Review/Rant: _Never After_, Lickiss
Kate Nepveu
I'm glad I borrowed _Never After_, by Rebecca Lickiss, from the
library.
Instead of actually *buying* it.
This book annoyed me quite considerably. A full explanation requires
spoilers, which are at the bottom. Here's the setup: a prince goes
looking for a princess, because his parents have decreed he can only
marry an actual princess--mostly because they don't like his cousin,
Vevila, and are afraid he might marry her otherwise. The prince finds
a castle behind brambles, complete with sleeping inhabitants and not
one, not two, but three--princes. One "s" only. He also finds a
sleeping woman who he's convinced is a princess and would marry if she
weren't, you know, so _asleep_. So he goes to get his cousin Vevila,
on the theory that she's much smarter than she is and could figure it
out. He runs into Vevila on the road; she's run away from court,
rather than be married off to her suitors, etc. Along the way they
also pick up some wizards.
Back at the castle, they discover that the caster of the spell is
still around: she's the prince's fairy godmother, protecting him from
evil (or, Eeeevil) by keeping him away from the world. (She also
divided him when he was a child, to protect him from assassins.) The
witch has no intention of actually letting anyone break the spell,
because that would mean her beloved godchild would be back in the
world again. So she subjects Vevila to a princess test (spin straw
into gold) before she'll even let Vevila try to kiss the princes.
Also, along the way, she curses one of the wizards so that he can only
talk in Shakespeare quotes (which the wizards all know, even though
they state he's from a different world. Which is never explained.). As
the story goes on, alleged princesses and princess tests proliferate,
Rumpelstiltskin shows up, there's a pumpkin carriage and a ball, and
eventually everyone is subjected to a Happy Ending.
First of all, this has been done before, and better, by at least two
different authors: Patricia Wrede, in her Enchanted Forest Chronicles,
and Terry Pratchett, in _Witches Abroad_. (I do hope the author hasn't
read _Witches Abroad_, or if she did, that she meant the "cat turned
into servant for Cinderella's ball, acts like a, well, tomcat in human
form" episode as a tribute to Greebo . . . ) Three, counting John
Barnes's _One for the Morning Glory_, I suppose. So any charm that
originality might lend is lost on me.
Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
Fourth, fifth, and _n_th, the ending. Oh, the ending.
Okay. We've got a story that's structured around fairy tale elements,
specifically princess tests. The story uses these elements to
deconstruct the idea of "royalty," and to point out that a person's
status as a princess is socially constructed. Great, fine, no problem.
Now, having gone to all the trouble of undermining one of the key
conventions of fairy tales, *why* would the story turn around and
subject its characters to the most unthinking and conventional kind of
Happy Ending there is? It's absolutely baffling, extremely
unsatisfying, and a complete compromise of the characters.
And then the story takes the idea that royalty is purely socially
constructed, and tries to extend it to claim that personality traits
are also _purely_ socially constructed. Which I find offensive. If the
question is whether someone is, say, generous and charitable, then it
*actually matters* if that person gives stuff away.
It's possible that this extension was meant to be limited to magic,
but that's not how it reads to me. And I reject the idea, particularly
when presented as the moral insight of the story.
If you want fairy tale elements twisted around in light fantasy, read
the other books I mentioned above. Avoid this one.
Now, the SPOILERS for the ending, and my complaints about it.
Right. At the end of the book, the following characters are either
married or engaged:
* Cinderella's two evil stepsisters, to two of the three princes, who
just woke up
* Cinderella, to the other prince, who also just woke up
* A socially-constructed princess, to a prince who used to be a frog
(they just met; she wasn't the one who kissed him)
* The prince who started the whole thing by falling in love with the
asleep woman, to the formerly-asleep woman
* Vevila to Rumpelstiltskin
First. The evil stepsisters really are horrible people. No revision
there.
Second, third, and fourth: none of these people know each other! The
formerly-asleep woman apparently just wants to get out of cleaning up
the rundown castle.
And there is absolutely no hint anywhere that these might not be happy
marriages. Or even marriages that will start on rocky ground. Not a
single particle of irony to be found.
Fifth. Vevila is practically forced into marrying Rumpelstiltskin, and
doesn't *need* to marry him in order to go off and have adventures,
and he spent most of the book manipulating her. Yuck.
The other complaint, about the personality traits, related to the
breaking of the Shakespeare spell. The release for the spell was,
"Until you've learned humility, respect for others, and docility."
Vevila hears this at the very end of the book. First she points out
that what makes a princess is everyone saying she's a princess. Then
she says, "If everyone else said he was humble, respectful, and
docile--regardless of his actual behavior--then he *would* *be*
humble, respectful, and docile. And the spell would be broken."
(emphasis mine)
--
Kate Nepveu
E-mail: kne...@steelypips.org
Home: http://www.steelypips.org/
Book log: http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/
Nancy Lebovitz
Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
>depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
Athelstan is a real, historical name, if that matters. I don't know
about the rest.
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com www.nancybuttons.com
Now, with bumper stickers
Using your turn signal is not "giving information to the enemy"
Elf M. Sternberg
> In article <r7kk8vohb7qla947k...@news.verizon.net>,
> Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>>Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
>>depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>>tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>>Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
> Athelstan is a real, historical name, if that matters. I don't know
> about the rest.
My handy-dandy database of 200,000 names reveals:
Vevila Scottish F
Berengaria German F
Jaquenetta Shakespeare F
I decided to do the search because I knew 'Jaquenetta' was a
real name from Shakespeare: my SF serial has an entire community that
deliberately and consciously takes its names from the Bard, and
Jaquenetta was one of the first names I used.
No news on "Mazigian," or "Urticacea."
Elf
Stewart Robert Hinsley
<e...@drizzle.com> writes
>>>Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
>>>depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>>>tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>>>Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
>
>> Athelstan is a real, historical name, if that matters. I don't know
>> about the rest.
>
>My handy-dandy database of 200,000 names reveals:
>
> Vevila Scottish F
> Berengaria German F
> Jaquenetta Shakespeare F
>
> I decided to do the search because I knew 'Jaquenetta' was a
>real name from Shakespeare: my SF serial has an entire community that
>deliberately and consciously takes its names from the Bard, and
>Jaquenetta was one of the first names I used.
>
> No news on "Mazigian," or "Urticacea."
Berengaria was the name of Richard I's wife. Urticacea is one letter
short of Urticaceae, which in botany is the nettle family; rather a
stinging choice of name to bestow on the poor bearer.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Elf M. Sternberg
A quick Google reveals that 'Mazigian' is a rare but legitimate
surname.
Elf
Craig Richardson
wrote:
>na...@unix1.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz) writes:
>
>> In article <r7kk8vohb7qla947k...@news.verizon.net>,
>> Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>
>>>Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
>>>depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>>>tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>>>Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
>
>> Athelstan is a real, historical name, if that matters. I don't know
>> about the rest.
>
>My handy-dandy database of 200,000 names reveals:
>
> Vevila Scottish F
> Berengaria German F
> Jaquenetta Shakespeare F
Berengaria of Navarre was the wife of Richard the Lionheart.
--Craig
--
Managing the Devil Rays is something like competing on "Iron Chef",
and having Chairman Kaga reveal a huge ziggurat of lint.
Gary Huckabay, Baseball Prospectus Online, August 21, 2002
David Kennedy
[snip]
Enjoyed the review; it's a book I might have gone for, enjoying
the type, and am convinced of it's flaws, which would have
annoyed me too. However, something struck me as odd:
> Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
> tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
> Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
Some of those are real, normal names. Even famous. Let's take
to just the first: Althelstan. Famous Saxon name. Famous
Saxon king. Died in 939 AD. Familiar to students who ever had
to suffer through English history lessons.
Vevila is celtic - Welsh? I've heard of it.
Berengaria is another historical one; wasn't Richard Lionheart's
wife called that?
But these things are cultural; for example from here your "Nepveu"
looks like a made up name.
Now, if you'd complained that all those names co-existed
in one small town, non-immigrant fantasy population, then
I'd agree with you.
--
David Kennedy
Andrew Plotkin
> Enjoyed the review; it's a book I might have gone for, enjoying
> the type, and am convinced of it's flaws, which would have
> annoyed me too. However, something struck me as odd:
>> Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>> tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>> Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
> Some of those are real, normal names. Even famous. Let's take
> to just the first: Althelstan. Famous Saxon name. Famous
> Saxon king. Died in 939 AD. Familiar to students who ever had
> to suffer through English history lessons.
> Vevila is celtic - Welsh? I've heard of it.
> Berengaria is another historical one; wasn't Richard Lionheart's
> wife called that?
> But these things are cultural; for example from here your "Nepveu"
> looks like a made up name.
Just because a name is real doesn't mean it's not awful.
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
* Make your vote count. Get your vote counted.
Kate Nepveu
>In article <r7kk8vohb7qla947k...@news.verizon.net>,
>Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>>Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
>>depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>>tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>>Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
>Athelstan is a real, historical name, if that matters.
Thank you for informing me, but it doesn't matter. It's not a
historical, verisimilitude on that axis isn't required as far as I'm
concerned.
Kate Nepveu
>Here, David Kennedy <da...@dkennedy.org> wrote:
>> Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>> [snip]
>> Enjoyed the review; it's a book I might have gone for, enjoying
>> the type, and am convinced of it's flaws, which would have
>> annoyed me too. However, something struck me as odd:
Glad you found it useful.
>>> Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>>> tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>>> Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
>> Some of those are real, normal names. Even famous.
[...]
>> But these things are cultural; for example from here your "Nepveu"
>> looks like a made up name.
>Just because a name is real doesn't mean it's not awful.
EXACTLY.
If I were creating a character, I wouldn't name her Urticacea _or_
Nepveu. They can't be conveniently pronounced in one's head, they look
strange, they sound awful--yes, it's cultural, but presumable the
author is writing for readers in this culture.
(Nepveu, btw, is something like debased French-Canadian, from my
(adopted) father's side of the family.)
Peter D. Tillman
Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
> Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> >Here, David Kennedy <da...@dkennedy.org> wrote:
> >> Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>
> >>> Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
> >>> tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
> >>> Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
>
> >> Some of those are real, normal names. Even famous.
> [...]
> >> But these things are cultural; for example from here your "Nepveu"
> >> looks like a made up name.
>
> >Just because a name is real doesn't mean it's not awful.
>
> EXACTLY.
>
> If I were creating a character, I wouldn't name her Urticacea _or_
> Nepveu. They can't be conveniently pronounced in one's head, they look
> strange, they sound awful--yes, it's cultural, but presumable the
> author is writing for readers in this culture.
>
Heh. I was rereading a bad 50's SF novel TOD. All the characters (all
males, natch) had names like Jack Miller, Bob Corcoran, Jim Smith. So a
happy medium would be good -- say, a spunky reviewer/web geek character
named, oh, 'Kate Nepveu'... <G>
Cheers -- Pete Tillman
--
"Tillman was in the Oval Office again... kicking himself for not taking
that Christian kid's body while he had the chance. He could've at least
borrowed it for a while..." -- Dennis Danvers, _End of Days_ (1999)
Nancy Lebovitz
Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>na...@unix1.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz) wrote:
>>In article <r7kk8vohb7qla947k...@news.verizon.net>,
>>Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>
>>>Second, there are too many characters, and too few of them have any
>>>depth. Third, they all have horrible names; even for a parody-fairy
>>>tale, this is going too far. Althelstan. Vevila. Mazigian. Urticacea.
>>>Berengaria. Jaquenetta. You get the idea.
>
>>Athelstan is a real, historical name, if that matters.
>
>Thank you for informing me, but it doesn't matter. It's not a
>historical, verisimilitude on that axis isn't required as far as I'm
>concerned.
I wasn't saying that "Athelstan" added versimilitude--you seemed to
be implying that they were egregious names made up for fairy-tale
parody silliness.
Htn963
>If I were creating a character, I wouldn't name her Urticacea _or_
>Nepveu. They can't be conveniently pronounced in one's head, they look
>strange, they sound awful--yes, it's cultural, but presumable the
>author is writing for readers in this culture.
And what culture would "this culture" be? How about "Titus Groan" and
"Miles Vorkosigan"?
I think you're making too big a snit over this. Long, strange names are
an accepted part of fairy tales. "Rumpelstiltskin", if you weren't familiar
with is story, would also sound strange and awkward.
FWIW, I thought the author's surname, "Lickiss", in the header, was madeup
by a disgruntled reader and that this was going to be a parody of a review.
--
Ht
|Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
--John Donne, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"|
James William Moar
> Heh. I was rereading a bad 50's SF novel TOD. All the characters (all
> males, natch) had names like Jack Miller, Bob Corcoran, Jim Smith. So a
> happy medium would be good -- say, a spunky reviewer/web geek character
> named, oh, 'Kate Nepveu'... <G>
'Corcoran'?
(Italian, German, French, Polish, etc. derived names sound less 'normal'
to my British ears than to American ones...)
--
James Moar
Craig Richardson
Which is kind of weird, since "Corcoran" is Irish...
"The English version may derive from a number of Irish originals: O
Corcrain, Mac Corcrain, O Corcain, and O Corcra, all stemming
originally from corcair, meaning ‘purple’. The name has also been
anglicised ‘Corkery’ and ‘Corkin’. It arose separately in different
locations, in the O’Carroll territory encompassing parts of Offaly and
Tipperary, and in Co Fermanagh. The name is now rare in Fermanagh, and
it seems likely that the many Corcorans found in Mayo and Sligo are
part of this group. Further south the name is also common now in Cork
and Kerry as well as in Tipperary."
David Kennedy
> Just because a name is real doesn't mean it's not awful.
Heh. "Plotkin". Heh. :-)
--
David Kennedy