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jeriendhalSummary: Literally one day before Mistress Commander Angharad Godkin is about to retire after thirty-four years of honorable service in her kingdom's army, she finds herself reassigned to the post of Governor General of Shraeven, a recently conquered and restive province. Though the situation stinks of politics, she follows her duty and leads her company to their new home.
Aided by her company's new cavalry commander (and her old lover) Silfia, an odd mountain woman named Ragna, both fleeing their families in different ways, and a very annoying shaman, Ang finds that court politics is the least of her problems as she deals with both backwards and cruel raiders and Shraeven's gods, who are loud, active, and want something from her.
Review: Once again M.C.A. Hogarth (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
haikujaguar on LJ) produces a fine and different furry fantasy novel. Less grim than her Jokka stories, Flight nevertheless deals with some extremely troubling subjects, as Ragna's monstrous snow leopard clan and their disgusting treatment of their women and their mongrel children (literal mongrels. The LEGO genetics of the world leads them to believe that impregnating their women with animals will lead to a de-evolution that makes them closer to the Earth and to the gods) leads to Ang being beaten, gang-raped and the clan subsequently slaughtered to the last man.
(Surprisingly, she doesn't angst about this much, being more annoyed than anything, since it'll complicate her duty to find a husband and get a legitimate child for her clan.)
Actually the mongrels are another troubling subject. The world setup is similar to Piers Anthony's Xanth series of all things, with literally anyone able to make love to anyone else, leading to mix and match species. In Ang's case, this makes her a Godkin, a mix of over ten species, giving her the appearance of a classic fantasy griffon. Her kingdom believes with enough species mixing, they can produce gods. But sometimes the mix doesn't work, and they end up with mongrels, either humanoids with limited intelligence or animals with all too human intelligence (in this case making up the bulk of Silfia's cavalry mounts). As the father of an autistic son, I found the idea of taking groups of nevertheless sentient beings with limited intelligence and sending them off to war more than a little off-putting.
There are also a couple of minor issues that arise, likely from original serial publication of the story in LiveJournal. Early on, one character is described as likely having some Siamese Cat in their blood, which knocked me out of Hogarth's otherwise careful worldbuilding for a moment, and the issue with Silfia and her late and unlamented husband is dealt with rather clumsily, with the man's brother chasing her down through foreign territory just to finally have a duel with her and close up the plot thread.
Oh, and fair warning, for $6.00 you're basically getting half a novel. The story ends on a cliffhanger and the next installment isn't out yet. Nevertheless it's a well-written $6.00 story, and worth reading.
Aided by her company's new cavalry commander (and her old lover) Silfia, an odd mountain woman named Ragna, both fleeing their families in different ways, and a very annoying shaman, Ang finds that court politics is the least of her problems as she deals with both backwards and cruel raiders and Shraeven's gods, who are loud, active, and want something from her.
Review: Once again M.C.A. Hogarth (
haikujaguar on LJ) produces a fine and different furry fantasy novel. Less grim than her Jokka stories, Flight nevertheless deals with some extremely troubling subjects, as Ragna's monstrous snow leopard clan and their disgusting treatment of their women and their mongrel children (literal mongrels. The LEGO genetics of the world leads them to believe that impregnating their women with animals will lead to a de-evolution that makes them closer to the Earth and to the gods) leads to Ang being beaten, gang-raped and the clan subsequently slaughtered to the last man.(Surprisingly, she doesn't angst about this much, being more annoyed than anything, since it'll complicate her duty to find a husband and get a legitimate child for her clan.)
Actually the mongrels are another troubling subject. The world setup is similar to Piers Anthony's Xanth series of all things, with literally anyone able to make love to anyone else, leading to mix and match species. In Ang's case, this makes her a Godkin, a mix of over ten species, giving her the appearance of a classic fantasy griffon. Her kingdom believes with enough species mixing, they can produce gods. But sometimes the mix doesn't work, and they end up with mongrels, either humanoids with limited intelligence or animals with all too human intelligence (in this case making up the bulk of Silfia's cavalry mounts). As the father of an autistic son, I found the idea of taking groups of nevertheless sentient beings with limited intelligence and sending them off to war more than a little off-putting.
There are also a couple of minor issues that arise, likely from original serial publication of the story in LiveJournal. Early on, one character is described as likely having some Siamese Cat in their blood, which knocked me out of Hogarth's otherwise careful worldbuilding for a moment, and the issue with Silfia and her late and unlamented husband is dealt with rather clumsily, with the man's brother chasing her down through foreign territory just to finally have a duel with her and close up the plot thread.
Oh, and fair warning, for $6.00 you're basically getting half a novel. The story ends on a cliffhanger and the next installment isn't out yet. Nevertheless it's a well-written $6.00 story, and worth reading.
