cahn

Okay, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, which I bought yesterday immediately after work, read while walking home, and stayed up late reading, simultaneously delighted and frustrated me. A lot.

Russell continues to be a character I just absolutely adore. I think I love just her utter delight in living and learning. And the snark!

The romance, such as it was-- it actually took up very little time page-wise-- I actually very much enjoyed, because it was almost note-perfect (the "first time I saw you" line was clearly a kiss-induced fog, thanks joyce!)-- I did not appreciate the reference at the very end to the fact that they are in fact master and journeyman, so to speak-- brought the ick back-- but that they shook hands at the end was just superb. They're so weird, they're definitely right for each other. Um. I think I'm raving like a madman. I think I'll stop now. Anyway. Liked it. And the first chapter where Russell gets slapped down? hee! That alone was a great set piece and probably worth the price of admission.

I actually would have liked more romance, in the sense of more introspection-- why did Russell want to propose? Why was she refused, but accepted later? What was going on in their heads?-- but, you know, those are all very girly questions, and we know that Russell isn't girly. So I'm willing to concede that point-- both love interests are not really very interested at all in introspection. However, I cannot tell you how much I would've liked a scene, maybe with Veronica-- instead of the insipid one we got where we learn that Ronnie thinks Holmes has sex appeal-- I've had a crush on him since middle school; you don't need to tell me he has sex appeal!-- where Russell, prodded by a more girly friend (I can see how she wouldn't say anything, possibly even think it, unless prodded), discusses the situation a bit. Maybe the friend could point out that he is head-over-heels in love with her, and see what she does with the idea. (Well, run away, probably.) It's enough to get one started writing fic!

The mystery was well put together, although not so well put together that I didn't figure out the villain way before the end, which is rare for me and which probably means it was not particularly well-hidden. And I enjoyed getting to see more of Russell's theological training.

However, the theological part of the book was all Over the place. There doesn't seem to have been a whole lot of point except for the author to show off her feminist-theological leanings. I was expecting there to have been some point to the feminist Biblical readings, which I enjoyed very much while they were there, but they were just tossed into the mix and then summarily ignored. At least the luxury/asceticism debate got a faint bit of play in the Epilogue. But I kept feeling like there were deeper things that could have been done with it, and weren't. And then there's a Strange Occurrence which is given relatively a whole lot of space, near the end explained as a miracle, and then, again, just ignored. Um, what? I could tell myself that the ramifications will be in later books (because yeah, I could see seeing a miracle as something that you couldn't process all at once), except that I fully expect this to also be ignored in later books, and that just makes me want to beat my head against the wall. If you're going to start bringing in heavy guns like that, they have got to actually have effects; you can't fire them and then pretend their effect is that of a popgun. This was probably my biggest problem with the book. (Please feel free to enlighten me if I'm wrong about this, because I'd love to be proved wrong.)

(Also, a minor point that bugged me? Russell, I don't know if you meant this seriously, but chemistry and theology actually don't have much in common. Math and theology, okay. Logic and theology, yes. But chemistry? no.)

I've seen reviews unfavorably comparing this to Gaudy Night. I agree that Sayers wrote what is a far better book. However, while there are points of similarity, and King has definitely read Sayers, I'm not sure that it is fair to compare the two. Harriet was trying to come to terms with what a woman's role is in what was very definitively a man's world, and how marriage fits in with that, and how she can reconcile all this with her suitor, and indeed what her feelings are for said suitor in the first place. Russell, by virtue of her training, has no problems with her woman's role, because she can step in and out of it as needed. She doesn't ever seem to have worried about the impact of marriage on such a role, and she knows pretty much what her feelings are. This is not trying to tackle the ground of Gaudy Night, and it shouldn't be judged by that. (That being said, of course you must all go out and read Gaudy Night, if you haven't already!) On the other hand, I think it was trying to make theological points, maybe, and it failed miserably if so.

I'm not expecting a Busman's Honeymoon from this series. I loved that book because Harriet and Peter had to figure out how to live together. The partners in Monstrous Regiment already know that.