In which I get on my soapbox...

[graculus]

I read a lot of books. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has known me, either RL or online, for more than about 5 minutes. In particular, I read a lot of science fiction/fantasy (the line between the two is really so blurry now we probably need a new portmanteau name for the genre like 'scieasy' or something) and crime (more your traditional detective stuff than the more forensic/psychological end of the market). And while I will talk a bit here about what I've read, I tend to rant more over on my Vox blog, mostly because of the one nifty thing it does, which is allow me to link directly to the Amazon pic etc.

I started off reading science fiction (the science-based stuff) back when my brother lived at home and I could raid his bedroom for the likes of Brunner, Asimov and Bradbury. At some point in my teens I started reading fantasy, such as there was at the time - one of the series of books I read back in the early 1980's was David Eddings' books called the Belgariad. Because of the vagaries of the local library system, I never really finished the next series (the Malloreon) and that was pretty much it for me and Mr Eddings. Our paths never really crossed after that.

Until recently, when I picked up a copy of The Redemption of Althalus at the library and happily brought it home, thinking how nice it was for once to have a standalone novel to read rather than Volume 1 of 12 or whatever, even if that standalone was 900 pages in paperback. I know now that this particular book is a couple of years old (first published in 2002), but humour me, okay? ;)

The Redemption of Althalus is essentially about a thief who ends up living in a house with a goddess for centuries while he learns all the things he needs to know in order to save the world from the forces of darkness. Along the way, in that traditional fantasy manner, he has to recruit a number of people to assist him, otherwise the plan to save the world will fail. So far, so good. Nothing out of the ordinary here that hasn't been repeated in a thousand other books and series in the fantasy genre since Tolkien.

Which would be fine, except the more I've thought on this book, the more repulsed I become by certain themes within it. I don't know whether it's just the time and space between me and my 1980's fantasy-reading alter ego or that I've read a lot since then (including a bunch of stuff I strongly suspect the Eddings wouldn't approve of in any way) but there was a bunch of stuff I really struggled with:

First off, there's the utterly relentless matchmaking that goes on - in terms of gender, the main characters who play a role in the quest are three female and four male. Six of the seven end up paired off to one another, with the other one only escaping notice (I suspect) because he hasn't hit puberty yet, since two of them are in their teens. And let's just not get into the infantilisation of the majority of the main female characters, one of whom is usually described as 'tiny' and the other of whom insists on calling Althalus 'daddy' for the majority of the book.

This trend continues through the supporting characters, where others get paired off (apparently based on how much the authors like them) as well, in an exhibition of heteronormativity on steroids. These are real girly-girls too, because every time more than one of the female characters gets together all they want to talk about is clothes and boys. In this universe, nobody is single by choice, there is no unrequited love, nobody is gay. It reminded me of fanfic by teenagers where everyone within earshot has to be paired off because otherwise they will be lonely and miserable forever!!11!!!

Secondly, tied in with this, is the fact that pretty much the only female character we ever meet who isn't paired off with someone (either in actual scenes that are going on, or mentioned in passing) is Evil. Not just Evil, but ugly. Because in this book Evil is always Ugly (which is sadly not such a steadfast clue in RL otherwise life would be much easier!). And we get reminded of that every single time she appears 'onscreen' or anyone talks about her. The unspoken inference is that if she wasn't so Evil/Ugly/crazy then someone would want to shack up with her and she'd be okay and not want to kill people and crush the world under her feet. Sheesh.

Thirdly, and probably slightly less offensive, is the utter lack of tension or drama. Our protagonists can speak psychically to one another partway through the book, which means there are never any misunderstandings (and clearly this is ideal for ensuring pairing off as directed...) and the ways in which the characters can interact with the world outside essentially ensure they will prevail over anything. There's never any moment where you really think things might not work out for Our Heroes because the way the universe is set up dictates that they will win out and crush the Evil/Ugly people, even if it takes 900 too many pages to do it.

And so, I think we can safely conclude that the chances of me reading anything else by the Eddings is slim to absolutely none. In fact, if it wasn't a library book I would probably consider slipping it into the recycling bin rather than either selling it or giving it away. It's not big and it's not clever, but at least there are other authors out there who don't quite channel teenage fanfic writers in their line of thinking.

Comments

[sg1scribe.livejournal.com]

I read the Belgariad back when I was a wee young thing. I remember finding it slightly irritating, but I never thought about why that was. However, reading this post I think you've hit the nail on the head. In fact, pretty much all I can remember about the Belgariad is that at some point the main character had married the red-haired princess (who of course had a short-temper what with being red-haired and all *sigh*) and was seeking advice as to why she hadn't yet conceived (this of course being a vital plot point). I remember there was much blushing on the part of the hero when he was asked if they'd actually 'done the deed' - at which point I think I decided the books were rather childish and I gave up on Mr Eddings.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Apparently it's compulsory for princesses to be both tiny and feisty, in the world inhabited by the Eddings.

[khek.livejournal.com]

I made it through The Belgariad and the second series (which I can't remember the title of) about the characters in The Belgariads children. I think I basically skimmed the last couple, just because I wanted to know what happened to which character.

The only thing remotely interesting about the second series is that the daughter of the main character is somehow merged with another female character, and they become some kind of dual goddess, and vanish off to do godly things in heaven. Everyone else is very neatly paired up, and live happily ever after, with not much thought to the people they've lost along the way. I gave up on any of his books after that. (Although I might have tried to read one of those sword-master books he wrote, but I found those to be completely boring, with unlikeable characters right from the beginning.)

Kids still read the Belgariad, but with so many more fantasy choices now, it's not frequently. Frankly, I'm not sure how the Eddings are still being published, because I haven't talked to anyone who's finished any of their later tomes.

[temaris.livejournal.com]

Heh. The Belgariad is one of my old standby comfort reads, precisely because it is predictable, generic, uneffortful and lacks anything resembling higher thought. I don't re-read the other books, as they've simply churned out the same story and the same characters (all four of them) over and over and over, becoming more hackneyed and problematic with each iteration.

They seem to be unable to imagine people who are strong and successful because they've had to be, rather than they were destined to be. Royalty is the touchstone of success in these books -- you marry it, become it, or are kowtowed to by it. Nothing else counts. Which ... um. Explains a lot about the complete lack of anything resembling science in their books.

The careful pairing off of everyone has always irritated the hell out of me. Especially when accompanied by the rather smug 'and now wifey will proceed on her makeover campaign to make hubby into a more acceptable version of preson-she-married' as a demonstration of just how empowering marriage really is.

In more irritated moments, I tended to slash Garion and Lelldorin, Silk and Barak, and Durnik and Brand. It improved things quite a lot :-)

[dmarley.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the Belgariad when I first read it, even though there were things that irked me. But the Mallorean was a slog, especially once I figured out that Eddings was telling the exact same story as the first series. Fortunately, I bought the set used, dirt cheap, and didn't actually waste close to a hundred bucks on the hardbacks. I put down the Diamond Throne a couple of chapters in once I realized that I was supposed to approve of and admire the utter assholes who were the main characters.

But the things that really burn me now when I look back are exactly the things you're talking about. I remember at one point saying to a friend that I really hoped that Eddings wasn't married (this was before they started writing books together), and if so I really hoped that he wasn't projecting his own personal method of dealing with relationships into the books.

Okay, yes, he did show that women could have influence, but it was done in such a "titter, titter, look at us sweet little womenfolk cleaning up behind the scenes and never letting on to our men and aren't we so powerful by never taking any credit" way that I wanted to smack someone.

[dmarley.livejournal.com]

In more irritated moments, I tended to slash Garion and Lelldorin, Silk and Barak, and Durnik and Brand. It improved things quite a lot

I thoroughly approve of this coping mechanism. :)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm not sure how the Eddings are still being published, because I haven't talked to anyone who's finished any of their later tomes.

I'd like to hope that their recycled tales wouldn't get them a deal now, but that the fact they're still getting published is due to them deforesting small countries back when they were almost the only game in town. However, people also seem to like Robert Jordan and Dragonlance, so there's no telling...

[graculus.livejournal.com]

They seem to be unable to imagine people who are strong and successful because they've had to be, rather than they were destined to be. Royalty is the touchstone of success in these books -- you marry it, become it, or are kowtowed to by it. Nothing else counts.

I know some folks blame Tolkien for that, since he pretty much singlehandedly started the whole 'someone who is secretly really royalty' trope. For a while you could hardly open a fantasy book without stumbling over members of various royal families concealed with varying amounts of skill... ;)

If you're going to push the royalty line, you also need to push that it's not the perfect system of government that folks like the Eddings seem to tout it as. But then they live in a very simplistic universe so that's really never going to happen.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I remember at one point saying to a friend that I really hoped that Eddings wasn't married (this was before they started writing books together), and if so I really hoped that he wasn't projecting his own personal method of dealing with relationships into the books.

When I looked up the publication dates for the Belgariad, to try and figure out when I must have read them, I found that initially he didn't credit his wife for the earlier books but apparently she was heavily involved in them anyway. I think there definitely is a degree of projection going on here, one way or another, but I wish they would just go find themselves another plotline to beat to death.

[siluria]

I'll mark that one down on my 'don't read' list then :)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

What was your first clue? ;)

[dmarley.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear.

[temaris.livejournal.com]

*g* Garion and Lelldorin in the baths together? Oh, please *g*

[siluria]

Um, that would be the 1's in the middle of the !'s ;)

[thenightsfall]

Hearing what these books are like, it's rather amusing to me that, when I worked at the bookstore, we sold cartloads of 'em to teenaged boys/young men. I mean, with all the pairing up, and the style of pairing up, they really sound almost like the poorest kind of romance novel. But it's rather appalling, too, because obviously the sexist, "heteronormativity" beat goes on for yet another generation. As if I was in any doubt, alas.

[rhade-rad.livejournal.com]

Having finally seen the Disney version of Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, I'd add CS Lewis to the context setters for this sort of writing.

The one fantasy writer I can think of who challenges these conventions is Michael Moorcock - though not so much on the hetero one - but his different incarnations of the Eternal Champion are damaged/different in some way, and Arioch, the Chaos lord frequently appears as a beautiful youth.