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A review by thebetterstory
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
An absolute delight of a book. I enjoyed Swordspoint, but I loved The Privilege of the Sword. It has less of Swordspoint's elegance and atmosphere, but the characters grew on me far more quickly and the plot was much easier to follow and care about due to that.
I would die for Katherine. With her, Kushner out here answering the question we all should have been asking, "What if Anne of Green Gables had a sword?" I hope she lives to a ripe old age stabbing all the terrible men in the city while reciting bad romantic verse about it. Her romantic plotlines and exploration of her sexuality were sweet and well handled as well.
I was also deeply touched by how Kushner handled the travails of being a teenage girl in a world that sneers at the idea of their agency while still holding up an affectionate mirror to all the melodramatic tendencies they have. There's joy and fierce tenderness in the way the book celebrates the teenagers being teenagers, and never makes light of the seriousness of the issues in their lives even as it pokes gentle fun.
Similarly, the novel deals beautifully with the topic of fandom and its intersection with adolescence. The scene whereArtemisia has been raped and Katie finds her in the aftermath, quoting lines from the book that they both love and recognize to comfort her, struck me as particularly lovely. Love for a shared piece of media—a melodramatic, romantic piece of pop culture written for teenage girls! — gives the characters strength, motivation and a less horrific way of reframing the terrible things that happen so that they can become tolerable instead of unbearable. It's a powerful way of showing why even "silly" fiction matters, and it made me love this story all the more.
The story is hampered slightly by the ending, which comes on far too quickly and ends far too conveniently to feel earned. It is hard, however, to complain about seeing all the characters I loved getting their deserved happy ending, so I won't whine too much.
I would die for Katherine. With her, Kushner out here answering the question we all should have been asking, "What if Anne of Green Gables had a sword?" I hope she lives to a ripe old age stabbing all the terrible men in the city while reciting bad romantic verse about it. Her romantic plotlines and exploration of her sexuality were sweet and well handled as well.
I was also deeply touched by how Kushner handled the travails of being a teenage girl in a world that sneers at the idea of their agency while still holding up an affectionate mirror to all the melodramatic tendencies they have. There's joy and fierce tenderness in the way the book celebrates the teenagers being teenagers, and never makes light of the seriousness of the issues in their lives even as it pokes gentle fun.
Similarly, the novel deals beautifully with the topic of fandom and its intersection with adolescence. The scene where
The story is hampered slightly by the ending, which comes on far too quickly and ends far too conveniently to feel earned. It is hard, however, to complain about seeing all the characters I loved getting their deserved happy ending, so I won't whine too much.