The Children of Kings: A Darkover Novel

I just finished reading The Children of Kings: A Darkover Novel by Deborah Ross and Marion Zimmer Bradley.  While it was a good story, it was one I could fairly easily put down, sometimes for weeks at a time.  I know that, to an extent, my busy schedule has prevented me from really delving into the story, but I also know that a really good book over-rides that.  When The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult arrived in the mail last year, I had no problem pushing everything else aside for the day and a half it took me to read it.   I had no problem getting up to throw in a load of laundry while mid-chapter in The Children of Kings -- not a good sign for a book.

This story has all the elements I like:  familiar characters, new characters, adventure, a little romance.  So why did it not click with me?   The weapons smugglers and their interaction with the villagers were a little too predictable and cliched.  The desert lands could have been anywhere in the Middle East -- there was nothing Darkovian about them besides Gareth.   Once Rahella's identity was revealed,  it was clear that Gareth would end up marrying her.  Why her father allowed her to run around dressed like a boy was far less clear and did not fit the established societal norms for the series.  The story may have been better without a love interest.   I was happy to discover the fate of Regis' daughter, but parts of her story also didn't ring true with me. 

The December issue of Poetry looks promising, so that's where I'll turn next.

Deborah Ross v Marion Zimmer Bradley

I love that Ross and Bradley collaborated on the final Darkover novels, but my recent switching back and forth between the two writers has highlighted some differences in writing styles.  While Ross is an incredible writer, she does not always use the elevated vocabulary that is the norm for Bradley's writing, and, while much of what happens between the sheets in Bradley's books is alluded to, Ross provides details that limit how much is left to the imagination.  I do not mean to imply that Ross' descriptions are pornographic, but I do prefer Bradley's allusions -- not just for me, but for the myriad of young readers who are drawn to science fiction and fantasy.   Regardless of our age, what we are able to envision is limited by our experiences.  When I think about my daughters in their teenage years, and my current students, I prefer that their understanding and visualization of sexual situations be limited to what they already know instead of providing details of things they have yet to experience.   

Of course, when I think back to my teenage years and the songs that Mary Whitehouse attempted to ban, I know I run the risk of sounding like her 2014 counterpart with my views about some movies, television shows, and novels.  But still, I do feel that there must be some balance between providing accurate information in sex education classes and providing too much information in literature.  (In high school, not only did our biology text book limit coverage of reproduction to flowers and rabbits, our male biology teacher in our girls' school always returned to chapter one rather than discuss how bunnies do it!  I do not advocate that, and I am very thankful that Mr. Bailey resigned and was replaced with a more progressive teacher for year 5 of biology.)   But I digress....  my preference for allusion and limited detail applies not only to sexuality in novels.  I also prefer to build my own image of each character and his or her environment.  In the Darkover novels, red hair indicates the likelihood of psychic abilities and is therefore an important component of the story.  Other than that, I prefer to be given a general idea of a character's appearance and then allowed to flesh out the details in my mind.    

The differences in Ross' and Bradley's writing is echoed in the differences between younger teachers and me.  There are scenes in White Oleander and The Bluest Eye that I do not want to discuss with students, but I am comfortable telling students that Hamlet is referring to sex in parts of the play -- and then letting them use their imaginations.  Or maybe the difference reflects my English upbringing.  Regardless, I am very happy that Ross is continuing the Darkover story lines, but I mourn the passing of Marion Zimmer Bradley and other writers of her ilk.

Back to Marion Zimmer Bradley

It's been a while since I had time to read for pleasure, but I decided to take my Kindle along on our recent trip to an air rifle competition to Nashville instead of playing endless games of Candy Crush on my phone during the trip as I had done in summer.  I have three books from the Darkover series on my Kindle, each of which I have only read once.  Hastur Lord fills in much of the background that I have always wondered about while reading about the characters in the books that chronologically follow the Sharra rebellion.  (Marion Zimmer Bradley did not write or publish the books in chronological order, which is actually one of the things that I love about the series.)  I enjoyed reading Hastur Lord so much that I continued reading sporadically after we returned home and am now part way through The Alton Gift, written with Deborah Ross.   In this book, Michael's and Maguerida's children are grown up and Regis Hastur is dead. 

What keeps bringing me back to these books is the combination of well-rounded characters and the wonderful style of writing.  When I haven't read for pleasure for a while, I am always more aware of the number of "SAT words" that I encounter in my favorite novels.  It's not like the intended audience for these books is necessarily highly educated; the books are just well written and include this level of words when appropriate.  I will admit that there are words that I now look up on the Kindle when I encounter them that I would not have interrupted my reading to go get a dictionary for, but through being an avid reader, I naturally came to know the meaning of so many of the words that I now directly teach to my students simply so that they can improve their SAT scores.

When my husband and I talk about the books we loved as teenagers, we always seem to return to discussing the impact that reading had on our lives.  I don't believe that anything impacted my writing style and vocabulary more than reading -- except for Miss Southall, my high school English teacher.  (I still channel her when writing research papers!)  My love of history originated with novels, which led to reading non-fiction books and biographies.  This counteracted the deep hatred I felt for the subject instilled in me by Mrs. Howell, my high school history teacher.

While I will always believe there is a place in the classroom for young adult literature, I also believe that there is a place for well-written popular literature that does not necessarily target teens.  I'm not saying that we should throw out the classics, but I do think we need to offer students books that are both interesting and stretch their reading fluency and vocabulary skills.  Students need to see vocabulary as a skill that will make reading more pleasurable and not just a necessary evil to endure until they have conquered whatever standardized test they are currently facing.