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A review by kyratt
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
3.0
I'm as torn about this book as I was about the previous installment of the series. The plot, worldbuilding en pacing are amazing (Card really IS an amazing storyteller, as other people will tell you). I love the story, and the depth to the mythology. Everything fits and is explained well. I loved the innate goodness of Danny North that is not naïve. The pacing had me finishing this book in no time. The story is different and interesting and just a great read. All this makes this book (and the series) great.
However what goes wrong in these books is SO wrong..
The dialogue and especially the way Card writes his female characters is just horrible. And although he explains some of his choices in his afterword, it doesn't absolve him. Sure there are women who are attracted to men with power (who are also nice to them and good people), but it would be a process that would play itself out much more subtle and inside the heads of these women. They wouldn't talk about cleavages and penises all the time and keep asaulting the men. The worst thing for me is one of the girls telling Danny that she felt her womb was empty, and that women just want to be pregnant when their man goes off to war. How would girls ages 16 ever, EVER think this way? Ridiculous!!
All the women are either sex obsessed, bitchy, bossy, or perfect caretakers. No nuance there. And the way they speak is not like any woman I have ever met in my life. Especially the teenage girls. The way Danny thinks about his relationships with these women is trying to show that he is a teenager, but is also trying to convey some sort of 'wisdom beyond his years' that doesn't go together (multiple times he observes himself as being 'such a teenage boy' WHO THINKS THAT WAY ABOUT HIM/HERSELF??) You either are immature or you are not, you can't rationalize stuff like that.
However the Wad storyline showed much more depth and maturity, so I think Card just got stuck with a main character he doesn't really get himself. Maybe this is harsh, but I think Card is too old to really understand the mind of a teenage boy and especially the mind of a teenage girl.
However what goes wrong in these books is SO wrong..
The dialogue and especially the way Card writes his female characters is just horrible. And although he explains some of his choices in his afterword, it doesn't absolve him. Sure there are women who are attracted to men with power (who are also nice to them and good people), but it would be a process that would play itself out much more subtle and inside the heads of these women. They wouldn't talk about cleavages and penises all the time and keep asaulting the men. The worst thing for me is one of the girls telling Danny that she felt her womb was empty, and that women just want to be pregnant when their man goes off to war. How would girls ages 16 ever, EVER think this way? Ridiculous!!
All the women are either sex obsessed, bitchy, bossy, or perfect caretakers. No nuance there. And the way they speak is not like any woman I have ever met in my life. Especially the teenage girls. The way Danny thinks about his relationships with these women is trying to show that he is a teenager, but is also trying to convey some sort of 'wisdom beyond his years' that doesn't go together (multiple times he observes himself as being 'such a teenage boy' WHO THINKS THAT WAY ABOUT HIM/HERSELF??) You either are immature or you are not, you can't rationalize stuff like that.
However the Wad storyline showed much more depth and maturity, so I think Card just got stuck with a main character he doesn't really get himself. Maybe this is harsh, but I think Card is too old to really understand the mind of a teenage boy and especially the mind of a teenage girl.