![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Not a Review: Clash of Steel by CB Lee
Jul. 23rd, 2022 11:26 pm- 'once you've experienced ocean, nothing else is considered water — this is neither grammatical nor does it convey the meaning of the original line with sufficient immediacy.
- why is Beijing Beijing, but Guangdong Canton.
- 'sampan boat' like chai tea but nautical.
- 'oiled paper brightening the windows speaks to the comforts we offer — a warm cup of tea and a place to gather with friends'. Very eloquent that oiled paper.
- This page alone contains: Nai Nai (no diacritics, no hyphen); Mei-Mei (hyphen, no diacritics); dìhuáng (with diacritics). The following page contains: Yéye (one word, diacritics, no hyphen). What the hell, book.
- 'a lady who matches her clothing to her jewellery is seen as demure and intelligent' — intelligent maaaaaybe but why and how demure??
- why is the MC calling this hair ornament a BROOCH.
- 'mother isn't in a position to send me to court in the Forbidden City even if I had wanted to' — I think author has a serious misconception about the imperial concubine selection process. Especially since this is set explicitly in the Qing Dynasty (explicitly the year 1826), when the process was super formalised.
- 'Everyone ... is milling about and walking with purpose' — did no one copyedit this.
- 'paintings of courtiers modelling the latest fashions in the Forbidden City' — I can accept the idea of fashion plates in mid to late Qing, but the idea that they would be PAINTINGS instead of format capable of being mass produced is mind-boggling, as is the notion that 'courtiers', by which I can only imagine the author meant noblewomen, would be doing the modelling. It would make much more sense for actors or courtesans to be doing the modelling.
- 'no one in our village had bothered to style their hair in [the Manchu fashion]' — right right, that's a thing you can just 'not bother' to do after 250 years of Manchu rule, not a treasonous political statement and symbol of rebellion.
- this book now has me googling 'when were disposable chopsticks invented'. The answer is: more than 50 years after this book is set, in Japan.
- it was Canton before, why is it Guangdong now???
- why does this 'Ming Dynasty fashion' sound more like Tang Dynasty fashion, as described. Also why are they wearing Ming Dynasty-style clothes 250 years after the fall of the Ming. Also the characters keep expressly calling them 'Ming Dynasty style' and I keep wanting to hiss 'do you want to be arrested on suspicion of treason and insurrection?'
- this pirate woman is being described as an 'ex-courtier in the Forbidden City' but she clearly wasn't an imperial concubine or a palace maid because she also says she had 'many suitors' and later a husband who clearly wasn't the emperor so what gives.
- ...you know what I think it's easier on my sanity if I just accept that the author thinks the Qing court worked exactly like a European court.
- now we have a Ming Dynasty HAIRSTYLE. Starting to wonder if author understands how dynastic change happens, and how specifically the Ming to Qing dynastic change happened, and that it would be politically dangerous to display nostalgia for the most recent last dynasty, and DEFINITELY to display nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty while living as a subject of the Qing Dynasty.
- there's an author's note where she explains her romanisation choices but that only makes things even more confusing: 'names, places and words are spelled with respect to their origins, whether they be Cantonese or Mandarin. Xiang, who grew up in the Guangdong province...' BUT XIANG IS MANDARIN. In Cantonese, it would be Heung. And her mum's name is romanised as SHI YEUNG. It should be Shi Yang in pinyin or Sek Yeung in Cantonese.
- also this book is meant to be a 'remix' of Treasure Island but it's not even a bit Treasure Islandy. Except for the part where there's a treasure. On an island.
- why is Beijing Beijing, but Guangdong Canton.
- 'sampan boat' like chai tea but nautical.
- 'oiled paper brightening the windows speaks to the comforts we offer — a warm cup of tea and a place to gather with friends'. Very eloquent that oiled paper.
- This page alone contains: Nai Nai (no diacritics, no hyphen); Mei-Mei (hyphen, no diacritics); dìhuáng (with diacritics). The following page contains: Yéye (one word, diacritics, no hyphen). What the hell, book.
- 'a lady who matches her clothing to her jewellery is seen as demure and intelligent' — intelligent maaaaaybe but why and how demure??
- why is the MC calling this hair ornament a BROOCH.
- 'mother isn't in a position to send me to court in the Forbidden City even if I had wanted to' — I think author has a serious misconception about the imperial concubine selection process. Especially since this is set explicitly in the Qing Dynasty (explicitly the year 1826), when the process was super formalised.
- 'Everyone ... is milling about and walking with purpose' — did no one copyedit this.
- 'paintings of courtiers modelling the latest fashions in the Forbidden City' — I can accept the idea of fashion plates in mid to late Qing, but the idea that they would be PAINTINGS instead of format capable of being mass produced is mind-boggling, as is the notion that 'courtiers', by which I can only imagine the author meant noblewomen, would be doing the modelling. It would make much more sense for actors or courtesans to be doing the modelling.
- 'no one in our village had bothered to style their hair in [the Manchu fashion]' — right right, that's a thing you can just 'not bother' to do after 250 years of Manchu rule, not a treasonous political statement and symbol of rebellion.
- this book now has me googling 'when were disposable chopsticks invented'. The answer is: more than 50 years after this book is set, in Japan.
- it was Canton before, why is it Guangdong now???
- why does this 'Ming Dynasty fashion' sound more like Tang Dynasty fashion, as described. Also why are they wearing Ming Dynasty-style clothes 250 years after the fall of the Ming. Also the characters keep expressly calling them 'Ming Dynasty style' and I keep wanting to hiss 'do you want to be arrested on suspicion of treason and insurrection?'
- this pirate woman is being described as an 'ex-courtier in the Forbidden City' but she clearly wasn't an imperial concubine or a palace maid because she also says she had 'many suitors' and later a husband who clearly wasn't the emperor so what gives.
- ...you know what I think it's easier on my sanity if I just accept that the author thinks the Qing court worked exactly like a European court.
- now we have a Ming Dynasty HAIRSTYLE. Starting to wonder if author understands how dynastic change happens, and how specifically the Ming to Qing dynastic change happened, and that it would be politically dangerous to display nostalgia for the most recent last dynasty, and DEFINITELY to display nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty while living as a subject of the Qing Dynasty.
- there's an author's note where she explains her romanisation choices but that only makes things even more confusing: 'names, places and words are spelled with respect to their origins, whether they be Cantonese or Mandarin. Xiang, who grew up in the Guangdong province...' BUT XIANG IS MANDARIN. In Cantonese, it would be Heung. And her mum's name is romanised as SHI YEUNG. It should be Shi Yang in pinyin or Sek Yeung in Cantonese.
- also this book is meant to be a 'remix' of Treasure Island but it's not even a bit Treasure Islandy. Except for the part where there's a treasure. On an island.
