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3.01 AVERAGE
3.01 AVERAGE
Me when I create a fantasy world in my head and make myself empress then go back to my real home and fight the intruders
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Margaret Cavendish was a fascinating and eccentric woman, and I discovered her via the novelization of her life [b:Margaret the First|25943007|Margaret the First|Danielle Dutton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447140898l/25943007._SX50_.jpg|45842261]. I finally got around to her 1666 novel which is allegedly the first sci-fi novel (?), and it is pretty fascinating, if difficult, read. There's a lot of philosophizing, for one, in which the Empress, a woman from our world who is accidently transported to a parallel world stacked pole-to-pole with ours so that they just touch, engages in all sorts of scientific questioning of the anthropomorphic inhabitants she finds herself ruling over. I enjoy reading about historical perceptions of the natural sciences, though it was difficult to tell whether this section was written tongue-in-cheek or not. Often the empress would ask a grounded scientific question and get a (to me) wild answer from the bird-men or worm-men or whomever. This philosophizing goes on for a while, and then Margaret writes herself in as the spirit of the Duchess of Newcastle summoned to befriend the Empress. They become fast platonick friends (emphasis on the platonick, interestingly). Then we get some high seas action where the Empress brings her powers through the poles back to our world to defend her country of origin, and overdoes it perhaps by setting any town on fire that has been dodging tribute payments. There's a lot of imaginative uses of star-stones through here, and ultimately the Empress is recognized and appreciated in our world, and hangs out with the Duchess's spirit after as her husband builds golden stables and solicits the Duchess as a playwright. The Duchess, in perhaps a meta move, demures because her plays were all rejected in her home world, but apparently this new blazing world is more openminded when it comes to the construction of theatrical arts. This was weird, and dense, and imaginative, and even centered on a platonick female friendship, so I can't help but appreciate it for what it brought to women-authored speculative fiction by an author writing outside her time.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No