Boneshaker review
Feb. 2nd, 2011 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficSo, I enjoyed this book enough. It has some good world-building, taking place in an alternate universe where a steampunk machine accidentally kickstarted a sort of miniature zombie apocalypse. The heroine, Briar, was married to the mad scientist who invented the infernal machine, and is the daughter of a policeman who is well-respected by the survivors, leading to all sorts of convenience in terms of nice rogues who have codes of honor and respect her and you see where I'm going with this. Her son, Zeke, ventures into the zombie apocalypse side of town to clear his father's name and Briar goes after him. Hijinx ensue.
It's all gripping enough, and I'd recommend it whole-heartedly if it weren't for two complaints. One, there's a good deal of build-up to the identity of the Big Bad, so it's a bit disappointing when, towards the end, a minor character just says "Oh, the bad guy? Yeah, I used to know him way back. He's a douche." It's like, really? Just some douche? You don't want to, I don't know, put in some heart-stopping reveal or terrible secret there?
And second, the novel takes place in the 19th century, and touches some on the situation of Chinese immigrants within this subculture. There are, I think, three Chinese characters, aside from some extras who can't speak English. There's a kid who's good with mechanics -- okay, fine -- there's a henchman -- okay, lots of villains do that "sinister but polite" thing, it'd be a reach to call that out -- and there's a crewman on one of the airships, a guy named Fang who is entirely mute.
Yeah... mute Chinese guy... I think the narrative actually calls him inscrutable at one point. And it's not like it's even a plot point. No one ever says "He took a vow of silence!" or "Someone cut out his tongue!" It's just... mute Chinese guy. He's such a minor character that I can't help but think it wouldn't be that hard to give him a few lines, or just make him an inscrutably silent white guy. Even if he just said "Hey, watch out for zombies," that'd be good enough. I wouldn't be complaining "Hey, the Asian guy only got to say 'watch out for zombies'!"
Now, I'm not one to call racism at the first sign of unfortunate implications... I don't even think Firefly was racist. I know some people have this idea that Simon and River Tam should've been Asian, but I have an alternate idea -- Summer Glau should be in everything. I think my idea's better. Anyway, I just don't think there should be that much overlap between "characters who can't talk" and "characters that aren't white."
It's all gripping enough, and I'd recommend it whole-heartedly if it weren't for two complaints. One, there's a good deal of build-up to the identity of the Big Bad, so it's a bit disappointing when, towards the end, a minor character just says "Oh, the bad guy? Yeah, I used to know him way back. He's a douche." It's like, really? Just some douche? You don't want to, I don't know, put in some heart-stopping reveal or terrible secret there?
And second, the novel takes place in the 19th century, and touches some on the situation of Chinese immigrants within this subculture. There are, I think, three Chinese characters, aside from some extras who can't speak English. There's a kid who's good with mechanics -- okay, fine -- there's a henchman -- okay, lots of villains do that "sinister but polite" thing, it'd be a reach to call that out -- and there's a crewman on one of the airships, a guy named Fang who is entirely mute.
Yeah... mute Chinese guy... I think the narrative actually calls him inscrutable at one point. And it's not like it's even a plot point. No one ever says "He took a vow of silence!" or "Someone cut out his tongue!" It's just... mute Chinese guy. He's such a minor character that I can't help but think it wouldn't be that hard to give him a few lines, or just make him an inscrutably silent white guy. Even if he just said "Hey, watch out for zombies," that'd be good enough. I wouldn't be complaining "Hey, the Asian guy only got to say 'watch out for zombies'!"
Now, I'm not one to call racism at the first sign of unfortunate implications... I don't even think Firefly was racist. I know some people have this idea that Simon and River Tam should've been Asian, but I have an alternate idea -- Summer Glau should be in everything. I think my idea's better. Anyway, I just don't think there should be that much overlap between "characters who can't talk" and "characters that aren't white."
