I Read What?!

And back to this fuckery. If you recall, last time, Duncan was awful, Ms. Roberson seems to have about as much experience with horses as I do, and we finally met our interestingly named villain, Tynstar.



So we start off with Duncan and Alix holed up in a cave beyond Mujhara. We're told that Duncan spreads fur pelts over the stone floor while Alix wraps up in his red blanket. I'm wondering where on Earth he was keeping these things and how he knew to bring them. I'm not really being fair here. This is normally the kind of thing I'd handwave in a book. But well, this book never answers any questions.

Anyway, Alix watches him build a fire and then cook a small grouse over a fire. We also don't know when he got around to hunting that, but okay. She asks him if his arm hurts. He says no. She actually asks some useful questions this time: about the Cheysuli power to heal.

Duncan explains that the healing arts are generally used only in great need and usually only on others. (Carillon was a special case, because he needed to believe they weren't demons. I feel like not kidnapping him might have been a start. Or not constantly harassing Alix. Or releasing Alix in place of him. Or releasing Alix with him. But what do I know?)

Alix asks Duncan what he meant when he'd spoke to Carillon a few chapters ago. She notes that it sounded like he was speaking from knowledge. Duncan says he spoke because of the prophecy, and that Carillon is not named specifically (no one is), but he thinks Carillon is the one.

Alix wants more plain explanation, but Duncan refuses, saying she'll get the knowledge from the shar tahl.

You know, as much as I bitched about the Shaine section, at least that was a different conversation. With the amount of times that we've heard "you'll learn from the shar tahl" we could have actually bothered to flesh out a Cheysuli character who wasn't a rapist. (Oh look, I can be repetitive too!)

But seriously, this would have been a good conversation if it contained any new information. The healing part was fine. We didn't know that. But these exact words were said before. We KNEW the prophecy doesn't have names. We knew they think Carillon's the one because of his deeds. WE KNOW THIS SHIT.

Alix calls him out on the secrets, saying that it makes it sound like sorcery. She's got a point. Without a real explanation, this stuff sounds creepy and ominous. She's got every right to be skeptical and leery, and Duncan isn't doing anything to reassure her. She then moves onto a more interesting topic: Tynstar.

Duncan explains that Tynstar serves "the dark gods of the netherworld", is evil, and seeks only to end the prophecy. Sadly, Alix doesn't pursue this topic, even though she's just been face to face with the man. I'd personally want to know a bit more about this man who basically told me that he wasn't going to kill me yet, but probably would once I know more.

Alix instead asks him where he went when her horse ran: he killed two of the thieves then he tried to find her. He couldn't take lir shape because of the Ihlini's presence, and he'd sent Cai to Homana-Mujhar because he thought she returned to Carillon.

Wow, Duncan, that tells us that you know exactly how awful you're being that you think she'd run back to the city after choosing to go with you.

Alix accuses him of jealousy, which makes him scowl. Then she gets weird:

Alix smiled in wonder, then laughed outright. "So, I am to think the Cheysuli are not capable of such a Homanan emotion?

Yet your brother—who is also mine—seems well able to display it."

...has anyone actually said that Cheysuli don't have "Homanan emotions"? What does that even mean? And that is a really weird way for her to bring up Finn. Up until this point, we haven't seen anything to indicate that Alix genuinely sees him as a brother. She has only ever expressed fear and loathing, which is COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDABLE. The only time I remember her acknowledging their relationship is to try to put him off from harassing her.

Anyway, Duncan claims that Finn is young. (Not that young). Alix points out he's not much older which leaves to some angst and some really nasty apologia.

Color came into his face. "I left my youth behind the day my first Keep was invaded by the Mujhar's men. It was only the will of the gods I was not slain, as so many others were."

"Duncan—"

"You will see when we have reached the Keep."

"Are so few left?"

"Perhaps fifty women, half of which cannot bear children.

The rest are old men; girls, and boys. Of warriors . . . there are perhaps sixty."

The horror of the qu'mahlin swept into her for the first time.

"Duncan ..."

He looked old suddenly. "Once this land was ours. More than fifty clans ranged Homana, from Hondarth on the Idrian Ocean into the mountains of the north, across the Bluetooth River. Now they are all slain, leaving only my own clan. And we are not so strong as we were."

"Shaine's doing . . ."

He reached out and caught one of her arms, eyes beseeching her. "Do you see it now? Do you understand why we steal women and force them to bear our children? Alix, it is the survival of a race. It is not you the Council will see, but your race and your youth. You must serve your race, cheysula."

a) I was on board with this until the last paragraph. Taking that last paragraph aside, this is tragic. But we're dying so we get to rape women, feel sorry for us, is not logic that flies with me or anyone of sense!

b) While it's truly horrible what happened to the Cheysuli, to put it bluntly, raping women for children isn't going to help you. First, you have to be able to keep those children alive and there's no real indication that you'll be able to do that. Second, those are past extinction numbers. There's no way, even with abduction, that the numbers can be salvaged here. (There's a soft retcon in Song of Homana. There are a number of hidden clan enclaves that they'll find, and quite a few Cheysuli fled to other countries. So the race IS able to survive.)

c) Alix, he's basically telling you that your only worth to the clan will be your ability to bear children. RUN. RUN NOW.

d) Thank you, Jennifer Roberson, again, for making your First Nations allegory a race of rapists. That's a gift of racism that never gets old.

Anyway, Duncan promises to ask for her as his wife, he thinks that he won't be denied. She's Hale's daughter and this is tahlmorra. Alix hones in on the whole possible denial bit. Duncan admits that first she needs to be acknowledged in the clan, given knowledge in "the old fashion" and made aware of her birthlines. She has to be acknowledged as Cheysuli.

Um, Duncan? Question? What happens to the Homanan women who get kidnapped and raped? Do any of them get to be "cheysula"? I'm guessing no.

Duncan says she'll be tainted in the eyes of the Council because she's been raised Homanan, and will need the shar tahl to declare her free of it. Hey, congratulations Alix, you get to jump through hoops to justify yourself to a group of rapists for reasons that are completely out of your control.

This understandably freaks Alix out. Then she has the horrible thought that they might give her to Finn.

Duncan doesn't even reassure her, the asshole. He says that he's the clan-leader, but the Council will say what will be. Um. Hey. Asshole. THEY ARE SIBLINGS! Shouldn't that rule it out? I know you're a dying race, but I feel like inbreeding is still a concern here!

Alix is now in despair, thinking "To lose him when I have only just found him . . ."

Alix, sweetheart, I dislike you, but please. You just met him, and he's been an ass to you all of this time. Up until a day ago you were in love with Carillon. His brother keeps threatening to rape you and he didn't have a problem with it. He defends rape and basically told you that your value is only in having kids and a group of elders that you've never met is going to decide who you do that with.

Don't mourn for him. RUN.

Oh god.

Oh god.

Alix asks if Duncan could veto them giving her to someone else He says no, and when she brings up tahlmorra (as well she should), he says that just because it's his tahlmorra doesn't mean it's the clan's. What the fuck does THAT mean then???

But anyway, I hope you brought your anti-nausea meds:

She whispered his name. Then she lifted her face and touched his arm. "If I went before this Council already carrying your child . . . ?"

His eyes flickered in surprise. Then he smiled faintly. "If you made such a sacrifice, small one, there would be little they could say about the match."

Alix let we blanket drop. The gown beneath, ungirdled, hung loosely. Slowly she undid the fastenings at the neck. Duncan watched her mutely, held by the strength in her eyes. His breath came harsh.

When the gown was undone she let it fall to her feet. Her hair, unbound, streamed over her shoulders like a mantle.

"I am new to this ..." she whispered, trembling with something other than fear. "Duncan . . . it cannot be so very difficult to conceive . . ."

"No," he breathed, reaching for her. "It is not so very difficult."

Pardon me while I vomit.

I just...I can't with this book. I really can't. Of all the reasons to have the heroine and hero fuck, and you're going to go with "so her long lost people can't hand her off to someone else". This isn't consensual! Sure, Alix has inexplicably decided she wants Duncan, for no real reason except this tahlmorra bullshit, but she's basically doing this under duress! And he's going along with it! Well, of course he is. He's been defending rape all along.

So, Duncan takes her across Homana's border into its eastern neighbor, Ellis. We're told that Alix is clasping his "lean waist with a new and wonderful possessiveness", while she feels regret and anger that her grandfather "could so malignantly drive her race from their homeland into a strange realm."

Well, I'm glad you're no longer a genocide apologist. Meanwhile, Ellas! I like Ellas! As I recall the country exists to shelter genocide victims and be friendly allies while staying far far away from the prophecy bullshit.

But anyway, we get to the Keep. Here is the description for you:

When at last Duncan halted Alix saw before her a large half-circle wall of piled stone. The wall ran a distance before circling back, and at we wide opening she saw three warriors with their lir. They waited silently, and she realized they were guards.

"The Keep," Duncan said, and rode past we warriors.

Huge oiled pavilions billowed in a faint breeze. All were dyed warm colors, dwarfing the small tents she had seen at the raiding camp. Each had its own firepit before flapped entrances, but smoke drifted from the poled peaks and she realized smaller fires were tended within. Each pavilion, regardless of its color, bore a painted animal on its sides. By the shapes she could know what lir lived were.

The curving wall of undressed, unmortared stone hugged the shoulder of a craggy mountain. The half-circle blended into thick, sheltering trees. Alix realized such anonymity was the safety of the Cheysuli.

I'll admit, it actually sounds kind of cool. And pretty obviously First Nations-inspired.

Anyway, Alix notices that they've stopped in front of a green pavilion with a wolf motif. Duncan wants to see Finn. Alix, understandably wants nothing to do with him. This happens:

Duncan eyed her thoughtfully. "When last I saw him, he was feverish from the wounds gotten in the forest battle." His mouth was firm. "Wounds won protecting you."

Chastened, Alix slipped silently into his arms and allowed him to lead her into the pavilion.

What the fuck is wrong with you, Duncan? And by extension, Ms. Roberson? Finn has spent this entire book sexually harassing Alix. He's threatened to rape her multiple times. Probably would have, if not for his wolf deciding that he can't rape a woman of his own race.

The only reason Finn was injured "protecting" Alix was because HE KIDNAPPED HER TO BEGIN WITH. The only reason Carillon's men were there to threaten her is because Carillon was trying to rescue her, because you idiots wouldn't let her go.

How DARE you guilt Alix into any sort of warm feelings for her would be rapist?! And how dare Ms. Roberson have this actually work?!

So they go in. Finn is feeling well enough to be obnoxious, mockingly noting that his brother had managed to win Alix away from the city and Carillon. Which is kind of true. This pisses off Alix, who snaps that she came willingly enough when her grandfather called her shapechanger witch and threatened to kill her.

...which he only did because you forced a confrontation, Alix. Not that this excuses him for being a genocidal maniac, but I'm just not really sure what verbal points this is meant to score.

There's some "banter", where Finn reassures her that he'll be "plaguing" her soon enough when he's on his feet. This is the sort of thing which makes me wonder if Ms. Roberson bothered to read what she wrote. This banter, along with Duncan's general assessment of Finn does not remotely fit with what Finn actually does. He's a RAPIST. He's not a mischievous roguish scamp. He's not Touya picking on Sakura in Card Captor Sakura here. HE IS A RAPIST.

We're also told that inwardly Alix was grateful that Finn wasn't badly injured but she wouldn't say it to him. Why are you grateful, Alix?

And then this from Duncan:

"Will you two never admit peace between you?" Duncan growled. "Must I ever seek to placate you, one at a time?"

What kind of bullshit lover are you? Look, I get that there are rape fantasies and captive fantasies and BDSM-inspired fantasies where men treat women like shit. But I think even in Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian would be angry at someone ELSE who attempted to rape Ana. F'lar would never tolerate anyone treating Lessa like this. (Not that F'lar would ever have a chance to even notice something was wrong before Lessa disemboweled them).

But it's more the same problem as above. Jennifer Roberson seems to think she's writing some sort of weird mischievous sibling antagonism here. As though we didn't JUST get a scene where Alix reacts with panic at the thought of the Council handing her over to Finn.

But Duncan and Finn aren't finished dicking Alix around, because Finn drops a bombshell: someone named Malina has conceived.

To sum up: Malina was Borrs's lady, but before that she'd dated Duncan. She's four months pregnant, which coincides with both relationships. And now Borrs is dead, for all intents and purposes. Malina has yet to declare the father of the child.

Apparently, Duncan had intended to ask for formal clan-rights of Malina (to marry her) in the following year. When he wanted to wait, she went to Borrs instead. Duncan doesn't help matters by first flinching away from Alix's attempt to grab his hand, then storming out of the tent.

So let's sum up how things are going for Alix: she's been kidnapped, had her world-view completely shaken, discovered powers, picked a fight with her genocidal grandfather, left behind a princely love interest, learned that she has "destiny of sorts" with one of her captors who promised to marry her, and slept with said captor to make sure of it, and now she's finding out that maybe it's not a sure thing after all.

Alix asks why Finn is punishing her this way, and he just taunts her, noting that she recognizes her tahlmorra now and chose his brother. He notes that Duncan has been long satisfied with Malina, while Finn takes a woman where he will. He does note that before Alix, none of them had denied him.

That's not exactly what we heard before, Finn. But I'm willing to take that because it will make you only an ATTEMPTED rapist. And it's clear Roberson is never going to treat that with the severity it deserves.

Finn notes that if Malina is offering clan-rights, already proven to be fertile, then Duncan would be a fool to deny it. Duncan is not a fool, and Finn tells Alix not to worry, he'll still have her.

Yes. Look at this mischievous sibling relationship. *vomits*

Alix at least gets a triumphant exit line:

She longed to scream at him but did not. Somehow she summoned a regal elegance, even in a torn and stained gown.

"I am Hale's daughter ... I believe it now. Therefore I am Cheysuli. Therefore I have free choice of any man, rujholli, and I tell you now—you would be the last warrior I would ever consider. The last."

Alix left him feeling a strange satisfaction that she had so easily bested him. The look on his face had assured her victory.

Seriously, why is anyone acting like Finn is a viable option. The Cheysuli aren't the Ptolemies. And if their population is on its last legs, then why on Earth would they risk their already diminished procreative ability by allowing siblings to marry? If they're so desperate to be capturing and raping Homanan women (or...are they capturing and raping Ellasian women too? Because that would be a hell of a way to say thank you for giving refuge!) then they're not going to want to give up the possibility of a fertile half-Cheysuli woman who can bear children for them?

Anyway, Cai finds her and urges her to come to Duncan. Why didn't Duncan just wait for her? She's brought to a slate colored pavilion decorated with a hawk. Alix is filled with self-recrimination, noting that she left her home and rode into a strange land with a man who's just "forsaken" her. And that she's given herself to him, but he "seeks another".

Poor Alix. Duncan has really screwed her over with this. And if he DOESN'T intend to abandon her, then he really should be telling her right now. She's been through a fucking lot these past few days.

She starts to hear other whispers in her mind again, like the forest battle but not as oppressive. She worries she's going mad, but starts to separate out the voices. She combs her hair in the meantime with the comb that Duncan had given her (she'd kept it in her bodice for some reason). When he finally comes back, he's as uncommunicative as ever. He wants to take her to someone named Raissa, who will keep her until she goes before the shar tahl.

Wait. Gasp. Is this a CHEYSULI WOMAN? Will we finally get to hear a voice from a Cheysuli woman?!

Alix asks if she can stay with him, but he tells her she'd be better to stay elsewhere. Hey, asshole. She's just given up everything to be with you. Can't you be a little bit reassuring here?!

Alix confronts him about what Finn said. Duncan says that when he came for her in Homana Mujhar, Malina was someone else's wife, and he hadn't thought of her. Actually, dude. That's not true. Borrs lost his lir when Carillon saved Alix. You knew he was dead, for all intents and purposes. So you'd have known Malina was widowed.

He does tell Alix that he won't give her up. But says that Malina will be his wife, like he'd promised as children. Alix will be his mei jha, a position that has honors and rights. There's no disgrace to it, he tells her.

If there's no disgrace to it, then why the hell isn't Malina the "mei jha", Duncan? If this really doesn't matter to the Cheysuli, then it shouldn't matter to her. While Alix has made it clear since day one that she doesn't have any intention of being a mistress. Alix is from a culture where mistress IS a lesser position. And Alix gave up everything because you PROMISED to make her your WIFE.

I hate that I'm team Alix now, but honestly, Alix's reactions have made complete sense this chapter. And she doesn't deserve to be screwed over like this.

Thank god, Alix has her pride. She reminds him of his promise in the cave, and insists that she won't be anyone's "light woman". She asks him if he thought what she did was so easy for "an untried girl". He asks what she'd do, if she was free to do it. She says she'd go back to Carillon.

Duncan has the nerve to be angry about this. But what did he fucking expect? He thinks she means to be Carillon's mistress, proving that he hasn't listened to a word she's said. She says for help. And of course he says that he can't allow her to go, as she might have conceived.

Then this happens:

Realization flooded her. Angrily she pressed a fist against her stomach. "If I have conceived by you, I will name the child fatherless and raise it myself!"

Duncan went white, bolting to his feet like a wounded man.

He caught her arm cruelly and dragged her to her feet, ignoring her cry of pain.

"If you have conceived by me, it is mine!"


She gritted her teeth and hissed at him. "And do you not already have an unborn child, shapechanger? In the belly of the woman you will take as cheysula?."

"If it is mine I will keep it by me, just as I will if you bear me a child."

She paled beneath the pain of his hand on her arm. "You cannot take a child from its mother!"

"Here you live among the Cheysuli," he said grimly. "You will abide by our customs. If you will not have me then you win not, but if you have conceived the child is mine . . . and a link in the prophecy."

Fucking castrate him, Alix.

This is our male love interest, ladies, gentlemen and non-binary people of all ages. Alix has given up fucking EVERYTHING to accompany him here because he promised her she'd be his wife. Now he's going to take her child and justify it with "Cheysuli customs". Customs that of course he never told her about.

I think Ms. Roberson missed that a part of the reason captive fantasy stories were so effective is because the Native American tribes traditionally had more respect for women than the English colonists did. But there seems to be no actual advantage to being a Cheysuli woman at all. You can't choose your spouse without a Council's approval. You're explicitly only valued for your ability to bear children. Your children can be taken away from you by the father. The father can leave you completely for another wife, or take a mistress whenever he wants. Oh, but supposedly being a mistress is just as respected as a wife. And it sounds like the Council can "give" you to whoever they want.

You don't even get any cool magic powers. That's just for Alix, who is "special".

Things don't sound particularly great for women in Homana either, mind you. But Alix's revulsion seems to indicate that they can at least keep their own children. Why exactly shouldn't Alix become Carillon's mistress again? At least he'd respect her when she said no.

Alix asks if he'll force her to run like Lindir did, and Duncan responds with a sexual assault.

He drew her near. Alix stiffened rigidly as his arms went around her. It was no gentle lover's kiss. He was forcing her, as Finn had once, and she hated it. Warring emotions filled her soul and she struck out in bitterness, but her fist was trapped between his chest and her own. Slowly, against her will, it crept up to grasp his hair and pull turn closer. Whatever power he had to inflict pain on her also inflicted something deeper, and instinctively she recognized her need of him.

He calls her Cheysula, which makes her angry because he's choosing someone else and she won't be his mistress. Duncan says that she'll be "cheysula to no man". Who the fuck are you to say that?

It would serve him right if she met a nice Cheysuli man right now (maybe there's one who actually doesn't rape people) and declared she wanted to marry him.

Duncan decides to be even more of an asshole. He asks again if she won't be anyone's cheysula or mei jha, and then says "Do you follow our customs?!" without, y'know, explaining them. He tells her that she must accept all customs as her own. Who says?!

Some of your customs are bullshit, dude. She should get a say in this.

And then...

His hand darted to his belt and came up with his knife. Alix terrified, spun to flee.

Duncan caught her by the heavy braid and in one slash severed it at her neck.

Alix, stumbling, gasped in shock as the hair fell away. Her hands clasped the ragged edges left to her. Duncan stood silently, dark braid hanging from his hand.

"What have you done?"

"A Cheysuli custom," he said, deliberately casual. "When a woman refuses her place within the clan as cheysula or mei jha, her hair is shorn so all men know her intent. This way she cannot change her mind."

What. The. Fuck.

1) She says no, and he responds with deliberate violence. Our hero.

2) Apparently for the Cheysuli, a woman's place is as wife or mistress only. And if she refuses both, she's physically dishonored.

3) Notice how he's forced her into this position, so that her "intent" is known to "all men". Meaning she has no way to find someone who isn't him, if she wanted to.

4) "This way she cannot change her mind." Proving that this act isn't about protection, it's about punishment. Alix is being punished for rejecting her "place".

Alix tells him that she sees a stranger in front of her. Poor thing. Leave. Just leave. Run. You're in Ellas now. You can literally go anywhere.

Duncan throws her braid in the fire and then, calling her "rujholla", says he'll escort her to Raissa.

So look at this bullshit. LOOK AT THIS BULLSHIT. So not only are the first nations allegory rapists, they're also misogynists who force their women into specific roles defined by their sexual availability and punish them with violence when they don't comply.

This book got four stars on Goodreads. It got a special focus review from Tor.com in 2015, which notably did NOT call out its racism. Maybe the reviewer didn't want to burn bridges. But personally, I have no such qualms. This is racist fucking bullshit.

Maybe, maybe next chapter will be a little better. Maybe Raissa will give us a long needed female perspective. Maybe it won't be as bad as it seems. Maybe Duncan and Finn are just individually horrible.

I'm not holding out hope.