Hobb, R. (2005). Shaman's crossing. New York: EOS.

05/18/08 to 05/28/08
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This was the first in the Soldier Son series from Hobb. I very much enjoyed her previous Tawny Man (though I had been hoping it would turn out to be a woman) and Farseer series. This problem suffered from a difficulty I noticed but was less bothered by in those previous novels. That is the placement of women. In those first books women were simply absent in a way that made me grab onto the fact that the Tawny Man character might be female. In these books there is at least one prominent female character, ...more This was the first in a series from Hobb. I very much enjoyed her previous Tawny Man (though I had been hoping it would turn out to be a woman) and Farseer series. This problem suffered from a difficulty I noticed but was less bothered by in those previous novels. That is the placement of women. In those first books women were simply absent in a way that made me grab onto the fact that the Tawny Man character might be female. In these books there is at least one prominent female character, but she's a twit. I can understand that women might react in that way when faced with great inequities, but why would any author, least of all a female author, create a universe in which that is the norm? I don't think we are at a point in which we need the struggles women go through pointed out at that level (thank god), and I can't imagine it would be fun to imagine oneself residing in such a world. Also, the prominence of the military as a culture doesn't really mesh with things I am interested in. Blessedly there was only a single chapter that we step by step through a day at the military academy, but reading it felt like pulling teeth. The thing I can say for Hobb is that, again similarly but perhaps slightly less well than in previous series, she has created a vivid world with an interesting sociopolitical structure. I'm willing to read on and see if things improve