A Distraction at the Bus Stop

Frederik Sonck (illus. Jenny Lucander, trans. B.J. Woodstein), Freya and the Snake (2023 / 2025)

Finnish children's book about the snake that lives in the rockpile, a father's earnest but unsuccessful attempt to avert a fatal conflict between the snake and his children, and his children turning on him after he finally resorts to killing the snake.

"Snake murderer," they say. They will not eat ice cream with a snake murderer. Also, murderers do not get to attend the funeral.

I loved this book. I loved how judgemental the kids are, how exasperated and slitherer-outer the mother is, and how harried the father is. I of course would have preferred textual confirmation that the snake was venomous, but it's reasonably clear there was no great solution here -- just as it's clear that level of nuance is not gonna fly with these kids.


Dee Snyder (illus. Margaret McCartney), We're Not Gonna Take It (1984 / 2020)

Illustrated version of the famous Twisted Sister song, in which the rebellious anti-authoritarian teenagers of the music video have grown up to become authoritarian parents of toddlers -- toddlers who do not consent to such brutalities as baths and bedtimes.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. I associate the original version with freedom of gender expression and rebellion against abusive parents, and there's still a thing going on here about the tyranny of parents, but now that's a joke. The parents know what's best and eventually the babies go to sleep and dream happily, and... hrm. The whole thing is very defanged and cute and I'm not sure I'm quite on board for it.


Octavia E. Butler (illus. Manzel Bowman), A Few Rules for Predicting the Future (2000 / 2024)

Illustrated edition of Butler's 2000 Essence essay on the art of science fiction predicting the future, originally written in the context of the then-recently published Parable of the Talents, the sequel to Parable of the Sower, both of which forecast a United States that never addressed the developing problems of fascism and climate change. This volume was published in 2024, the once-future year that Sower is set. While Butler's vision for 2024 doesn't match what I see out my window, we are very much reaping the harvest of our runaway fascism problem. (If you can use "reaping the harvest" for an ongoing and advancing situation.)

Which is to say. This essay has aged very well. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to give it another think, and in fact I have re-read it twice since checking out this volume. I like her stress on there being no silver bullet but a multiplicity of checkerboarded solutions -- one for each of us who chooses to apply ourselves to it! -- and likewise her observations on the generational effect of what looks reasonable and preposterous, both looking ahead and in hindsight.

I'm a little mixed-feelings about the volume itself. It's very pretty and the paintings are gorgeous, but there's only four of them, so as a stand-alone edition it feels a bit... thin. Then again, it got me to read her essay again, so in that sense, it's a success.

There's a bunch of reading I need to write up, but there was a little knot of Bujold books in there, so let's begin with those.

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion (2001)

The initial offering in Bujold's Five Gods universe, a set of several loosely-related fantasy series. This particular novel has medieval-Spanish inspirations with an original theology; I can't speak to the others.

I went into this 100% unspoiled, and enjoyed that experience very much. Since finishing the book, I've read a number of jacket blurbs and library catalog summaries and... meh. 1) We're AT LEAST two-thirds of the way through the book before ANY of that stuff happens, and 2) none of those blurbs had anything to do with what I enjoyed about the book.

So let me see if I can say some spoiler-free things I loved right from the beginning.

1. Lupe dy Cazaril, our protagonist, spends the entire book trying to solve the problem directly in front of him. He's got shit resources, shit influence, and shit big-picture perspective -- in fact, it's not until near the end of the book that he figures out what the plot arc even was! -- but by god he'll solve the problem right in front of him or he'll die trying. I love this for him.
   
   
2. A couple of chapters in, when we started to unlock Cazaril's backstory, I incredulously messaged phoenixfalls: "omg. Bujold took Aral Vorkosigan and broke him. Made him realize the tyrrany of meat. Put him through so much trauma that his only remaining ambition is to live."
   
   And I hold by that characterization of Cazaril: the once noble and principled master strategist, for whom everything, but everything, has gone so wrong that he has surrendered pride and principles and ambition and is grubbing in the mud after dropped coins. He is physically disabled. He has crippling PTSD. He would be content to live life as a kitchen scullion if it meant a guaranteed warm place by the fire to sleep.
   
   (But first he has to solve the problem in front of him.)

It is also worth mentioning that Bujold's plotting is as masterful as ever, and as usual, there is a fine array of worthy female characters across a wide range of ages.

It is probably also worth talking about the theology of this world? Except 1) I haven't really made up my mind about it, and 2) that discussion is nothing but spoilers all the way down.

I already have its immediate sequel, Paladin of Souls, in my hot little hands, although from the state of my reading list, it might be a bit before I can get there.


Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Flowers of Vashnoi (2018)

Read alouds to grrlpup; re-reads for me and first reads for her.

My reviews from last year, which I still largely stand by.

re Ivan: I still laugh to see Ivan thwarted; I still have fine-but-lukewarm feelings about Ivan and Tej. This time around, I particularly enjoyed how EVERYONE who found out about Ivan's emergency marriage IMMEDIATELY asked the important question: DOES YOUR MOM KNOW YET?? Sadly, the second half of the novel doesn't compel me the way the first half does: the in-law circus just can't live up to all of Ivan's nearest and dearest getting in line to make him squirm.

re Vashnoi: I still think this is a great novella, still appreciate how messy and intractable history is, and still very much appreciate Bujold leaving the ending as an exercise for the reader. Fair warning: this is one of the darker books in the series.