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Pele's Reviews > The Iron Dragon's Daughter
The Iron Dragon's Daughter (The Iron Dragon's Daughter #1)
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by
I read this book years ago, and it's one of those that really stick with you and rattle around in your head.
If you've ever read classic, well respected literature, you know that the author is telling a raw and original story, and cares nothing about the reader's comfort along the way. That, to me, is the sign of a truly well-written book. You experience the human condition through the writing, and a good part of the human condition is NOT comfortable, pretty, or easy to face.
The genius here (and why this book became such a phenomenon in the 90s), is that Swanwick took a genre that is notorious for NOT challenging the reader, for being overly comfortable, and not well respected, and elevated it.
He uses a harsh world with class issues, and an imperfect main character (really, you expect a child slave with revenge issues to be a paragon of morality?), to emotionally exercise the reader in a manner usually expected when you sit down with a copy of Heart of Darkness, or Lord of the Flies. It will elevate you, it will floor you, and it will make you upset with the main character (because she's not perfect).
Most of all, it will stay with you and change how you view a genre.
If you've ever read classic, well respected literature, you know that the author is telling a raw and original story, and cares nothing about the reader's comfort along the way. That, to me, is the sign of a truly well-written book. You experience the human condition through the writing, and a good part of the human condition is NOT comfortable, pretty, or easy to face.
The genius here (and why this book became such a phenomenon in the 90s), is that Swanwick took a genre that is notorious for NOT challenging the reader, for being overly comfortable, and not well respected, and elevated it.
He uses a harsh world with class issues, and an imperfect main character (really, you expect a child slave with revenge issues to be a paragon of morality?), to emotionally exercise the reader in a manner usually expected when you sit down with a copy of Heart of Darkness, or Lord of the Flies. It will elevate you, it will floor you, and it will make you upset with the main character (because she's not perfect).
Most of all, it will stay with you and change how you view a genre.
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