The Scar have in common, but worrisome at the same time. If they have this much in common, does that mean Mieville was telling the same story twice?
If you’ve not read much Mieville or any Bas-Lag books, this blog post will made no sense to you. #SorryNotSorry.
here’s what I mean:
Both books deal with the hubris of bending nature to our will in the name of progress – Iron Council had an unspoken thing about how easy it is to destroy nature and the homes of the people who already live there, all in the name of building a railroad. Even when the railroad is independent, there are descriptions of how the ground must be torn up and scarred for them to pass over it. In The Scar, no spoilers, but the rulers of Armada have the hubris to assume all and any sea creatures can be exploited.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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