Hello, and welcome back to another monthly book round up by Odie! (Imagine I used an absolutely stellar gameshow announcer voice for that)
This month I didn't have that much time to read recreationally since I was finishing up the first year of my masters with a big project, so I've cheated a little and added in the three plays I read as part of my research for that. (Hey, they're in a book!)
As always - reviews under the cut <3 (I'm afraid they're getting longer...)
Starting, as always, with the book-club pick for this month: Red Rising.
The story follows Darrow, who lives as part of a hierarchical society on Mars based on colour, of which he, a 'red', is the lowest of the low. When Darrow's wife is executed for a small act of rebellion, and Darrow learns that he is effectively a slave, he ends up working alongside a rebel force to infiltrate an elite 'gold' academy and attempt to rise to the top: where he can apparently then incite rebellion and change. Most of the book is given over to the war-games this academy conducts to harden their future leaders, and the book ends with Darrow gaining a favourable apprenticeship, clearly setting up the future of the series.
The book was recommended to the club as 'The Hunger Games for adults', and whilst it does have a lot of parallels that could be drawn to The Hunger Games, the only things that make it more 'adult' is a gratuitous amount of rape, cannibalism and pissing on other people. It's difficult to tell whether the stakes didn't feel high because none of the characters were likeable, and thus you didn't care if they made it or not, or because they simply weren't that high. When Darrow talks of his army, it is important to remember that he actually means, like, 30 teenagers. On top of this, there was very little friction. All bad things that happened to Darrow were instantly rectified, because he is God's most specialist little soldier. In the moments when it felt as if there could be a plot twist - low and behold there wasn't. Because who would betray the most amazing, wonderful, perfect man ever??? Certainly not Mustang.
Boring. The word for the plot is boring.
Other gripes I had with this book include that it immediately fell into the 'dead wife' trope as motivation for the main character, but then didn't even deliver on that trope! Io died for nothing. Darrow didn't want to rebel before she died, and afterwards he was still apathetic about the idea. Her death served literally no purpose. If Pierce was looking for a proactive main character he should have chosen Io. Except he wouldn't, because it's incredibly obvious that he hates women. Every female character was reduced to being an obedient piece of eye-candy specifically there to please Darrow. Furthermore, every insult in the book was either sexist or homophobic. It felt reductionist and unimaginative. If this is a book set hundreds of years in the future why are we still idolising the nuclear family, and hating on gay people? Honestly Pierce, do better. I'm not saying the author is sexist or homophobic just because he wrote that - I'm saying be more imaginative if you're going to write sci-fi.
Unfortunately, the entire vibe of the book did tell me that the author was likely the kind of person who was a little bit too into the Roman Empire, and wouldn't be ready to hear that Roman Warfare was not the pinnacle of evolution he thinks it is.
Recommend? Absolutely not.
Moving on to what I spent most of my month reading, and re-reading, then: The Three Theban Plays, originally written by Sophocles in the 5th century BCE. The three translations I have collected by Grene and Lattimore.
Bare with me through a 'quick' round up. The three plays follow the story of Oedipus, and his cursed line of children. The story is told out of order, with Antigone being produced first, then Oedipus the King, then, posthumously to Socrates' death, Oedipus at Colonus was produced. But I'll give a round up in storyline chronological order.
Oedipus the King: Oedipus was prophesized at birth to one day murder his father and marry his mother. As such his parents sent him off to die, but a shepherd took pity on him, and gave him to the king and queen of Corinth, who raised him as their own. Later, he returns to his birth-place of Thebes, unknowing of his own birth-circumstances. He unwittingly murders his father on the road, not knowing he is his father, or the king of Thebes, saves Thebes from the terror of a Sphinx, and is given Jocasta, the queen (and unknown to him, his mother) as his wife. The story begins with Thebes under a great plague and a seer explains that it will continue until the murderer of the late king is found and exiled. It comes to light that Oedipus is the murderer, and that Oedipus is the same infant Jocasta sent to the mountains to die. In her shame she commits suicide, and Oedipus blinds himself and asks for exile.
Oedipus at Colonus: Much later, we see Oedipus again, blind and older, on the road near Athens with his daughter Antigone to guide him. He asks for refuge from Athens and it is clear he blames Thebes for his ill-fate. He maintains he was innocent of his sins because he murdered his father and married his mother unwittingly. Athens offers him refuge. His sons are now fighting each other for the throne of Thebes and Oedipus is mad at them for not caring for him over ambition. He curses them to meet their end at each other's sword. There has also been a new prophecy that whoever buries the body of Oedipus in their city will find blessings and Creon - his uncle/brother-in-law, now king of Thebes - has come to retrieve him so that he might do this. Oedipus refuses and calls on Athens to bury him instead: cursing Thebes and blessing Athens.
Antigone: After a terrible battle at Thebes where Oedipus' sons do meet their deaths by each other's swords, Creon states nobody should bury Polyneices, as he was the attacking brother and does not deserve a proper burial. Antigone, Polyneices sister, abhors this and does it anyway. She is then caught and sentenced by Creon to death. His son, who loves Antigone, counsels mercy, but the best Creon offers is that she might live forever in a cave, exiled from life but not dead. Or she might chose to commit suicide there, but his blood would not be on Creon's hands. He is counselled by many not to do this, but does it anyway. Creon's son then commits suicide out of grief for Antigone, and Antigone too commits suicide. A tragedy all round.
So that's the story. Sorry for the long round up. Greek tragedies are not uncomplicated things. Overall I'd say I actually really enjoyed what I read, although knowing the story going in meant I wasn't moved by the sadness of the plot. On the contrary, I found Oedipus and Creon's interactions in Oedipus the King, especially, to be extremely funny. Obviously I read these for study, not pleasure, but I thought Antigone was a strong character who set her mind to something and actively moved forward her plot, which is a lot more than can be said for many modern-day characters. Oedipus' rage at his tragedy also felt very real, given he was the victim of circumstance.
Of course, there was no escaping that the entire thing was Athenian propaganda, but then that was the topic of my project, so that worked out for me.
Recommend? Yeah, actually. It's definitely not for everyone, but you can reasonably read all three in a couple of days and you'll feel more educated for it.
I asked my husband what book I should read for my rec time this month and he said I should read The Long Game, which, after finishing Heated Rivalry, I wasn't actually sure if I wanted to. Not that I didn't enjoy Heated Rivalry, I just wasn't sure if I wanted more. Well, I'm really glad I picked up this book and read it. I don't know what it is about these books but they're stupidly compelling.
It's a direct sequel to Heated Rivalry, following Shane and Ilya three years in to their long-term plan to keep their relationship secret and then come out post retirement. Their charity is doing well, their careers continue, but not everything is perfect. Ilya is dealing with a serious mental health crisis, there's a lot of pressure from the league to keep their private lives private, and Ilya's move to Ottawa means Shane doesn't feel like he's as challenged by his man as he once was. It's all causing strife in the relationship.
Just like Heated Rivalry, you can easily read this book in a day or two, and just like Heated Rivalry, you'll love every second of it. This felt like a book for anyone who had read Heated Rivalry, and, just like Shane, had fallen head over heels for Ilya. Whilst he certainly goes through some shit during this story, it was really nice to see his character development from closed off to talking about his feelings and allowing himself to be supported.
I know a lot of people took issue with this book in that Shane wasn't a great boyfriend - but I'll stand by the fact that actually, he was an amazing boyfriend. He was unaware of Ilya's bad mental health for a lot of the book, sure, and at times he came across as very dismissive, but Ilya was actively telling him things were fine, and even then it was Shane who suggested Ilya get some help. Then, when Ilya was finally ready to talk about it and Shane realised he'd messed up, he immediately turned things around and was supportive as heck. He was literally trying his best and that's the definition of a good boyfriend. My only gripe was the timing of a certain candle-lit scene, and how it felt reactionary: but I won't go into too many details and spoil it.
All of the issues I had with Heated Rivalry - not enough Hockey, not enough talk about homophobia and bigotry in the NHL - were rectified in this book, so I am really glad I read it. I'm very much looking forward to the next one, and I think I've realised I'm just going to have to get the rest of the Game Changer series, as I keep falling in love with all the characters.
Recommend? Yeah, go get the gay hockey romance, you won't regret it!
