#160 - All the world's a stage...
Apr. 25th, 2008 02:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reileenI read this book a while back, but I just found my scribbled thoughts on it again today while clearing out some papers, so I figured I'd type them up in more detail here.
Back cover summary:
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking - total setup for an original Mary Sue, right? You've got the "spunky" teenage girl with tomboyish tendencies who:
1) Completely says "FUCK YOU" to the societal conventions of her time (in this case, it's an alternate universe Earth in the year 1802)
2) Has a distinctive beauty feature (it's a streak of orange in her hair that was supposedly the result of the accidental cannon explosion that resulted in her amnesia about her past)
3) Knows how to rig/sail a ship and fight with a sword, even though the closest she ever came to it was years ago as a young child...on a freakin' theatre stage
4) Seems to know exactly how to stun naysayers into silence, or if she doesn't do that, she still manages to somehow remain cool and unruffled through it all
5) Is a 16-year-old girl who has somehow managed to convince grown men to be her subordinates
6) Has managed to completely plunder a number of ships as Piratica without killing a single person or maiming them (the piratical Robin Hood, anyone?)
It'd be a recipe for disaster...and only the overall thespian conceit for this novel saves it from being so.
You find out early on that Art's mother, who held the title of "Piratica" prior to Art taking it for herself, wasn't actually a real pirate queen - she just played one onTV stage. And the entirety of Art's pirate crew is composed of the actors who accompanied Art's mother onstage. And I think that, by framing this as a significant part of the story and as part of Art's character, Lee is successful in convincing readers to understand and enjoy Art's adventures not as any representation of reality, but as a feel-good, celebratory, almost mythological story. It's utterly fantastic and theatric. Art herself is larger than life. So while we might not be able to empathize with Art, necessarily, you definitely want to cheer for her. As long as you can put aside the logistics that allow a young girl trained only in stage fighting to hold her own in a real fight, among other inconsistencies, this is a thoroughly enjoyable novel, and it's one of my all-time favorites. Art is Piratica, and not just within the context of her own world as a famous piratess: to us as readers, she's the theatric, magnificent character that her mother once played on stage.
***
On a tangential note, I also recommend checking out the four-book series of the Claidi Journals (Wolf Tower, Wolf Star, Wolf Queen, and Wolf Wing) by this same author. They were the first things I read by Lee, and I remember enjoying them greatly. Of course, this was years ago, when I was in junior high, and I haven't re-read them since (though I plan to do so!), so you may want to take this with a grain of salt.
On another note, I've also read the sequel, Piratica II, and found it immensely lacking. I'll still read the third book in the series when I can find it, though, since I'm fond of Art's character, as impossible and Sue-ish as she is.
-Reileen
you think this torment is romantic
Back cover summary:
Artemesia spent her childhood on a pirate ship, and she's sick of practicing deportment at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens. So she escapes, and sets out to find her mother's crew and breezily commands them out to sea. Soon, the young captain - now called Art - shapes her men into the cleverest pirate band afloat. And then they meet the dread ship Enemy and her beautiful, treacherous captain, Goldie Girl. The Seven Seas aren't large enough for two pirate queens. Art will have to wage the battle of her life to win her mother's title - and the race for the greatest treasure in pirate lore!
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking - total setup for an original Mary Sue, right? You've got the "spunky" teenage girl with tomboyish tendencies who:
1) Completely says "FUCK YOU" to the societal conventions of her time (in this case, it's an alternate universe Earth in the year 1802)
2) Has a distinctive beauty feature (it's a streak of orange in her hair that was supposedly the result of the accidental cannon explosion that resulted in her amnesia about her past)
3) Knows how to rig/sail a ship and fight with a sword, even though the closest she ever came to it was years ago as a young child...on a freakin' theatre stage
4) Seems to know exactly how to stun naysayers into silence, or if she doesn't do that, she still manages to somehow remain cool and unruffled through it all
5) Is a 16-year-old girl who has somehow managed to convince grown men to be her subordinates
6) Has managed to completely plunder a number of ships as Piratica without killing a single person or maiming them (the piratical Robin Hood, anyone?)
It'd be a recipe for disaster...and only the overall thespian conceit for this novel saves it from being so.
You find out early on that Art's mother, who held the title of "Piratica" prior to Art taking it for herself, wasn't actually a real pirate queen - she just played one on
***
On a tangential note, I also recommend checking out the four-book series of the Claidi Journals (Wolf Tower, Wolf Star, Wolf Queen, and Wolf Wing) by this same author. They were the first things I read by Lee, and I remember enjoying them greatly. Of course, this was years ago, when I was in junior high, and I haven't re-read them since (though I plan to do so!), so you may want to take this with a grain of salt.
On another note, I've also read the sequel, Piratica II, and found it immensely lacking. I'll still read the third book in the series when I can find it, though, since I'm fond of Art's character, as impossible and Sue-ish as she is.
-Reileen
you think this torment is romantic