a conspiracy of cartographers

A few weeks ago I got the first two Beka Cooper books from the library, and, to my surprise, read them all in a go. (Or most of them; I had to return Bloodhound when I was only halfway through, so please no spoilers.) I say 'to my surprise' because somewhere in the Trickster books I reached the conclusion that I like Tamora Pierce books best when they have fabulous camp villains and lots of swashbuckling, and that her older stuff ran on nostalgia value but I'd just outgrown her. Beka Cooper told me it wasn't so; I love those books, and they filled me with the deep enthusiastic desire to go reread Alanna.

I'm at the beginning of In the Hand of the Goddess again now, and ... wow, right after reading the Beka books, it's weird. I keep imagining all the brilliant worldbuilding things that could happen! All the brilliant gender commentary! All the ... yeah, man, I still don't know what to do about the Bazhir. Possibly open diplomatic dialogue instead of making Jonathan the Voice?

The point is, though, that I keep imagining a much longer, in-depth, and progressive set of Alanna books. There would be a lot more history, especially in regards to the Old Ones and the Black City; I'd love to see those match up with the developed mythology of the later books. There would be a bit more time to get to know Raoul and Alex and Gary and Jon and Miles and George, though, bless them, I love them all even though they're mostly sketches compared to her later character work. There would just be more time for everything, the psychology of Roger and the war with Tusaine and foreign relations and the Roof of the World and everything with Thom and and and.

Really what I want, though, is the narrative of a girl who lives as a boy for eight years. And yes, there's a bit of that, but -- oof. I actually keep wincing a little. Alanna keeps being convinced that she has to prove herself five times over to be as good as the weakest boy, and utterly loathes it when she hits various milestones of female puberty, and scowls a lot when people tell her gently that she can't change what the gods gave her. On the other hand, she ends up growing very comfortably into herself, so I'd say she's maybe a bit genderqueer but not, at the end of the day, in the wrong body. What I really want is for her to identify however the fuck she wants, and while I'm at it, let's examine how Jonathan is mostly into her when she dresses like a girl and he remembers that she's a hot lady, while meanwhile George kisses Alan on street corners and Liam flips out no matter what. Oh, and let's talk about how Alanna's entire close social circle for eight years was a group of excellent guys who definitely talked about the ladies they were into while she is around; damn but it would be excellent if Alanna was bi. I am sure there are plenty of court ladies who are not silly or scheming! That would be amazing and add so many tasty layers to her ridiculous on-and-off thing with Jon. And of course she can end up with George anyway, pay attention, George makes out with Alan on street corners.

Fff. I need to shut up that awful little voice in the back of my head that keeps saying so write it yourself.